The Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA) has released new guidance for cranes operating near live rail environments.
The 58-page publication - entitled ‘Requirements for Lifting Equipment Adjacent to Railways Controlled by Network Rail’ - has been jointly produced by the Crane Interest Group (CIG) and the Tower Crane Interest Group (TCIG) in collaboration with Network Rail.
Members of the rail sector’s M&EE networking group and the NRIL Routes Senior Asset Protection Engineers Forum also contributed to the production of the comprehensive safety publication which can be freely downloaded from the CPA website at https://cpa.uk.net/cpa-publications/
Until now, guidance in this area was split between two separate CPA publications - CPA1402 (mobile cranes) and CPA1801 (tower cranes). Both have now been superseded and combined into a single, unified document providing clear, consistent requirements for all crane types operating near railways.
The new guidance aligns fully with Network Rail’s ‘CIV0063 (Issue 2): Piling, Drilling, Crane, MEWP and SMPT Operations Adjacent to the Railway’, ensuring that both industry and the client authority work from the same technical baseline. This alignment eliminates duplication, clarifies responsibilities and provides a seamless link between Network Rail’s internal procedures and CPA’s best practice advice for contractors and lifting teams.
The publication provides the foundational knowledge and all requirements in order to mitigate any potential effects on railway infrastructure when erecting, dismantling and carrying out lifting operations where a crane is working next to a railway boundary.
It introduces a defined hierarchy of control for assessing risk, with enhanced clarity on oversailing, collapse radius, working range limitation and the notification process for planned operations. The guidance also sets practical expectations for early engagement, planning liaison and communication between site teams and Network Rail representatives, ensuring that lifting activities are both safe and efficiently managed.
This collaboration marks a true milestone in industry partnership, demonstrating what can be achieved when regulators, infrastructure owners and industry groups work together towards shared goals of safety, efficiency and understanding.