A railway bridge has been temporarily repaired after it was struck by a lorry last week, leaving a train full of passengers stranded on the crossing for hours.
The driver of the crane lorry, which crashed into the bridge in Village Way, Dulwich on Wednesday morning last week, was said to be ‘shaken’ after the jib nearly took out the oncoming train.
The Southern service to London Bridge carrying 89 passengers was stopped at 11am after the truck with an extendable crane on the back was seen ploughing into the top of the bridge.
Network Rail told the News that the jib of the lorry fell across the tracks in the collision taking out the parapet of the bridge. A temporary repair has taken place but there was no structural damage to the bridge.
It is unclear yet how much the permanent repair of the parapet will cost, but Southwark Council has already replaced the warning sign on the bridge.
The fire brigade was called to the scene at 11.25 and two fire engines responded to try to make the bridge safe. A spokesperson confirmed no one was trapped or injured and the passengers were eventually transferred to another train which was pulled alongside them.
Roy Fielding, 60, who lives on Village Way, called the emergency services after witnessing the incident.
“I saw it crash into the side of the bridge and there’s a train stuck on the bridge, it’s knocked a hole in the top of it,” he said.
The driver of the Jewson lorry was said to be “shaken” according to a spokesperson for the building supplier, who told the News: “We are aware of the incident this afternoon in Dulwich and we’re very relieved that no one has been injured or harmed as a result of the incident. As you can imagine, our driver is understandably shaken up at this stage,” said the spokesperson. “We are of course cooperating fully with the relevant authorities and will be conducting our own full investigation to find out all the details and circumstance around the incident.”
Southern services using that route were cancelled while work to stabilize the bridge was undertaken, but resumed the same day.