Road over Rail bridges

Safety where road bridges cross railways.

In the summer of 2001, at Selby in Yorkshire, a Landrover left the road and ended up on the railway line. This tragically resulted in the derailment of two trains and the loss of several lives. Safety at road over rail bridges has become an important issue.
In line with recommendations from the Health and Safety Executive, and the Department for Transport, we have carried out a safety audit of all road over rail bridge approaches on county roads.

At County owned bridges we have introduced safety measures where these were appropriate. At Gossington bridge on the A38 we expanded the scheme to enable us to install full protection parapets in front of the existing masonry ones, which were below standard for this class of road.

For bridges owned by the Strategic Rail Authority, we are working with them to address the issues raised. None of the bridges have a risk ranking which indicates that immediate action should be taken.