Skip to main content

Swarco matrix signs help reduce bridge strikes at London hotspot

Six full colour full matrix electronic warning signs from Swarco Traffic have helped Network Rail and Transport for London (TfL) to reduce the number of oversized lorries hitting a railway bridge on London’s South Circular road by more than a third since being installed last summer. In the six-month period from January to July 2016 before the signs were introduced there were 11 crashes at the Thurlow Park Bridge in Tulse Hill. In the six months since their installation, there have only been seven inciden
March 7, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Six full colour full matrix electronic warning signs from 129 Swarco Traffic have helped Network Rail and 1466 Transport for London (TfL) to reduce the number of oversized lorries hitting a railway bridge on London’s South Circular road by more than a third since being installed last summer.

In the six-month period from January to July 2016 before the signs were introduced there were 11 crashes at the Thurlow Park Bridge in Tulse Hill. In the six months since their installation, there have only been seven incidents, and only one in the last four months. At one point the bridge was being hit on average almost twice a month, causing more than 218 hours of delays to rail passengers between July 2015 and July 2016.

The signs are installed either side of the bridge, detecting vehicles that are too high and prompting an electronic warning to be displayed. They use energy-efficient LEDs for enhanced visual impact and to give early and clear information, particularly for non-English speaking drivers. The signs are integrated with TfL’s London Streets and Traffic Control Centre for full monitoring and control and, being variable, can be used to provide traffic information to road users.

Swarco’s optical solution reduces power consumption of the LEDs, which also means that the service life of other electrical and electronic components is extended and the LEDs do not suffer from any decrease in light intensity or colour change throughout their life cycle.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Rethink required to reduce road transport’s environmental impact
    March 15, 2016
    Against a background of a renewed focus on limiting the rise in average temperatures, Colin Sowman looks at a project that is taking a holistic approach to the environmental impact and safety of road transport. At the COP21 meeting in Paris last December, almost 200 nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to keep the rise in global temperatures to 2°C) compared with pre-industrial levels. The transportation sector is a major contributor to the production of CO2, one of the main green
  • TRL: Cities must do more to help VRUs
    May 9, 2019
    UK cities must learn from the Netherlands and Denmark if active travel and increased safety for vulnerable road users are to co-exist, says TRL’s Marcus Jones Active travel’ refers to modes of transport in which physical effort is required to undertake purposeful journeys - for example, walking or cycling to school, work or the local shops, as well as walking and standing as part of accessing public transport. The benefits of replacing short car journeys with more active forms of transport are obvious. Act
  • TfL trials new digital bus stop display sign
    October 17, 2016
    Transport for London (TfL) is trialling a new battery-powered bus stop display screen which will for the first time provide real time travel information on other bus services as well as its own. The first trial is being conducted at a bus stop at Northwood Station, Hillingdon and will give customers travelling to and from Mount Vernon Hospital all the latest travel information that they need. The new screens can be quickly and easily attached to bus stop posts and display next bus arrival information
  • Delivering London’s live bus arrival information
    April 17, 2013
    Launched in October 2011, Transport for London’s Countdown real time bus information service has proven extremely popular. The latest research shows that around 830,000 bus journeys made in London each day are informed by live bus arrival information. Building on this success, TfL has developed a new way of delivering live bus arrival information to a range of public locations, such as hospital waiting rooms or shopping centre foyers. This means that real time bus arrival information can be provided to pa