Queensland Rail is urging truck drivers to take more care after another Sunshine Coast rail bridge was struck.
The latest incident occurred at Blackall Terrace in Nambour, where a truck was filmed wedged under a 3m bridge.
Rosemount resident Linda Cole captured the footage on Monday.
“I passed it on the way to the vets, at about 10.40am,” she said.
“I could see the rear of the truck was higher than the cab.
“It puzzled me why the bridge was attempted.”
She said the vehicle was still there almost an hour later.
“It was opposite the RSL, and it meant traffic issues,” she said.
Ms Cole said a 3m high bar should be installed for truck drivers to go under before they get to the bridge, “just like the entrance to the car park of the Nambour Plaza.”
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A QR spokesperson confirmed the truck crashed into the bridge at about 10.14am, causing the delay of one train service. There was no significant damage to the bridge.
“A bridge inspector attended and determined it was safe by 11.15am,” she said, before imploring truck drivers to be cautious around bridges.
“We’re reminding drivers to avoid all that cost, danger and embarrassment by knowing their truck height, planning their route and obeying the road rules,” she said.
All bridges have signs that display height limits but the Blackall Terrace overpass does not have a protection beam or a Structural Monitoring and Alert System (SMAS).
There are no plans “at this stage” to install them there.
“Those systems are placed at high-impact locations,” the spokesperson said.
There are 14 ‘high-priority’ bridges that have protection beams in South-East Queensland. Several more have SMAS with sensors and video.
A bridge at Brockhurst Road in Nambour was last year fitted with a SMAS, after a truck collision significantly affected train services on the state’s main track for more than a week and led to a road closure for seven months while the bridge was fixed.
It was one of 85 strikes to rail bridges and protection beams on the Sunshine Coast in a two-year span.
There was another incident at Nambour late last year when a bus hit the rail bridge over Price Street. A protection beam ensured there was no damage to the line.
The spokesperson said bridge strikes can be dangerous.
“They don’t just damage bridges. They can pose risks to truck drivers and other motorists,” she said.
“We have seen incidents where bits of trucks have become projectiles and we have seen incidents where trucks have tipped over and nearly hit passing cars.”
