According to a report in today’s Irish Times (29th August 2009) by Frank McDonald, as the Broadmeadow Estuary is an EU Special Area of Conservation, an Environmental Impact Statement may be required for any new bridge to carry the railway line.
And you still want us to vote for the Lisbon Treaty?
They say it is hard to get, but our post last Friday about the bridge collapse at the Broadmeadow Estuary in Malahide comes up as No. 1 on Google when you search for “Malahide Estuary bridge collapse”.
The BBC has reported that a scout leader warned Irish Rail about potential damage to the collapsed Malahide bridge only a week before the span fell into the Broadmeadow Estuary. Needless to say, IR dismissed his concerns, brushing the damage off as ‘cosmetic’.
Reminds me of the letter I sent to the Liffey Champion many years ago claiming, amongst other things, that the state of the track between Leixlip Louisa Bridge and Blakestown LC was dangerous - getting a response from Barry Kenny (then as now IR PR guru) - to the effect that I was peddling conspiracy theories. Pity that around the same time as this was happening, IR was undergoing an extensive safety audit brought about by a number of incidents and lo and behold, in Appendix VIII of the report subsequently issued, the section between Leixlip Louisa Bridge and Blakestown LC was given a safety inadequacy score of 60% by the independent consultants carrying out the assessment (5% was regarded as best practice with anything in excess of this being below best practice).
I suppose it had to happen. HGV Ireland News has reported that the transfer of the coca cola traffic from Ballina to Dublin to the railways is a blow to haulage contractors in the West. That will be a potential 4000 less bridge strikes in Ireland, though; 4000 less tacographs tampered with, 4000 less journeys by drivers in excess of maximum driving hours……
RTE News has reported that erosion of the seabed in the vicinity of the embankment and viaduct across the Broadmeadow Estuary may be the cause of the viaduct collapse last Friday.
And yes, I did take photographs.
There has been a news report on Today FM advising that the railway bridge across the Broadmeadow Estuary at Malahide has collapsed. More info when we have it. There are, however, many worrying issues that this may cause.
The ARROW service depot is in Drogheda (due to incompetence). How many ARROWs are stuck north of the gap? How many Enterprise units are stuck north of the gap (serviced in Inchicore) and to think that you want to service the DARTs in Drogheda?
However, having said that, the restoration of the railway to Navan from Dunboyne just got a step closer.
RTE News have a few photos on their site.
The Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey TD, has issued a statement on the matter.
Life is unfair. No sooner than Irish Rail are heading towards re-establishment of train services between Galway and Limerick, someone goes and not only pips them to the post, but goes one better! According to the Irish Times (8th August 2009), Harbour Air Ireland Ltd have announced plans for a seaplane service from Foynes to Galway.
But you can beat them. After all, you have a railway line between Limerick and Foynes which you can run passenger trains on! Didn’t you tell a High Court judge that Limerick County Council couldn’t add it to their Record of Protected Structures because it was an operational railway?
The Irish Times has picked up on the breakdown in reliability in Irish Rail’s online seat reservation system - noting that it is not uncommon for a person with a prebooked seat to arrive at the train to find “a large, red-faced, cider-swilling man playing 21 with his buddies” in your prebooked seat.
My pal Barry Kenny expessed the hope that ‘a more mature passenger body, as they grow familiar with the reservation system, might be able to look after themselves.’
Maybe, Barry, when your company does German levels of service and punctuality, we, the great unwashed Irish, will respond with German levels of social compliance.
Is it a revival in freight traffic I see? Careful. Don’t let the beancounters in Amiens Street hear about it or else it will be stopped. The Irish Times reported today that Coca Cola will commence transporting its concentrate manufactured in Ballina to Dublin Port by rail for export around the world. There will be a twice weekly service from Ballina to Dublin with the traffic and it is estimated that this will take 4000 lorry trips off the road annually.
There is one question I have. How are the trains getting from the Cork line to North Wall? After all, isn’t the non existent Phoenix Park Tunnel too dangerous to allow trains through it?
The story of the recommencement of freight services was also carried on Rail-News.com