This morning the transport committee visited the East London Line works at Shoreditch. We wanted an explanation for the incident which took place in May at Bridge GE 19, shown in the picture.
The bridge is a truly immense steel structure which will carry the East London Line over the tracks coming out of Liverpool Street to the new Shoreditch High Street station, then on to the viaduct running north to Dalston. Climbing out of the old line's cutting, the bridge is on a 1:30 slope - steep for a railway.
Investigations are still in process but it appears that having slowly pushed the structure into position over the line, some of the temporary bearings on the East abutment slipped out, causing the whole bridge to drop by around 20mm. This in turn tilted the bridge and materials resting on it toppled off, landing on the railway below where they were struck by a train leaving Liverpool Street.
Things could have been much worse, but London Underground and Network Rail are now working with their contractors to rescue the timetable and the bridge work will be completed on target later this year.
The bridge is a truly immense steel structure which will carry the East London Line over the tracks coming out of Liverpool Street to the new Shoreditch High Street station, then on to the viaduct running north to Dalston. Climbing out of the old line's cutting, the bridge is on a 1:30 slope - steep for a railway.
Investigations are still in process but it appears that having slowly pushed the structure into position over the line, some of the temporary bearings on the East abutment slipped out, causing the whole bridge to drop by around 20mm. This in turn tilted the bridge and materials resting on it toppled off, landing on the railway below where they were struck by a train leaving Liverpool Street.
Things could have been much worse, but London Underground and Network Rail are now working with their contractors to rescue the timetable and the bridge work will be completed on target later this year.
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