A5 Bridge bashed Hinckley

[fsmr]

Just come through that A5 is blocked under the Leicester Nuneaton line due to bridge bash, assume trains will be stopped as well

 

[Qwerty133]

after the signalling fault this am i'm sure nuneaton to leicester commuters will be pleased NOT

 

[fsmr]

after the signalling fault this am i'm sure nuneaton to leicester commuters will be pleased NOT

yep it was the cables on the bridge that were nicked!!
departure boards Leicester showing delayed on the New street Stansted service stuck Nuneaton side of the bridge

Looks like trains are now running albeit with 10 mins delay each way although road below is closed
There are height beamsand signs both side so no excuse

 

[Philip Elliott]

It's twice this week it has been hit. It is those stupid "double deck" lorries so beloved by Argos and other companies. They are also the ones that always blow over in high winds, just ban the wretched things.

 

[A0wen]

It's twice this week it has been hit. It is those stupid "double deck" lorries so beloved by Argos and other companies. They are also the ones that always blow over in high winds, just ban the wretched things.

What a stupid comment - "double decker" buses and coaches are more susceptible to bridge strikes and turning over in high winds than their single deck counterparts, should we ban those as well whilst we're at it?

What you clearly don't understand or appreciate is such trailers have very specific uses, usually trans-shipment of low value, high volume goods between warehouses (frequently the docks and a warehouse). The result is, it cuts down on the number of vehicles on the road and keeps the cost of such products down - I take it you're in favour of massively increasing the cost of such goods in the shops and the number of vehicle moves then?

You can't fill them full of heavy products, because they would be massively overweight. They aren't used for deliveries to stores because of access issues.

And before you claim using rail is a viable alternative - it isn't. Rail works very well for large, heavy loads which need to be shipped from specific point 'A' to specific point 'B' regularly - e.g. coal to power stations, cars to docks etc. For general 'logistics' rail is far less economic and always has been.

Any HGV is susceptible to turning over in high winds - particularly if it is badly loaded. The reputable hauliers e.g. Stobart, Wincanton etc have far fewer occurrences of this mainly because they operate to far higher standards.

 

[fsmr]

Crash closes road

Amajor road was closed for several hours yesterday after an articulated lorry hit a railway bridge.

The lorry's roof was ripped off in the accident at Dodwells Bridge, on the A5, near Hinckley.

Another lorry and two cars collided with the stricken lorry.

The bridge was declared safe by a Network Rail safety expert shortly after the accident, at about 4.40pm.

Firefighting crews from Hinckley were called to the incident.

Four casualties were taken to Walsgrave Hospital, in Coventry, and George Eliott Hospital, in Nuneaton.

A fire service spokesman said last night: "The A5 will be closed for at least a couple of hours while the articulated lorries, one of which had shed a load of flat-pack furniture, are removed.

"There were four casualties with minor or superficial injuries, mainly from glass and airbags."

source The Leicester Mercury
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Crash-closes-road/story-17477429-detail/story.html

Lucky there was a NWR inspector available locally and able to pass quickly although I suspect that unless heavy machinery transport is involved or a dense loaded lorry, then the average overheight load wont do much to a substantial bridge and is fairly obvious to declare safe for running.

Reading archive reports of bridge strikes, it is usually drivers on an unknown route, or in the case of heavy machinery, where the height of the load has been changed such as 360 excavators having the jib raised by a third party after loading and not spotted by the driver who still belives the load to be underheight albeit by a few inches

No excuse on the A5 though as there are comprehensive over-height monitors in use due to the significant ammount of incidents unless they failed. Surely it is time to get rid of this bridge and put an overbridge in if height increase is not possible. The costs in terms of injuries and disruption must run into millions

 

[Smudger105e]

is fairly obvious to declare safe for running.

Staff have to be specifically trained to undertake structures examinations, it is not something Joe Public would be able to undertake, and neither would Joe Nonspecificrail staff either.

 

[fsmr]

Staff have to be specifically trained to undertake structures examinations, it is not something Joe Public would be able to undertake, and neither would Joe Nonspecificrail staff either.

Did i say that anywhere in my post

please dont take a small piece of my post and misquote it

I said to an Inspector who obviously is trained in such events which would obviously depend on the vehicle and speeds involved amongst other factors other wise , every time a double deck bus hits the bridges in Leicester, they would be closed for over a day while specialist structural engineers and equipment was brought in

 

[Smudger105e]

Did i say that anywhere in my post

please dont take a small piece of my post and misquote it

I said to an Inspector who obviously is trained in such events which would obviously depend on the vehicle and speeds involved amongst other factors other wise , every time a double deck bus hits the bridges in Leicester, they would be closed for over a day while specialist structural engineers and equipment was brought in

I did not misquote. I copied and pasted.

What you posted was...

source The Leicester Mercury
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Crash-closes-road/story-17477429-detail/story.html

Lucky there was a NWR inspector available locally and able to pass quickly although I suspect that unless heavy machinery transport is involved or a dense loaded lorry, then the average overheight load wont do much to a substantial bridge and is fairly obvious to declare safe for running.

I have made a section bold.

I read this as you saying that you suspected that any damage would be obvious to anyone and anyone would be able to see any damage and therefore anyone would be able to see that the bridge was undamaged.

If this was not your intention, please accept my apologies, it was not that clear.

I was most certainly not intending to criticise you, merely make the point that Bridge Inspectors need to be qualified.

 

[bnsf734]

I am familiar with that bridge, and in fact passed under it yesterday at about 15:30, so the strike must have happened not long after, if it was passed fit by NR at 16:40. The bridge has an extra beam either side, which will get hit before the bridge itself. There are overheight warning signs which light up when approached by an overheight truck, I think these now work again after being out of use for several months recently.

Whilst on the subject of bridge strikes there is a low bridge (14'9") on the A47 Hinckley Road approaching Nuneaton from the East. This bridge is on the old avoiding line which has been closed now for several years, but nobody seems in any hurry to remove it, despite it being hit on many occasions. The next bridge along was removed earlier this year, but this was standard height.

 

[GearJammer]

I am familiar with that bridge, and in fact passed under it yesterday at about 15:30, so the strike must have happened not long after, if it was passed fit by NR at 16:40. The bridge has an extra beam either side, which will get hit before the bridge itself. There are overheight warning signs which light up when approached by an overheight truck, I think these now work again after being out of use for several months recently.

Whilst on the subject of bridge strikes there is a low bridge (14'9") on the A47 Hinckley Road approaching Nuneaton from the East. This bridge is on the old avoiding line which has been closed now for several years, but nobody seems in any hurry to remove it, despite it being hit on many occasions. The next bridge along was removed earlier this year, but this was standard height.

Those signs that light up when an over height vehicle passes are'nt that good anyway, theres one on the A36 at Wilton (Salisbury) where the West of England crosses the A36, it lights up when my truck passes it yet theres plenty of clearance between truck and bridge, i just ignore it, in fact i don't even bother slowing down for it these days.

My truck is actually marked up as being higher than the sign on the bridge, maybe the signs should be more accurate and state how high the bridge ACTUALLY is instead of what somebody thinks it is.

 

[Bushy]

Those signs that light up when an over height vehicle passes are'nt that good anyway, theres one on the A36 at Wilton (Salisbury) where the West of England crosses the A36, it lights up when my truck passes it yet theres plenty of clearance between truck and bridge, i just ignore it, in fact i don't even bother slowing down for it these days.

My truck is actually marked up as being higher than the sign on the bridge, maybe the signs should be more accurate and state how high the bridge ACTUALLY is instead of what somebody thinks it is.

The signs give the maximum permitted vehicle height, not the height of the bridge soffit. A margin is included to allow for variations such as bounce on suspension, the effect of a long vehicle bridging a dip in the road surface below the bridge, etc. The Highways Agency guidance gives the details of how permitted vehicle height is calculated.

Many years ago, my late father took an HGV under a low bridge on the outward run to a drop with no problem but struck the bridge on the return run when the suspension was less compressed.

Regards

Bushy

 

[455driver]

There is a bridge on the Doncaster to Wakefield road just before Ackworth that is marked as 13ft6in one way and 13ft9in the other, our 13ft8in double deckers went under it okay in both directions.

Oh its a flat bridge not a curved one.

When I was at Yorkshire Traction we were issued with a bridge height book which showed the marked height and the actual height, sometimes there was a lot of difference, some higher than marked but a fair few that were liwer than marked but these did tend to be on smaller roads.