People deserve better than this neglect by Network Rail

Published: 16 September, 2010

• I’M glad to see that your corres­pondent Bruce Robertson (Weak bridges a way to Hell, September 9) has drawn atten­tion to the deplor­able condition of the two railway bridges at Gospel Oak. 

One in particular has been in a wretched state for several years, with water pouring through the superstructure whenever it rains. And we’re not talking countryside halts here. These are very busy bridges carrying heavy traffic above and below. Large numbers of children pass beneath them every day on their way to school. Heavy goods and passenger trains move continuously overhead, both by day and night.

And yet the bridges look like something out of a scrap yard, grubby and graffitied, with bushes and plants springing out of the brickwork and the underside of one of them defaced with yet another of Network Rail’s make-shift attempts to divert the water pouring through.

Network Rail owe the people who live in Gospel Oak and all those countless others who use this increasingly popular station something better than the evasion and neglect of the past few years. 

Quite apart from the safety factors, these are a very fine pair of bridges, with beautifully con­structed brickwork. Cleaned and properly repaired they would reassure those of us who fear for their safety and at the same time create a much better environ­ment for all those who pass by these eyesores every day.
Michael Palin
Gospel Oak, NW5