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Mike Ashworth posted an update
4 weeks ago (edited)
I have just read an article on the news page.
A new method of protecting railway bridges from strikes by over-height vehicles is to be tested at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) next January. This trial will consist of a Bridge Bouncer designed by The Rail and Station Innovation Company (Rasic). The system to be trialled will be able to detect over-height vehicles approaching a low railway bridge using sensors and turn on advanced roadside warning lights to warn any driver that they will not be able to pass under an upcoming bridge. Preparation for the First Of A Kind (FOAK) trial, which is being funded by the Department for Transport, has already begun, with testing due to start in early 2026. Following a trial period, depending on its success, the system could be rolled out nationwide, not just in the UK but on other railway systems across the globe. Each year, approximately 1,800 bridge strikes occur in the UK, each one causing delays to both rail and road transport, with a total annual cost of £150 million spent on repairing bridges that have been struck by over-height vehicles.
The question is why are they doing this as this sort of solution is already used all over the uk, with the one shown in the picture near the Copy Pit Line has been in use for around 40 years.
The question is why is the Department for Transport funding this, when there is already the same solution is place.
The real reason for most wagon strikes is that the wagon is being drive by someone using a sat nav or phone which does not have a setting for bridge highs and the drive just carries on blissfully unaware until bang.
Earl Chilton, alexf and 3 others3 Comments-
Wouldn’t a flashing Amber or Blue Ambulance (solar powered) strobe light on the bridge itself attract the drivers attention more cheaply! The drivers on autopilot? ”Away with the fairies”! Saturdays football game? Or their upcoming holiday! It takes a crack of a whip to wake a brain that’s on autopilot! Or maybe a bridge shaped hoop of PVC tubing 50 yards back with a damn great bell on it!
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@nostalgia I have seen them with flashing lights on when close up to the bridge. PVC tube with a bed on it may damage the vehicle. People just blindly follow there sat nav and take it as being correct. About 4 miles down the road from this photo was taken I had chosen to go up onto the moorland road to avoid a problem in a town centre that I would have to pass through and had my sat nav on as I wasn’t 100% where I was going to once past the town centre. I knew the moorland road and where to turn, but before I got to this point the sat nav piped up turn left then go straight ahead. I stopped my car and followed the directions on foot. You would not have got a car down there as this left turn took you to a flight of stairs. The picture shows a car that went that way following his satnav and nearly launched his car off a 100 ft cliff on to a railway line south of Todmorden. You can stop the idots.
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@Mike_Ashworth, I said BELL on it (Ding/ dong)! Not a Bed? A warning bell! (Writing could be a little bigger on here I think)!
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