Here's a photo taken by David Parrish, who writes in an email 'if buses can safely pass through gaps at 40mph, then 10mph for this chip seems rather cautious'. The damage is so close to the end of a beam, that I wonder if it's degradation of the concrete due to mechanical stress from passing buses, and perhaps exacerbated by the effects of freeze/thaw during the winter and early spring. Hugh from Cambridge suggests that the drivers story doesn't sound like the whole story.
Does anyone have any other opinions or ideas? Has anyone talked to other bus drivers?
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| Photo by David Parrish. 2013. |
how on earth does something like that happen! its right on a steep banked section LOL
ReplyDeleteI am just going along there on my bike to have a look - while the weather is still dry.
DeletePlan B. It's raining again. I'll try later.
DeleteIn the 1970s/80s I was travelling quite a lot by train, and at the time the network was plagued by temporary speed restrictions (TSRs). Trains were always slowing down in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason - no reason until that is one noticed the yellow "T" signs by the track which told drivers of the lower speed limit. Nowadays TSRs seem to be very rare in comparison. If the busway is this prone to damage, then before long it will begin to resemble BR in the "bad old days".
ReplyDeleteThe speed restriction has now been removed. I inspected the site this morning, and it looks as if they have made four small patches to the concrete.
ReplyDeleteThe problem was at a place where the busway track has a slight dip and also a series of reverse curves. If you're sitting at the front of a bus, you'd think the track here would be straight and level, but for some inexplicable reason, it isn't. It looks as if the busway has been badly laid out by the contractors.
Maybe the damage was due to wear and tear as a result of stresses due to the curvature and gradient changes. Does anyone have any thoughts about that?
I looked closely at the track between St Ives Park & Ride and the speed restriction site. There is evidence of a few other repairs to the concrete, and one place where a bit of concrete has broken away.
Big smash at Longstanton this morning, ROUTE A bus with it's door caved in.
ReplyDeleteThanks, James, If you find out anything else, let me know. I'll start a new post about this incident.
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