Tonight:
4°c
Rail bosses blame Tube chiefs for bridge collapse
Dick Murray, Transport Editor30 May 2008
Rail and Tube chiefs clashed today over the bridge which collapsed across the tracks just outside Liverpool Street station.
Network Rail has "banned" Transport for London - which owns the bridge - from carrying out any more work while a safety investigation takes place.
Iain Coucher, NR's chief executive, has written to Peter Hendy, London's transport commissioner, demanding "urgent answers" over what went wrong. His spokesman said: "Because of concerns over TfL's handling and management of both the project and its contractors, NR has banned work on the bridge, effective immediately."
TfL said NR had been "fully consulted" and had agreed the programme of work for the bridge to be installed. Engineers from Balfour Beatty Carillion, TfL's contractors, were inching the bridge - which will form part of the extended East London Line - into place on Tuesday evening when the process went wrong. The 812-tonne structure tilted and a concrete sleeper was knocked onto the main lines below.
Only the quick reactions of the driver of a train which hit the sleeper prevented a major disaster.
All rail services in and out of Liverpool Street were halted, causing chaos for commuters.
The bridge is now "safe and secure" and trains are running underneath again.
The safety investigation could take up to a week, and there is a possibility Liverpool Street station may have to close again when work on the bridge does restart.
Robin Gisby, NR's director of operations and customer service, said: "Passengers rightly want an explanation, as do I." A TfL spokesman said: "We apologise again to passengers and we will carry out a full investigation."
