Salisbury and Wilton railway bridges NOT among UK's most struck
You might think they'd rank highly on Network Rail's list!
Last updated 17th Nov 2022
A list of the UK's most struck railway bridges has been released by Network Rail - with some notorious spots in South Wiltshire not even making the top 20!
We might think there's a lot of vehicle strikes at the A36 Warminster Road bridge, but we're told that in the 12 months to March 2022 it was only hit seven times.
That's down from 11 the previous year, and means it only ranks in 21st place across the country.
The Fisherton Street bridge in Salisbury was struck five times in the same period, compared to three the year before, putting it down in 53rd place.
Nationally, railway bridge were struck by vehicles 1,833 during 2021/22 - with the worst area being in Stonea, Cambridgeshire, which was hit 33 times.
Now, Network Rail is calling on lorry drivers and haulage operators to be more aware of their vehicle heights and route choices.
Their 'Wise Up, Size Up' campaign is being highlighted ahead of Black Friday and Christmas delivery rushes.
As well as being costly, bridge strikes can cause lots of delays and have a knock-on-effect to passenger services.
On average 1.17 bridges are hit every day in the Southern region.
John Halsall, Network Rail's managing director for the South, said:
"The impact of bridge strikes can have a long-lasting effect for both train and road users. Not only are bridge strikes dangerous, disruptive and costly but the money used to fix the damage could be used to improve infrastructure elsewhere on the route.
“The importance of this campaign is to urge drivers to plan ahead before setting out and checking that the route they've chosen is suitable for larger, heavy goods vehicles.
"We'd like to thank those who are and continue to take extra care when driving, especially over the festive period when the volume of traffic increases on the roads."