Part of Dublin to Belfast rail line collapses

Hungerford

murphaph wrote: »

I'm sure FF are wishing they had reopened Navan now. It could have been quite useful. But I thought the east got all the fancy new infrastructure and the wesht was being starved.....;)

I bet that there's a lot of commuters wishing the same thing and also wishing FF had reopened Navan - Drogheda for passengers too.

This will also have an effect on commuter railcar maintenance, how will they get back to Drogheda? Might need to go to Inchicore or Portlaoise instead.

dan_d

Some engineer is cowering right about now, thinking about that. I'm an engineer....I would have thought (hoped) that IR would have surveyed that on a fairly regular basis. Don't know the details at all, but it's one of those places that someone shold have been keeping a very tight eye on.
As a bit of trivia, apparently the estuary is nearly empty of water, because the entrance to it is blocked!!So I hear!

Hungerford

murphaph wrote: »

The whole viaduct must be under suspicion now. It'll be a LONG time before that reopens, if at all.

Well, they'll have to do something - the only alternative is to close the entire Dublin - Belfast route! It could be a very long time though - it took them 11 months to fix the Cahir Viaduct after the 2003 derailment.

Admittedly, the Dublin - Belfast line is likely to be a slightly higher priority for CIE than Waterford - Limerick.

Another interesting bit of context is that the reports into the previous two major railway incidents before today - Cahir and the Skerries derailment found that maintenance practices in IE were at least partly to blame.

Praetorian

As a frequent user of that line to Balbriggan (friends and family use it too) all I can say is thank god the enterprise didnnt hit it at 90mph. It could have been a total disaster. Heads have to roll here.

Bluetonic

dan_d wrote: »

As a bit of trivia, apparently the estuary is nearly empty of water, because the entrance to it is blocked!!So I hear!

Thats rubbish.

L1011

I know its an entirely different type of infrastructure, but can anyone remember how long it took the NRA to get a temporary bridge in Leenane when the N59 washed away a few years ago? Was a week at the very least and then much longer for a proper bridge.

sdanseo

Bluetonic wrote: »

Thats rubbish.

Agreed. I live beside that estuary and let me assure you there is plenty of water in it at the point of collapse.

The length of the actual bridge is quite short compared to the length of the embankment itself - from a distance it's hard to tell which is which. It could be that the rigid structure of the bridge gave in - there would be less immediate danger to the embankment as it can flex much more, obviously.

Either way, this was a very, very narrow escape for the train that spotted it. Did said train just reverse back to Donabate, yes? Could have been a bloodbath indeed.

This will cause very cosiderable delay alright. I have an uncle who's a civil engineer who tells me temporary embankments can be done in 48 hours - but I don't think Ireland is that far along (he's in Australia).

RuggieBear

bollix.

i get the enterprise each way at least once weekly

Bluetonic

MYOB wrote: »

I know its an entirely different type of infrastructure, but can anyone remember how long it took the NRA to get a temporary bridge in Leenane when the N59 washed away a few years ago? Was a week at the very least and then much longer for a proper bridge.

July 18th 2007 it was washed away, July 27th 2007 the temp bridge opened.

Even though it was tidal the flow of water was far far far less that the flow at Malahide. A temp structure here would need to be very strong also I don't see how it would work as there is only one route and the existing tracks can not be realigned to temp bridge while a new one is constructed.

Davy

Plenty of water :rolleyes:


sorry quality not great, just had the phone and its quite a distance

lostexpectation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catb/3843727118/

Hungerford

Karsini wrote: »

This will also have an effect on commuter railcar maintenance, how will they get back to Drogheda? Might need to go to Inchicore or Portlaoise instead.

It's going to be interesting to see how they maintain Enterprise services too - the locomotives used are now cut-off from Inchicore. In fact, there's probably one of the three Enterprise sets is also on the Dublin side of the break too.

I was about to say it was a good thing that they had all those Mark IIIs in Dundalk, then I remembered that IE sent them up there to rot and have made sure of it!

rushbrook

sdonn wrote: »

Agreed. I live beside that estuary and let me assure you there is plenty of water in it at the point of collapse.

The length of the actual bridge is quite short compared to the length of the embankment itself - from a distance it's hard to tell which is which. It could be that the rigid structure of the bridge gave in - there would be less immediate danger to the embankment as it can flex much more, obviously.

Either way, this was a very, very narrow escape for the train that spotted it. Did said train just reverse back to Donabate, yes? Could have been a bloodbath indeed.

This will cause very cosiderable delay alright. I have an uncle who's a civil engineer who tells me temporary embankments can be done in 48 hours - but I don't think Ireland is that far along (he's in Australia).

worrying from cie -- several weeks according to their website


>>>>>>>>
21st August: Major disruption to Northern Commuter, and Belfast Enterprise services by Corporate Communications

UPDATE 21.15HRS, Friday 21st August

There is significant disruption to Northern commuter, and Belfast Enterprise services due to a serious incident in which a 20 metre section of the viaduct has given way across Broadmeadow estuary, north of Malahide this evening. The incident occurred shortly before 18.30hrs this evening.

An investigation into this extremely serious incident is underway.

Services:

Northern commuter services are seriously disrupted. A shuttle rail service is currently operating between Drogheda and Skerries only. Customers travelling between Dublin city and all stations north of Malahide are advised to travel by Dublin Bus or Bus Eireann services.

Belfast Enterprise services will operate with train services between Belfast and Drogheda, and with bus transfers between Drogheda and Connolly, with resulting delays.

These arrangements will continue tomorrow, and weekday service details for next week are being arranged.

DART services between Malahide and Howth Junction have resumed, and are operating normally.

Due to the severe damage to the viaduct, we regret to inform customers that the line across the estuary will not reopen for, at the very least, several weeks, with resulting disruption continuing.

Iarnród Éireann apologises for the inconvenience caused.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Bonkers_xOx

hoser expat wrote: »

I was on the 6:15 out of Pearse, that got stopped at Howth junction. Had to take a taxi home to Skerries.

Irish Rail are absolutely bloody lucky that no train went over this, because looking at the photos it would have been an immediate derailmant into the estuary. Looks like a complete failure of inspection and maintenance to my moderately trained eye. This should never have happened in the first place....failures like that don't happen without warning.

Unfortunately, I have no confidence in them fixing this in a timely manner (the damage is quite severe), or putting on a good service for the thousands of commuters that use the line daily. An express bus from each of the affected stations to central town is required at a minimum. A bus that accepts rail passes. If I have to take the 2 hour journey by the 33 bus for months I will kill someone.

We'll just have to see what alternate plans they arrange......stay tuned.

Yeah me too, I'm thanking my lucky stars that our train was just that bit behind. Only home now, Buses didn't come for ages.

Trafford Lad

I was on the 6:15 train from Pearse to Drog, we stopped at Howth Junction, got the Dart back in to Connolly and Bus Eireann home. I agree with the poster who wonders what would have happened had the Enterprise crossed at speed. Very very scary thought. Who knows when it will be fixed.

lostexpectation

whats it top speed over the viaduct

lostexpectation

lostexpectation wrote: »

whats it top speed over the viaduct

I think it's 70mph on the southern side of the viaduct and 90 on the northern side. So it's pretty safe to assume that trains would be going 70 over it at most. Still, such an accident at 70mph would have been disastrous.

Bluetonic

The port tunnel will get some good use over the next few weeks, thats for sure.

Of course the tolls will be reduced to help ease traffic congestion I'm sure

Rashers72

I was on a DART that got into Malahide at 18.05. The Belfast-Dublin service due into Connolly at 18.20 passed by going slowly enough at 18.00 just south of Malahide. I think Irish Rail were extremely lucky here.
They did a major job re-enforcing the embankments on the Broadmeadows Estuary in the last few years, but I do not think they did anything with the actual bridge part that collapsed.

On a similar note, I really hope the contingency plans are better then anything in the past.
They have a whole weekend before the bulk of commuters return to work on Monday, so time to get the finger out, and get all the resources required to either get the bridge sorted, or get plenty of buses available. Of course it is not that simple, but they really need to provide better options, then just get Dublin Bus services. This is not the city centre. There are huge gaps in the bus services in Fingal, so they will simply not be able to cope.

Davy

Bluetonic wrote: »

The port tunnel will get some good use over the next few weeks, thats for sure.

Of course the tolls will be reduced to help ease traffic congestion I'm sure

Second i saw the bridge i was thinking of the m1, its going to be madness, and then when the schools go back!


I was trying to think back, i know they did the new track laying a few years back, but does anyone know if they did work on the bridge itself? They put extra stone along the banks from the bridge towards the city but i cant remember anything actually done with the bridge itself.

T Corolla

Sure they might as well shelf metro north for the next ten years and lay a third track that is required on the line to the airport and be done with it. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you the Dart to the airport new T21 project after the rebuilding of the Northern Line

stevenmartin99

Heres my short term solution ...

DWCommuter

Oul Baz looked shakier than the bridge on the news at nine. He didn't even have a tie on.:eek:

They say several weeks, so we're looking at 2 months. Wow! Thats gonna cause some chaos on the M1. Im baffled how this could happen if regular maintenence was carried out. That viaduct is not exactly old and is not on any kind of raging river, high tides or not. Off course they will tell us that all bridges are safe and there's no need to panic. I remember a P11 press release in the aftermath of Cahir. They accused us of scaremongering. But you just never know do you.

So glad nobody got hurt by this and feel great sympathy for regular customers who now face chaotic scenes. If its down to a maintenence issue, it should be used as a way to clear out all of those dopey twats in Amiens street. Hopefully we're told the truth either way.

Anyone reckon this could be an excuse to shut Tara mines?

Chris_533976

Its Irish Rail though so the pin men wont have smiley faces

foxy06

Lister1 wrote: »

Yep, I traveled over the line on the 5:10 from Connolly to Balbriggan(through Malahide around 5:25). Everything was smooth. Didn't notice any bumps at all...

And how much do you weigh??;)

Bluetonic

DWCommuter wrote: »

That viaduct is not exactly old and is not on any kind of raging river, high tides or not.

Have you seen the water flow there that occurs twice daily? It's as strong as any raging river due to the tides.

How many times has the viaduct foundations been replaced in the 160 years or so its been around?

cbreeze

Bluetonic wrote: »

Have you seen the water flow there that occurs twice daily? It's as strong as any raging river due to the tides.

How many times has the viaduct foundations been replaced in the 160 years or so its been around?

That would be four times - two tides a day would be two floods and two ebbs

Jonathan

Funny to see all the Malahide boardsies coming out to say hello :pac:

Bluetonic

cbreeze wrote: »

That would be four times - two tides a day would be two floods and two ebbs

I'm talking only about the retreating tide as the Broadmeadows estuary is higher than the sea on the other side so the tide coming in has far far less force than the retreating tide which is very powerful as it drains back out of the estuary and drops by a significant height.