| Brisbane train delays from bridge strikes affect 90,000 commuters |
Trucks smash into rail bridges in south-east Queensland once a week, holding up hundreds of trains and tens of thousands of commuters a year.
The potential for more serious accidents and fatalities has sparked calls for harsher penalties for careless drivers.
More than a dozen bridges were hit twice or more in the 2014-15 financial year, with problem crossings in Indooroopilly, Rocklea and Woolloongabba copping as many as seven blows in 12 months.
Hundreds of commuters have to sit through delays every time a truck driver misjudges the height of their ride and smacks into a bridge.
Queensland Rail must immediately shut the rail line and send inspectors to check the structure is still safe to carry trains.
Fifty-two trucks hit bridges last year, delaying more than 90,000 passengers on more than 300 trains, according to newly released Queensland Rail figures.
The year before there were 56 bridge strikes, with each crash over the past two years costing between $1000 and $130,000.
DWhen QR can track down the drivers responsible, they can face fines of up to $8800.
But public transport campaigner Robert Dow, from Rail Back on Track, said more needed to be done and called for automatic three-month licence suspensions for a first offence, along with better education and more bridge protection.
"These are not trivial offences. They can result in fatalities and quite serious consequences," he said, citing the tragic death of cyclist Les Karayan when a truck clipped a Dutton Park rail bridge in 2013.
"The fact that they disrupt the road and rail network is another issue."
Protection beams were installed at that location to prevent further strikes in June last year, with early work starting on similar measures this week at a rail bridge in Indooroopilly.
Even a "state-of-the-art" Bridge Impact Detection System, which uses lasers to detect over-height vehicles and warn their drivers, couldn't stop seven drivers crashing into that bridge last year.
"The specially designed beams not only prevent over-height vehicles from colliding with a bridge, but also reduce the likelihood of a vehicle rolling over should it strike the beam," Queensland Rail network executive general manager Tim Ripper said.
But he didn't think tougher penalties were necessary, instead pleading with drivers to pay more attention to vehicle heights.
"In terms of further increasing the fine or some other penalty including loss or suspension of license, it probably isn't going to further increase people's awareness," he said.
"As I say, a fine of $8800 is significant, plus the potential for us to seek recovery of cost of repairs from the vehicle driver."
Just this week, a truck wedged under the Buranda crossing on Logan Road at Woolloongabba delayed commuters for more than two hours.
While most of the worst affected bridges were south of the Brisbane River, the Sunshine Coast line was also badly affected.
Three of the top nine worst affected bridges were near Nambour, where the northern train line terminates.
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