Stonea bridge rated ‘second most bashed’ in the country for second-year running

It may have had tens of thousands of pounds spent on improving signage but a Fenland bridge has still been rated second ‘most bashed’ in the country.

Incidents at the Stonea bridge, which carries the railway across the Sixteen Foot drain and road, may be down year-on-year, but it is still hit nearly more than any other nationally.

The title of the most-bashed bridge goes to another local crossing – the bridge at Ely station.

The number of bridge strikes at Stonea was 11% lower last year compared to the year before.

This in turn led to a 65% drop in the number of minutes rail journeys were delayed because of these incidents.

The area recorded 35 delay minutes between 2023 to 2024 compared to 100 delay minutes between 2022 and 2023.

In February 2021 Network Rail engineers repaired the notorious bridge, installing a new protection beam.

The new beam was designed to withstand future bridge strikes, making it stronger than before. This extra protection helps minimise disruption to rail and road traffic as a result of future strikes.

Cambridgeshire County Council also updated the warning road signage with its new height of two metres. That’s 10cm lower than before the installation of the new protection beam.

The road signage installed by the county council is large and bright, but despite this, the bridge is still hit with surprising regularity.

Martin Frobisher, group safety and engineering director at Network Rail, said: “Every time a vehicle hits a bridge it can serious safety issues for road and rail users. To compound matters, these incidents can delay tens of thousands of passengers while we inspect the bridge and repair any damage – creating costs from public funds that should be used to upgrade and improve our network.

“We’ve done a lot of work with transport partners to tackle bridge strikes and it’s encouraging to see this is paying off with a general downward trend in the number of incidents.

“But with a strike every six hours there’s still much to do and we urge operators and drivers to properly plan their routes, know the height of their vehicles, and be vigilant for road signs showing the height of bridges. We will report those who don’t to the Traffic Commissioners and Network Rail always looks to recover the entire repair and delay costs from the driver and the operator.”