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Derailed freight wagons are proving hard to remove
Page 12
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The clean-up operation after a train derailment in Cambridgeshire
creates a "huge, tricky" challenge. Chris Tindall reports.
ENGINEERS FOR Network Rail are facing a massive challenge to remove freight wagons hanging precariously over a bridge in Cambridgeshire after they derailed last month.
The 37 La Farge wagons were being hauled by EWS when the crash occurred over the Great Ouse near Ely. Network Rail says 11 derailed, but due to a lack of road or suitable land nearby it is having to build a 1.3km temporary structure using 20.000 tonnes of sand to take cranes to the area.
An investigation into what caused the derailment, which led to around 40 tonnes of aggregate material falling into the river, is ongoing; an Environment Agency spokeswoman says its main concern is the clogging up of the river rather than any pollution.
A Network Rail spokeswoman says: "The bridge is too damaged and the cranes would sink on the marshland. We've started building a temporary road to the site so we can get cranes in.Then we can rebuild the bridge.
"It's a huge, tricky engineering challenge." The incident occurred on the Peterborough to Ipswich line, but only the Ely to Bury St Edmunds stretch is affected. All freight trains using the line are now being re-routed through London.
EWS says it does not yet know how much the crash has cost the rail freight company: "Until the recovery process has been finalised by Network Rail, there won't be a figure available."
The operation is expected to take months to complete.