Ballybrophy-Limerick (Incident)

Jamie2k9

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/leaf-residue-blamed-after-limerick-train-crashes-through-level-crossing-gates-709276.html

Iarnród Éireann has described an incident involving a train that crashed through a railway level crossing while it remained open to road traffic and pedestrians as "very serious".

The company said it is investigating how the 7pm Ballybrophy to Limerick service ploughed through Spa Road Crossing, at Castleconnell, Co Limerick, last Saturday night, "while the gates were closed to rail traffic".

Iarnród Éireann spokesman Barry Kenny said the train also experienced "significant" loss of grip on the tracks as it approached the crossing, which he said could have been due to a greasy residue left on the tracks from falling leaves.

No one was injured in the incident and there were no passengers on board the scheduled service.

A statement released this afternoon by Mr Kenny said: "All aspects of the incident will be investigated to prevent a recurrence."

"It has been noted that the train experienced significant low rail adhesion at the approach to the crossing – low rail adhesion is a seasonal issue during the leaf fall season which can reduce the grip between the train wheel and the rail."

"However, this is one factor and the investigation will examine all factors – technical, mechanical and human factors - to establish the cause of the incident," he said.

It is unclear as yet how the level crossing is manned or operated.

"There were no passengers on board at the time, and no injuries occurred. This was a very serious incident, given the potential consequences had a vehicle or pedestrian been passing through the crossing at the time," the statement said.

Mr Kenny said that a train's "acceleration and deceleration can take longer" because the (leafy) grease that forms on the rails.

He added: "In this situation when you have quite an extreme incident which would be very unusual, where while the breaks were applied and working correctly, the grease on the rails simply didn't allow the grip to occur."

"Obviously we are thankful that it didn't end up been a more serious incident, and indeed, as the train was approaching and the driver saw that the gates were closed to the train, he did sound the horn continuously, so that would have served an alert to anybody who would have been in the area as well."

Firstly it's unusual for IE to speculate to media about what may of caused the accident and while I believe leafs may of played a part not for a second the cause of the accident.

Another very serious issue is no passengers and what a waste the line is.

savagethegoat

No passengers and Braking News can't spell. (oh the irony)

LXFlyer

No passengers on a train at Castleconnell after 9pm on a Saturday night bound for Limerick is hardly that surprising - that part of the trip is effectively a positioning move.

savagethegoat

half eight scheduled roughly I think

(scheduled to take one hour 37 minutes against a road time of 46 minutes ...)

LXFlyer

savagethegoat wrote: »

half eight scheduled roughly I think

(scheduled to take one hour 37 minutes against a road time of 46 minutes ...)

20:30/21:00 - it really makes no difference.


You're not going to get people travelling into Limerick at that time of night.

savagethegoat

you're not going to get anyone travelling full stop with journey times like that

n97 mini

What class of a train runs this ghost service anyone know?

LXFlyer

2 car 2800.

The market for that train is to/from Dublin from stations along the line - not to/from Limerick - any passengers that would have been on it would have got off by Castleconnell.

Jamie2k9

lxflyer wrote: »

No passengers on a train at Castleconnell after 9pm on a Saturday night bound for Limerick is hardly that surprising - that part of the trip is effectively a positioning move.

Given on weekdays passengers boarding at Ballybrophy can be as low as one, I expect it was empty for the full run.

ClovenHoof

n97 mini wrote: »

What class of a train runs this ghost service anyone know?

Irish Rail loves their empty ghost trains. Hate putting passengers on them to try and create a service. It probably adds up to hundreds of empty trains which could be used for passengers each week. Loads of potential late night services too.

*QUE the obligatory comment used since the 1950s of 'sure who works or needs transport after 7PM!*

flutered

that has a publicity stunt by comical alan kelly, he got that service up and running as a boost to his already overinflated ego

end of the road

n97 mini wrote: »

What class of a train runs this service anyone know?

mixture of 26 and 2800s. mostly 2800s. was 2700s until their withdrawal.

flutered wrote: »

that has a publicity stunt by comical alan kelly, he got that service up and running as a boost to his already overinflated ego

the service was always operating. what kelly did get implemented was a morning direct dublin service. yes ultimately it didn't work but fair play to him for at least forceing IE to bother in trying to attract business. because they certainly wouldn't have bothered off their own back because of "reasons" . just like they aren't bothering with limerick junction waterford, and above that on the ladder, south of greystones to rosslare.

laoisfan

end of the road wrote: »

mixture of 2600 and 2800s. mostly 2800s. was 2700s before their withdrawal


the service was always operating. the only thing he did was implement a dublin direct service. yes ultimately it didn't work but frankly fair play to him for at least forcing IE to actually try doing and bothering running something to try attract passengers. because IE sure as hell wouldn't have bothered because "we can't be bothered" because of "reasons"

Really? AK47 pushed for a direct service from Limerick-Dublin via Nenagh, Roscrea Ballybrophy etc when Irish Rail said it wasn't financially viable (and they were proven right). Irish Rail also advertised the hell out of it in all the towns along that line and people still couldn't be bothered to use it. We can moan about Irish Rail a lot but in this instance they were correct & proven right.

end of the road

laoisfan wrote: »

Really? AK47 pushed for a direct service from Limerick-Dublin via Nenagh, Roscrea Ballybrophy etc when Irish Rail said it wasn't financially viable (and they were proven right). Irish Rail also advertised the hell out of it in all the towns along that line and people still couldn't be bothered to use it. We can moan about Irish Rail a lot but in this instance they were correct & proven right.

only a stroke of luck that irish rail were proven right. they wouldn't have known otherwise unless it had of been ran as irish rail always find some excuse not to do anything. "its not financially viable" "its not this" "its not that" are the usuals. 20 years of being a rail user (which isn't much compared to others) (because its the only form of transport that meets my needs) has thought me that i wouldn't blame anyone including kelly for not trusting irish rail's judgement. if you want to be trusted, you have to earn it. of course nobody was going to use it. ridiculously slow and stopping rather a lot including stations between ballybroaphy and dublin wasn't going to cut it. but kelly at least forced IE to try do something and while it didn't work, the fact he achieved the miracle of forceing IE to try something different surely has to mean some bit of credit whatever your views on him or what he did

n97 mini

Ara I think that if Ballybrophy-Limerick or Rosslare-Waterford were free people still wouldn't use them in significant numbers as they don't connect where significant amounts of people want to go.

tabbey

Ballybrophy to Limerick is a zombie service. It would be sad to see it close, bur it is just as sad to see it run as it has been for several years now. Remember this used to be a secondary mainline, with proper restaurant car, and first class, and 70 mph running. Now it is largely CWR, but apparently these rails were not stressed, or for some other reason, speeds rarely exceed 30 mph.
Meanwhile, cars and buses whiz past on the motorway at more than double the speed.

Either run this line as a modern railway, or hand it over to enthusiasts to run a heritage line.

At the moment, nobody uses it because it is painfully slow.

dowlingm

IE offered significant discounts on the Nenagh branch, it should be remembered, and the Alan Kelly Express wrecked the schedule for the rest of the inbound commuter traffic to Heuston.

The branch is so bad IE usually bustitute traffic when there are works between Ballybrophy and Limerick Junction, rather than send Limerick trains over it. What should have happened a few years ago, ideally before the last Ballybrophy switch replacement, was that a significant upgrade project should have been put up for the branch - conversion to mini CTC, automating all crossings, remediation of weak bridges, CWR laying and tamping etc. - bringing it to Ennis-Athenry standard basically. The cost would have been in the 50-100m range and hopefully sense would have prevailed. Instead some of this was done under state of good repair at unknown cost and yet there remains a line not fast enough to attract significant custom, not helped by some "interesting" schedule decisions by IE in respect of Limerick facing service.