Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential saving to the public purse arising from placing collision protection beams at bridges which have a high incidence of strikes from lorries or other vehicles.

This is an operational matter for Network Rail as the responsible authority for railway infrastructure. Network Rail does place collision protection beams on many susceptible bridges where there is a history of bridge strikes. The provision of collision protection beams is a matter jointly for the highways authority and Network Rail and subject to Highway Agency design standard BD65/97.