A RAILWAY bridge in Penistone hit by lorries twice in the last few weeks has been struck 25 times in the last five years, leaving Network Rail with a compensation bill of more than £13,000 because of delayed services.
The Penistone district has several low railway bridges which have been subject to many collisions with high vehicles and one company in the area even uses lorries with small wheels to help drivers squeeze underneath.
When collisions do happen, the rail services overhead have to be suspended until engineers can confirm the structure remains safe and that leaves Network Rail, which is responsible for the bridges and other rail infrastructure, with a compensation bill because of delays to services run by the rail companies.
The bridge involved in the latest strikes is the first arch in the Penistone viaduct, which Sheffield Road runs under.
Since 2012, passengers have been delayed by a total of 912 minutes as a results of incidents at that bridge, Network Rail said.
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
