Work on busway track at Histon

Yesterday there was a 10mph speed restriction near Histon for part of the day. A team of workmen appeared to be surveying the section of track affected by settlement.

Damaged track between St Ives and Fen Drayton

As already noted in a comment on this blog, there is a 10mph speed restriction on the busway just east of the Ouse Viaduct. I asked a driver today and he told me that the track had been damaged by someone driving a trailer over that section. I'll take a closer look and hopefully get a photo.

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?

Photo by David Parrish. 2013.