Part of Dublin to Belfast rail line collapses

Our man in Havana

That should stop the trespassers.

alfaz

positron wrote: »

Got to Drogheda station at 6:45am. One half of the car park is closed for coaches. IR guys were directing everyone to the buses, there were at least half a dozen buses lined up to take commuters to Connolly, and each left as soon as they filled up. M1 traffic was smooth-ish and via Port Tunnel, coach dropped off in front of Connolly station at 7:40. That's decent job indeed, thanks to IR team! I hope getting back works just as smoothly.

Meanwhile, here's the damage up close. Bless the curiosity of young men, and capabilities of mobile phone cameras!

They did a very good job at Drogheda station. I got on the bus at 7.30 and was at Connolly at 8.25.
I was disappointed to see people giving out about the car park being closed off in Drogheda,
they have to do it to ensure there are buses to get us all to work.
Good job IR. Should be interesting to see what happens when the kids are back to school though, i'm not looking forward to that!!!

Run_to_da_hills

Bond-007 wrote: »

That should stop the trespassers.

It won't unless they have a 24 hour security present. You will always get dare devils wishing to walk the tightrope.

KC61

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Cent...hide-Station-/

Additional Bus Services due to incident at Broadmeadow Estuary, North of Malahide Station Monday, August 24, 2009

Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers that due to a serious incident at Broadmeadow Estuary, North of Malahide Station the following additional bus services are operating Monday to Friday.

An additional 33x rail link bus service in the mornings will depart from Mourne View, Skerries via the Port Tunnel to Tara Street DART Station and in the evenings return from Lower Abbey Street.

From Mourne View
06:30, 07:00, 07:30, 07:35,
07:45, 08:10, 08:15, 08:25,
08:30, 08:40, 08:55, 09:00.

From Lower Abbey Street
14:30, 15:20, 16:10, 16:35,
16:40, 16:50, 17:00, 17:10,
17:20, 17:30, 17:40, 17:50.


Shuttle Service from Donabate Station to Malahide Station
07:00, 07:20, 07:40, 08:00,
08:05, 08:20, 08:40, 09:05.

Shuttle Service from Malahide Station to Donabate Station
16:00, 16:20, 16:40, 17:00,
17:05, 17:20, 17:40, 18:05.

BrianD

positron wrote: »

Meanwhile, here's the damage up close. Bless the curiosity of young men, and capabilities of mobile phone cameras!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-iV2nDopvY

Couldn't help but notice the surge of the water under the viaduct, Seems very powerful. There is apparently a dam at the viaduct that keeps the water level up in the estuary.

I was looking at the photos in the papers today. It doesn't look like any of the supporting piers gave way. It looks like that the deck failed where it connects to the pier. Perhaps the pier wa sufficiently damaged to allow this to happen.

rhapsody

Glad to hear that there wasn't too much chaos this morning and that the special buses from Drog station were well organised. I'm thankful I don't work Mondays, will be jumping into the fun tomorrow morning!
Just wondering about anyone getting the 9am from Drog station- where there a good few buses on hand, how long did it take to get in to Dublin, where exactly did they drop off?

westtip

I used to fish off this bridge in the early 1970s, myself and my cousin used to take the train out to Malahide walk up the platform and saunter up the line to the bridge. The fishing was brilliant, due to the power of the tidal surge at high tide which took a spinner out miles - mainly aiming to pull in small Bass, and mackeral that had been washed through to the lagoon. If you hooked a fish (even a single mackeral) and had to bring it in against the tidal surge the fight was brilliant. Essentially at high tide because the estuary is blocked by the man made barrier of the rail line on either side of the estuary, with a relatively small gap for the flow of water there has always been a tidal surge through this gap which is the bridged part - surprised it hasn't fallen down years ago with the added rail traffic in the past decade and the pressure the bridge daily takes from the tide flowing in and out. It also gave young teenage boys a tremendous rush when you had to cling to the railings of the bridge and your fishing tackle as the Belfast express shot through. Glad it didn't fall down in August 1974 - I might have been washed away.

positron

rhapsody wrote: »

... where exactly did they drop off?

Not sure if the 9am service would be different, but the one I took this morning (around 6:45am) dropped off in front of the Connolly station (near the luas/taxi stand).

I wonder where they are going to pick up this evening, would it be the same place or the Connolly station car park (at the back, thru Platform no. 2)..?

KC61

positron wrote: »

Not sure if the 9am service would be different, but the one I took this morning (around 6:45am) dropped off in front of the Connolly station (near the luas/taxi stand).

I wonder where they are going to pick up this evening, would it be the same place or the Connolly station car park (at the back, thru Platform no. 2)..?

The Irish Rail website says that it will be from the car park - realistically that is the only place that it could be done from without causing major disruption.

alfaz

positron wrote: »

Not sure if the 9am service would be different, but the one I took this morning (around 6:45am) dropped off in front of the Connolly station (near the luas/taxi stand).

I wonder where they are going to pick up this evening, would it be the same place or the Connolly station car park (at the back, thru Platform no. 2)..?

I spoke to a chap from IR outside connolly this morning, thats exactly where it will be. Platform 2 out the back to the car park

IrlJidel

Looks like openstreetmap.org map has already been updated to reflect the change.

Our man in Havana

IrlJidel wrote: »

Looks like openstreetmap.org map has already been updated to reflect the change.

Very good!

markpb

KC61 wrote: »

The Irish Rail website says that it will be from the car park - realistically that is the only place that it could be done from without causing major disruption.

What about Sheriff St underneath the train station itself - it would be easy to direct people to and has easy access to the port tunnel.

murphaph

Translink clearly don't believe IE's "3 month" estimate any more than we do....

BBC News

Hungerford

murphaph wrote: »

Translink clearly don't believe IE's "3 month" estimate any more than we do....

Translink do tend to more honest in their customer communications than IE. Funnily enough, unlike IE, they have also made an executive available for interview rather than a PR man.

mike65

I bet Barry Kenny was happy to see that on the telly.

zagmund

Are these guys related to yer man Pikey . . . the genius who was recorded climbing into a depression under the tracks somewhere in Kildare I think as a train went thundering overhead ?

I love the question towards the end . . . "are we standing on a pillar now ?" . . . implicit in this question is the realisation that the bridge isn't exactly stable or anything and there's a torrent of water flowing by a few metres below.

Not saying I mightn't have done something similar in my youth, but I'm a little more sensible now. I think the 'worst' I did was flattening 1p coins (or 2p if I was flush) by leaving them on the tracks at Booterstown and watching to see where they flew off to as the trains went by.

z

BrianD wrote: »

Couldn't help but notice the surge of the water under the viaduct, Seems very powerful. There is apparently a dam at the viaduct that keeps the water level up in the estuary.

I was looking at the photos in the papers today. It doesn't look like any of the supporting piers gave way. It looks like that the deck failed where it connects to the pier. Perhaps the pier wa sufficiently damaged to allow this to happen.

fh041205

Monasterevin I think was those lads. Flattening coins is a lost art nowadays. What better way is there to spend an evening?

opensourceguy

BrianD wrote: »

Couldn't help but notice the surge of the water under the viaduct, Seems very powerful. There is apparently a dam at the viaduct that keeps the water level up in the estuary.

I was looking at the photos in the papers today. It doesn't look like any of the supporting piers gave way. It looks like that the deck failed where it connects to the pier. Perhaps the pier wa sufficiently damaged to allow this to happen.

Last night while thinking about the silence that has replaced the regular commuter rail rumble here on the upper Broadmeadows estuary, it struck me that one way of monitoring subsidence and unseen structural defects would be by the sound vibration pattern.

So I wondered whether anyone had a recording of the sound of recent crossings of the estuary and then it struck me that I had taken a video of a train crossing on 4 August, 2009, only 17 days prior to the collapse.

The video was taken from far away and I suspect even a CSI investigator would have trouble getting anything useful out of the sound, but the video does show a telephoto shot of a train just as it passes over the bad spot. I'll upload the video and some screenshots to my opensourcemechanic blog as soon as I have time, probably later this evening.

Hungerford

opensourceguy wrote: »

The video was taken from far away and I suspect even a CSI investigator would have trouble getting anything useful out of the sound, but the video does show a telephoto shot of a train just as it passes over the bad spot. I'll upload the video and some screenshots to my opensourcemechanic blog as soon as I have time, probably later this evening.

You may also want to pass on your video to the RAIU, the rail accident investigation unit. Their contact details are:

Railway Safety Commission,
Trident House,
Blackrock,
County Dublin,
Ireland.

Tel. + 353 1 206 8110

I'd hasten to add that anyone who has evidence that may be of assistance to the investigation should contact them. It's important that they get to the bottom of precisely what happened.

thecross1

why do ir say 3 months if its going to be 6 months or more

mike65

Kenny on Last Word

www.todayfm.com

ixoy

thecross1 wrote: »

why do ir say 3 months if its going to be 6 months or more

Well they say at least 3 months, which basically also means it could be 6 months. I think 3 months is based on an optimal perfect-fix, which of course won't happen as they don't know the extent of the damage yet. It might also reduce the size of the lynch mob...

sdanseo

If one span of that bridge can go, likely they're all as weak as the one that fell. Mark my words, the entire bridge will have to be replaced. Say goodbye to the trains until this time next year.

No sign of activity passing the bridge a few minutes ago, not even a single hi-vis. IR eejits couldn't organise a prayer in a church.

Bluetonic

Initial findings indicate to changing sea currents which rapidly eroded the sea bed and weakened the structure from beneath.

(and no I don't have a link at the moment)

Sponge Bob

Bluetonic wrote: »

Initial findings indicate to changing sea currents which rapidly eroded the sea bed and weakened the structure from beneath.

Since the IE Inspectors passed it only last Tuesday , like WOW . Now that is rapid erosion !!!!

murphaph

A preliminary assessment has identified significant erosion of the seabed as a possible reason for the collapse of a section of the railway viaduct near Malahide.

Up to 10,000 passengers are facing disruption for the next three months after the bridge across the Broadmeadow Estuary collapsed last Friday.


The collapse has severely disrupted intercity and commuter rail services on the Dublin to Belfast line.

In a statement this evening, Iarnród Éireann said it is believed that in a relatively short time-frame, possibly in recent weeks, that a small breach occurred in a causeway plateau within the seabed.

It said its investigation would also examine other factors, including inspection and maintenance reports and procedures.

The company said it is immediately establishing a team to carry out a detailed inspection of bridges and viaducts across running water throughout the network.

It also said a company board committee is to be established to oversee the investigation and will retain independent advisors.


Iarnród Éireann has the latest information

Commuters who normally use the Belfast to Dublin rail line have been warned to add around 30 minutes to their usual journey time.

Iarnrod Éireann put arrangements in place to provide extra buses for affected passengers.

Belfast Enterprise services to Dublin are running with passengers being transferred by bus between Drogheda and Connolly Station.

A special bus service will operate directly between Drogheda and Dublin Connolly.

Rail tickets are valid on these services. Customers from Dundalk, Laytown and Gormanston can connect to this service by using the Dundalk/Drogheda to Skerries rail services. This service will utilise Dublin Port Tunnel.


Iarnród Éireann said this morning's operation went smoothly with buses collecting passengers from Drogheda and north county Dublin for the transfer into the city without any major delays.

from RTE via RUI forums.

I'm really beginning to think this may be related to the dredging Victor mentioned earlier..

Bluetonic

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Since the IE Inspectors passed it only last Tuesday , like WOW . Now that is rapid erosion !!!!

They did not, nor claim to, inspect the seabed.

The track and bridge was inspected and it there was no damage or movement to it.

I'm not too sure if you saw the tides last week. I did and have seen the unprecedented erosion further up the coast.

I guess people like to knock Irish Rail no matter what the facts are.

Sponge Bob

Bluetonic wrote: »

They did not, nor claim to, inspect the seabed.

I guess people like to knock Irish Rail no matter what the facts are.

IE claimed they 'fully inspect' the bridge every two years and that this full inspection was on Tuesday last .

So we found them out and now know that 'a full inspection' by IE is not a full inspection at all and that any bridge element that is under water is not inspected .

Makes me nervous for the bridge in Athlone so it does

P_1

Well I assume that the new bridge is going to have to be something similar to the new Beckett Bridge in town.

If the seabed is unstable then the remaining piers are going to have to be knocked as we may well have a repeat of this incident in the near future.