Cork Kent station closed - partial roof collapse

danotroy

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=559855917417113


Looks like kent station platform one and two has just collapsed!

Victor

https://twitter.com/IrishRail

Iarnród Éireann ‏@IrishRail 8m

Kent Station Cork: serious damage to roof canopy platforms 1 & 2 (Cobh/Midleton train platforms). Station closed, more info shortly

danotroy

Victor wrote: »

I'd like supporting evidence of this or this thread is being closed.

Moderator

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/roof-at-cork-railway-station-collapses-in-storm-1.1631691

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/part-of-roof-collapses-at-cork-train-station-617570.html

Cian92

It's all over 96fm, trains are terminating in Mallow and people are being bussed to Cork.

Skid X

Same story here

https://twitter.com/irishexaminer/status/413330720371654656

danotroy

facebook link is from a friends page he just got off train and it collapsed! he took a video put it seems its not working for you sorry ill try and sort it

Cian92

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=558399080908772&set=a.506012939480720.1073741825.350335405048475&type=1

danotroy

Looks shocking on the video, I initially thought it was a generic facebook video as it kept cropping up on my feed. Ive asked him to open it up to the public! collapsed on the train as passengers were exiting according to him.

mike65

This is the wind I take it? How old is the Kent Station structure, always looked very venerable.

Victor

http://www.irishrail.ie/cat_news.jsp?i=4974&p=116&n=237

Cork Station Closed Until Further Notice
18 December 2013

Cork Station is currently closed due to serious damage to the roof on Platform 1 & 2.

Cork - Heuston Services will operate to and from Mallow only until further notice.

Cork - Cobh and Cork - Midleton services are suspended until further notice.

Updates will be posted on the website and on Twitter.

mike65 wrote: »

This is the wind I take it? How old is the Kent Station structure, always looked very venerable.

1893. It was built to connect the Dublin and east Cork lines. The previous terminal station is south of the current station.

Conradd

Definetely 1 person injured

Conradd

Scary stuff

Notorious93

3 people confirmed injured so far but not serious apparently

danotroy

Source Jimmy Lalor on Cobh edition open Discussion page

pwurple

Yikes. It was high winds and heavy rain this morning alright down here.

Of all the times of year though... all those people who would be travelling home on those trains.

Conradd

View from main entrance

Knob Longman

Of course we won't get any accountability over it, But only a pack of total eejits would let the roof get into such a vulnerable state.

Victor

Platform 1-2 is closest to the car park.

http://binged.it/1cbsNdd


Platform 1-2 before the collapse

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cork_trains/8377175804/in/faves-maros13o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brusse/4632722718/in/faves-maros13o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/finnyus/5901420163/in/faves-maros13o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/finnyus/7169466443/in/faves-maros13o/


Platform 3, with a partial view of Platform 1-2 before the collapse

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75088377@N06/7165488545/in/faves-maros13o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/infomatique/5739861750/

Effects

Sleephead wrote: »

Thats what happens when Dublin gets all the infrastructure money.

Everyone else gets a lick of paint and a kick up the hole

Quit hating on Dublin. There's a reason you think we get all the money.

Victor

Sleephead wrote: »

Thats what happens when Dublin gets all the infrastructure money.

Everyone else gets a lick of paint and a kick up the hole

Constructive posts only please.

Moderator

---

Cork station has had the concourse re-done, new staff facilities, work to the maintenance buildings and a new entrance facing the River Lee has received planning permission. New stations were opened in the last few years at Carrigtwohill and Midleton and the other stations have received upgrades. Work at Heuston Station benefits passengers travelling between Cork and Dublin.

Sleephead

Victor wrote: »

Constructive posts only please.

Moderator

---

Cork station has had the concourse re-done, new staff facilities, work to the maintenance buildings and a new entrance facing the River Lee has received planning permission. New stations were opened in the last few years at Carrigtwohill and Midleton and the other stations have received upgrades. Work at Heuston Station benefits passengers travelling between Cork and Dublin.

Its an opinion pertinent to the dilapidated state of the station no?

coylemj

Pascal Sheehy on RTE R1 Drivetime now talking about it, young woman in her 20s injured. Initial reports claimed people were trapped under the roof but he says that was not the case.

Area affected is the eastern side of the station, platforms 1 & 2. Train had just left prior to the canopy being blown off, otherwise things could have been worse. Gusts were particularly high at the time (about 3 p.m.) - private houses on the road outside had roof tiles blown off as well as the damage to the railway station.

stop

Barry K on newstalk now.

'a twister' according to Bobby Kerr hit it.

Barry Kenny:
50mph speed restrictions for the night between Ballinasloe and Galway, Dromod and Sligo, Castlerea and Westport due to risk of downed trees.

Hungerford

Victor wrote: »

Cork station has had the concourse re-done, new staff facilities, work to the maintenance buildings and a new entrance facing the River Lee has received planning permission.

I'm quite unnerved by this. It is possibly another maintenance failure at Irish Rail and serious questions need to be asked.

Slunk

Why is it automatically a maintenance issue. Usual crap blaming IR for any problems that occur. There were very high winds which also caused damage to nearby houses. These things happen. Stop looking to blame someone and be thankful nobody was seriously injured.

Hungerford

Slunk wrote: »

These things happen. Stop looking to blame someone and be thankful nobody was seriously injured.

Irish Rail have had a tendency to defer maintenance on stations - the roof at Pearse Station in Dublin has needed attention for more than a decade but still hasn't received it.

stop

Who will investigate this? RAIU, HSA, RSC, Gardai?

fastrac

120 yrs old.

Red Nissan

stop wrote: »

Barry K on newstalk now. 'a twister' according to Bobby Kerr hit it.

It was a convection downdraft, EICK recorded a 111km/h wind gust at the same time. This event was caused by the fierce rainfall lowering the air pressure and allowing a violent convection current to blow in.

This type of event was also the cause of the damage during the Night of the Big Wind in 1839 and that was called a hurricane, it wasn't but these wind gusts can be every bit as dangerous and damaging.

davidlacey

It shows how well these structures were built to last that length of time, all these stations have got face lifts but the main issues have not been sorted(the expensive jobs) I.e pearse and the structures of kent stations which have been mentioned earlier. But thank god no one was hurt, another wake up call for IE!

TheBandicoot

I wonder if the cost of rectifying this in terms of new roof, removal of old one, insurance/other claims/service disruption/overtime etc. etc. will in one swoop wipe out all the saving made by IE this year from fleet changes.

Victor

Slunk wrote: »

Why is it automatically a maintenance issue. Usual crap blaming IR for any problems that occur. There were very high winds which also caused damage to nearby houses. These things happen. Stop looking to blame someone and be thankful nobody was seriously injured.

It's not about blame as such, but the prevention of future occurrences. It seems this roof had recent work done to it. Compare the roofing material in the different photos. And while it stood for what could be 120 years, having only a single line of columns on a long structure like that (even if it has a bend in it) was inviting trouble eventually.

TheBandicoot wrote: »

I wonder if the cost of rectifying this in terms of new roof, removal of old one, insurance/other claims/service disruption/overtime etc. etc. will in one swoop wipe out all the saving made by IE this year from fleet changes.

I imagien something likes this would cost a few hundred thousand to fix. With any property portfolio, especially a large one, you can assume some damage every year and substantial damage occasionally. The CIÉ group self-insures for most risks.

cgcsb

I'm grateful everyone is ok, thankfully it wasn't a busy platform at the time. On the bright side, perhaps this'll be the excuse needed to renovate the station.

coylemj

IR have just tweeted that the station has partially reopened and full services to/from Ceannt will operate tomorrow, subject to 'minor delays'.....

Update: 19:30hrs

Cork Station has partially reopened after earlier closure.

The 18:00, 19:00 and 21:00 services from Heuston to Cork will operate as a train all the way to Cork.

Services from Cork to Heuston for the remainder of the evening will continue to operate as a bus transfer to Mallow with a train onwards to Heuston.

Services to Cobh and Midleton remain suspended. Bus Éireann are running services between McCarthy's Motor Point, Glanmire Road (Oppostite St. Patrick's Church) & Cobh. Rail tickets are also valid on Bus Éireann services to and from Midleton

Cork/Heuston and Cork/Cobh/Midleton services will operate as normal tomorrow morning, but may be subject to minor delays.

Services will operate from Platforms 3, 4 and 5 only. Platforms 1 & 2 will remain closed unitl further notice

http://www.irishrail.ie/cat_news.jsp?i=4974&p=116&n=237

Victor

St. Patrick's Church is between the train station and the bus station / city centre. https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=St.+Patrick%27s+Church,+Cork&hl=en&ll=51.901561,-8.463196&spn=0.001374,0.003819&sll=53.32432,-6.251695&sspn=0.1702,0.488892&oq=St.+Patrick%27s+Church,+cork&hq=St.+Patrick%27s+Church,&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork&t=m&z=18&layer=c&cbll=51.901498,-8.463517&panoid=dYT5O6Ic8CRWfLfI7qvlrQ&cbp=12,343.68,,0,-15.37

McCarthy's Motor Point is on Railway Street, between the church and the train station. https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=McCarthy%27s+Motor+Point,+Cork&hl=en&ll=51.90166,-8.462284&spn=0.002747,0.007639&sll=51.901405,-8.464376&sspn=0.001387,0.003819&hq=McCarthy%27s+Motor+Point,&hnear=Cork,+County+Cork&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=51.901661,-8.461837&panoid=JVL_b9VtCvYNtQzxhfC2Gw&cbp=12,168.07,,0,-16.48

coylemj wrote: »

IR have just tweeted that the station has partially reopened and full services to/from Ceannt will operate tomorrow

Convention is that Cork is always referred to as Cork Kent, whereas Galway is referred to as Galway Ceannt, to avoid confusion.

Jamie2k9

davidlacey wrote: »

It shows how well these structures were built to last that length of time, all these stations have got face lifts but the main issues have not been sorted(the expensive jobs) I.e pearse and the structures of kent stations which have been mentioned earlier. But thank god no one was hurt, another wake up call for IE!

Given that steel was ripped up from the ground, what sort of wake up call would IE need to stop that. If it had just being the roof then maybe but it was the complete structure and other damage was done around that area not caused by the roof.

While we all would like to blame IE for everything, this just isn't there fault. Yes the roof was old but its not the only old thing around.

By your comments the roof blown off a house in Limerick was also completely unavoidable as that was probably old as well. Who need that wake up call?

Also heard (can't confirm if true) that wall was ripped in half beside that area in Cork as well.

If you look around age doesn't play a big role, remember Faro airport in 2011. New enough terminal roof blown off by storm. Same across Scotland last week or two with roofs gone from new building and some train stations.

Victor

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Given that steel was ripped up from the ground

I don't think it was. In at least several cases, the columns snapped about a metre above the platform.

angelIRL

A few pictures of the platform canopy collapse at Cork Kent yesterday. Thankfully no one died:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/finnyus/

n0brain3r

I wonder do they do any sort of risk assessment? I know at Mullingar you can wander onto the old platforms with wooden canopy's quite easily. Are there many of these or similar structures still in use on the network?'s

cdebru

Red Nissan wrote: »

It was a convection downdraft, EICK recorded a 111km/h wind gust at the same time. This event was caused by the fierce rainfall lowering the air pressure and allowing a violent convection current to blow in.

This type of event was also the cause of the damage during the Night of the Big Wind in 1839 and that was called a hurricane, it wasn't but these wind gusts can be every bit as dangerous and damaging.

Clearly IE fault they should have known this freak wind was going to happen.:rolleyes:

n0brain3r

Would it be too much to ask that they know what structures are vulnerable to wind events and given that MET Eireann had issued a yellow warning closed the platform?? (I don't know was it upgraded to red before or after the canopy collapsed so I'll give them the benefit the doubt)

corktina

Kent is open today, but Glanmire Road (the road, not the station of that name :-) ) is still closed so allow for that.

cdebru

n0brain3r wrote: »

Would it be too much to ask that they know what structures are vulnerable to wind events and given that MET Eireann had issued a yellow warning closed the platform?? (I don't know was it upgraded to red before or after the canopy collapsed so I'll give them the benefit the doubt)

Yes they should close the station everytime the wind picks up, expecting something that has stood for 120 years to blow over. In fact no one should be allowed leave their house when Met Eireann issue a yellow warning just to be safe.

rovoagho

I think people are being very black and white here. The last time I took the train to Dublin, while I was admiring the main shed - which is fab, I don't know how anyone with any appreciation for design and/or engineering could argue differently - I did think to myself that it looked a tad overdue on the maintenance front. That's not to say it was, just that it looked like it. However it's quite possible that this is a combination of both things -- a freak wind AND a poorly planned maintenance schedule.

There are a lot of times I see calls for investigations that are totally OTT, but I think this is a case where problems with IR are easily researched. Either there's a maintenance log or there isn't. I'm sure it's being hunted for as we speak.

Red Nissan

Keep in mind all, that yesterday's wind event was typical of the storm in 1839 becoming famous as the night of the big wind.

corktina

Never mind blaming IE, it was a 15 second event, described by eyewitnesses as a Tornado, and not confined to the station.

Just a freak and fortunately almost no injuries caused.

n0brain3r

cdebru wrote: »

Yes they should close the station everytime the wind picks up, expecting something that has stood for 120 years to blow over. In fact no one should be allowed leave their house when Met Eireann issue a yellow warning just to be safe.

You're putting words in my mouth I said nothing about closing the station.

Lets wait and see how many more similar structures IE have on the network that it took this incident for them to realize need are in need of remedial work of some kind. The forecast was for 110 km/h plus winds and other locations closed. The fact that it is 120 years old should of highlighted it even further.

bg07

The other issue is that if I.E. did replace the structure with a safer modern one or make significant modifications to the existing structure before yesterday they would be chastised here for destroying railway heritage.

There wasn't as much outcry here when a brand new luas canopy at belgrade was demaged in high winds. That was even less excusable.

GBOA

Without any cast iron facts regarding the structural failure, it's interesting that so many are already suggesting where to apportion blame.

dublinman1990

I had a look at the aftermath of the incident on RTE News and BBC News at Nine last night. It did look to appear like a nasty one in which thankfully nobody was killed.

IE's maintenance log needs to seriously looked at for reworking the scheduling for all major weather event's either if it is high winds or torrential rainfall.

You were lucky there at the time IE. Don't delay further.

Losty Dublin

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I had a look at the aftermath of the incident on RTE News and BBC News at Nine last night. It did look to appear like a nasty one in which thankfully nobody was killed.
.

There was one death yesterday which was due to the high winds.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/1218/493608-weather-warning/