Ireland: rail bridge collapses

[John Ashworth]

Line collapse hits train service

Page last updated at 12:10 GMT, Saturday, 22 August 2009 13:10 UK
BBC

The Belfast-to-Dublin train service will be disrupted for weeks after part of the line collapsed on Friday.

A train driver spotted subsidence on the line while his train crossed the viaduct across the Broadmeadow Estuary near Malahide in north County Dublin.

He managed reach Malahide Station and report the incident, but a 20-metre section of the line collapsed into the water a short time later.

A bus transfer service is operating between Drogheda and Connolly Station.

Iarnród Éireann said the line collapse could have resulted in tragedy.

Company spokesman Barry Kenny said: "As the train was passing over, the driver observed that on the north-bound line the viaduct was starting to give way.

"Thankfully, he was in a position to get his train into Malahide and subsequently a 20-metre section of the viaduct completely gave way.

"I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we were within seconds of a potential tragedy."


Inspection had cleared fallen rail bridge

Engineer checked bridge just three days before it collapsed

Colin Coyle
From The Sunday Times
August 23, 2009

A railway bridge on the Dublin-Belfast line that collapsed on Friday evening was inspected by a structural engineer three days earlier after fears that it might have been damaged during the “high-rainfall summer”, Irish Rail admitted.

While all railway bridges receive a full structural survey every two years, the viaduct over the estuary between Malahide and Donabate in north Dublin was checked on Tuesday, several months before its scheduled inspection. The viaduct’s last full examination was in 2007.

The inspection suggested that there were no serious structural flaws with the bridge, the company said yesterday. An Irish Rail official also walked across the bridge on Friday morning to do a routine track inspection.

“The line is walked three times a week but the focus is on the track,” said Barry Kenny, an Irish Rail spokesman. “If there was noticeable damage to the bridge, it may have been below the waterline at that stage of the day.”

The company said that high tides at the estuary were almost certainly a factor in the collapse of the bridge.

Thousands of daily commuters now face at least three months of disrupted services. Bus transfers will be needed between Drogheda and Connolly Station in Dublin, causing long delays.

In a report by International Risk Management Services (IRMS) in 1998, several stretches of embankment at the Malahide viaduct were deemed to be among the most unsafe stretches of railtrack in Ireland. Embankments at the north and west of the viaduct were given a 60% security risk rating on a scale in which 5% signified best practice.

An embankment to the east was given a 40% rating. The report also called for routine inspections of underwater bridge foundations by divers.

Kenny said more than €430m was invested in safety improvements in the five years following the IRMS report and that divers regularly inspect bridges. However, he admitted that a diver had not examined the foundations of the bridge during the examination of the viaduct on Tuesday.

Fergus O’Dowd, Fine Gael spokesman on transport and a regular user of the Dublin-Drogheda train, said it was “extraordinary” that no structural defects had been found last Tuesday. “It was a sudden collapse without any warning signs. It could have been a huge catastrophe,” he said.

Irish Rail has launched an internal review into why 65ft of the viaduct fell into the sea at about 6.25pm on Friday. A separate inquiry has been launched by the Department of Transport’s Rail Accident Investigation Unit.

The first to notice a problem with the bridge was Keith Farrell, the driver of the 18.07 train from Balbriggan to Pearse station. While crossing the bridge he noticed an embankment beginning to give way. When he reached Malahide station Farrell, who had between 40 and 50 passengers, notified the company about the “subsidence”.

Kenny said that had the bridge collapsed, circuits on the track would have notified Irish Rail and automatically stopped all trains. But he admitted that “a very serious incident” was narrowly averted. About 90 trains cross the bridge every day. The track along the route was relaid in 1997, which means it is one of the newest in the country.

Farrell, 33, said his “first inkling” that something was wrong was when he noticed water “splashing up to a high level”.

“In that location it’s not a normal thing to happen, so I looked at the northbound line and saw that the viaduct was giving way and the track was hanging,” he said. “Immediately then I could feel the ballast moving on the line beneath my train and realised the danger we were in.”

Farrell, who said his legs “went to jelly with the shock” when he arrived in Malahide, coasted back to the station in line after remembering his defensive driving training.

Rail Users Ireland, a consumer lobby group, said it was extremely concerned at the “unprecedented” collapse of part of the viaduct.

“It is nothing short of a miracle that the collapse did not result in a serious accident and loss of life,” a spokesman said.

The group said the collapse raises “serious questions” about Irish Rail’s maintenance and inspection regime.