A collision protection beam is to be installed on a railway bridge in Edinburgh to reduce the risk of damage if vehicles strike it.
Network Rail is investing almost £250,000 in the project to install the beam over Balgreen Road in Edinburgh. It will provide additional protection to the bridge, and in doing so reduce the risk of structural damage to the bridge and potential disruption to rail services.
The bridge has a history of incidents where drivers have failed to observe the height restriction and driven their vehicles into the structure. Over the last 10 years, the bridge ranks second in Scotland for the sum of minutes lost to bridge strikes, with six registered bridge strikes in that time. The sum of the minutes lost is the total amount of delays incurred by affected trains.
Work to install the beams will take place overnight. Work is scheduled to take place from 20.00 to 08.00 for eight nights starting on Saturday, 19th March at 20.00. The work will totally or partially close Balgreen Road as follows:
- Overnight 20.00 to 08.00 Saturday, 19th/Sunday, 20th March – Balgreen Road totally closed to road traffic;
- Overnight 20.00 to 08.00 Sunday, 20th March to Thursday, 24th March – Balgreen Road will be open but with single-lane closures;
- Overnight 20.00 to 08.00 Saturday, 26th/Sunday, 27th March –Balgreen Road totally closed to road traffic.
Pedestrian and cyclist access will be maintained at all times. A diversion for vehicles has been agreed with the local authority and will be in place during the overnight road closures.
A spokesman for Network Rail said: “The beam will provide protection to a bridge which has a history of being struck by vehicles whose drivers do not observe the height restriction warning signs that are clearly visible on the structure and on the approach to it.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this essential work which is necessary to protect the structure as part of our commitment to provide a safe and reliable railway.”
Responses
Re Mr. Pointon´s comments, not the only UK problem area. For example it seems to be the expensive gold plated NR that ex freight lines have to be upgraded from 25mph to (for example) 75 mph, whereas from the Public viewpoint, they would be very pleased to have any line, AT ALL, why not 50 mph would be much cheaper.
This is a joke most of the Bridges in Romania have had these beams for over 50 years .can’t understand why it is not so in the UK .as for the cost and timeline thay have for installation of a beam is far to long.the cost for a recent replacement in Romania was 12.000 Euros and done overnight .