Bridge collapse in Ireland closes Dublin-Belfast line.

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Thanks to RailCornwall who drew my attention to this news story on another thread. I thought it deserved it's own topic.

From Independent.ie

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/packed-train-seconds-from-disaster-in-bridge-collapse-1866930.html

and RTE^‡(resolve) (video clip -RealPlayer needed)

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0822/6news_av.html?2598049,null,230

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Dublin train 'back on track'

The Enterprise train from Belfast to Dublin has returned to normal service following weeks of repairs after the track collapsed into the sea.

In August, a major disaster was narrowly averted after 20 metres of rail track in north Dublin began to give way.

It is estimated passenger numbers have dropped by 60% since then. Translink said it has cost them up to ^2m.

Trains will run at lower speeds over the new section for the next month.

Irish Rail said the incident has cost them about 10m euro. It said this sum included money spent on engineering works, lost revenue and the cost of providing buses between Drogheda and Dublin.

Translink has offered reduced fares for six weeks to encourage passengers back to the train service.

Last week, Irish railways spokesman Barry Kenny said they would be working hard to win passengers back.
"When we start back on schedule for 16 November, it will be the full service again on the Enterprise and we are working with Translink," he said. "We are going to have quite a lot of promotions obviously to bring people back. We are also quite pleased we are going to have the service back ahead of the Christmas season."

The Enterprise service is jointly run by Translink and the Republic of Ireland's Iarnrod Eireann.

[willc]

Perhaps not quite normal, as there appear to be some pretty stringent speed restrictions in place for the next few weeks, if the Irish Times is to be believed

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1114/1224258814850.html

Their report also says that some Sea Scouts had warned Iarnrod Eireann about signs of damage to the piers days before the collapse.

[willc]

Iarnrod Eireann report into what happened came out last week. Seems that knowledge about the exact nature of the structure and its foundations had been forgotten over the years, so maintenance focused on the bridge structure and not on a causeway that it sits on, which led to the collapse due to scouring damage to the causeway.

Irish Times links here:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0311/breaking68.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0312/1224266107774.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0312/1224266107766.html
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0315/1224266294150.html

Irish Rail Accident Investigation Unit report will follow.