THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) has described the latest lorry strike on the rail-over-road bridge at Broadway station as “frustrating and infuriating”, after the newly restored structure was hit again on May 1.
On this occasion the driver of a flatbed articulated lorry approached the bridge, which carries the railway over the B4632 Station Road/Evesham Road, unaware the machinery load on his trailer was taller than the 14ft 3in-high span.
As the lorry passed beneath the load struck the bridge and fell into the road, which was subsequently closed for several hours while recovery was undertaken.
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The driver admitted to railway officials and the police he did not know the height of his load.
It was the 14th time the 115-year-old bridge has been hit by an over-height load/truck since the completion of its £250,000 restoration in 2014; an average of one every three months.
Substantial repairs had to be carried out in September 2016, costing about £16,000, but a series of further strikes followed, including a severe one in January of this year that cost in excess of £56,000 to repair.
Astoundingly, the bridge has been hit a further four times this year in spite of prominent
‘Low Bridge’ warnings.
Read more in the June issue of The RM – on sale now!