Irish Railway Record Society

TRACK  

Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Strand    Track re-laying using CWR (Continuous Welded Rail) on concrete sleepers resumed on Monday-Friday in February. The 07.10 Maynooth-Rosslare Europort and 13.25 Rosslare Europort-Maynooth were substituted by bus between Enniscorthy and Rosslare. Track renewed was between MP81¹/₈-84³/₄. This leaves 8 miles of jointed track remaining south of Gorey, including the section along Wexford Quay, which is restricted to 5-mph.

The connections to the former fertiliser factory at Shelton Abbey from the mainline have been removed, as have points within the former yard. The factory is being dismantled and shipped to China . Traps have been installed in the extended bay platform at Dún Laoghaire . This allows trains be stored in the platform.

Limerick-Rosslare Europort   Renewal of trailing crossover No. 71 in Limerick on Sunday 1 February saw morning trains substituted by bus between Limerick and Limerick Junction.

With the line between Waterford and Limerick Junction closed, opportunity has been taken to refurbish and re-lay track. Second hand panels were used to re-lay between MP34¹/₄-36 between Tipperary and Cahir. Second hand panels were also used to re-lay between MP76¹/₄-77 between Waterford Abbey Junction and the Barrow Bridge .

Athlone-Westport/Ballina The remaining siding at Castlebar was taken out of use on Tuesday 27 January and subsequently lifted. The siding was located on the up side and faced towards Westport . It was accessed by a ground frame released by the Electric Train Staff for the Manulla Junction-Westport section and was used for storage of permanent way trains during track re-laying in recent years. Up direction colour light stop signal MJ11 and associated distant signal MJR11 protecting this siding were removed. Subsidiary token instruments in Castlebar and Manulla Junction were also removed. There is now only single line plain track through Castlebar.

The Westport-Athlone line was closed west of Castlerea between 08.00 and 20.00 on Tuesday 17 February to allow renewal of the turnout at the Claremorris end of Ballyhaunis. Westport trains were substituted by bus between Westport and Castlerea, while Ballina branch trains skipped the Manulla Junction stop and operated between Ballina and Claremorris.

Dublin-Belfast There were delays and disruptions due to single line working between Drogheda and Dundalk from Monday 9 to Friday 13 February and from Monday 16 to Friday 20 February. Work involved packing and tamping. Delays to Enterprise services ranged from 20 to 45 minutes. The 06.45 Gorey-Dun-dalk, 07.57 Pearse-Dundalk, 10.00 Dundalk-Connolly and 10.41 Dundalk-Gorey were subst-ituted by bus between Drogheda and Dundalk .

Cork-Cobh   To allow excavation for drains between Rushbrooke and Cobh , MP175¹/₂-176¹/₄, there was a full line closure from 09.40 on Saturday 7 February until 16.50 Sunday 8 February and the same times the following weekend. All off peak services were substituted by bus on Monday-Friday from 15 February until Friday 16 April, with a break for Easter.

Mallow-Tralee   Both main road and loop road in Farranfore station were excavated and re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers in March. All stations between Mallow and Tralee have now been re-laid with CWR except the bay platforms at Killarney and Tralee .

Dublin-Sligo   Work on extending the up and down Sligo line platforms in Mullingar commenced in March. Work also commenced installing track in the former Cavan Bay , which was on the goods yard side of the up Sligo platform and faced towards Dublin . Concrete sleepers and flat-bottomed rail were used. By early April, the high wall between the station and the former goods yard had been partially demolished and the ‘Jail’ siding on the up side at the Dublin end of the station had been re-laid. UB58 at 49 miles 1,620 yards is to be widened to allow the track at the Dublin end of the station to be slewed and the curve for the Sligo line to be eased.

Cherryville Junction- Waterford    A section of the line between Lavistown West Junction and Kilkenny is to be diverted to accommodate the extension of the N77 Kilkenny Ring Road northwards from the Dublin Road Roundabout. The section is between MP28³/₄-29¹/₂. On 9 January, CIÉ ‘in exercise of the powers conferred upon it by Part 3 of the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act, 2001’, applied to the Minister for Transport for a Railway Order to construct, operate, and maintain the new section of line and a Public Enquiry was held in the County Hall, Kilkenny, on 6 April.

Limerick-Ennis-Athenry   Work continues on improving views at accommodation crossings between Limerick and Ennis. Hedge cutting has taken place between Craughwell and Ardrahan in the out-of-use Ennis-Athenry section.

Ballybrophy-Killonan Junction   The maximum line speed continues to be 40-mph. In addition, there were 15 temporary lower speed limits over the 52³/₄-mile line in March. These were mainly 25-mph and included a stretch of 6 miles and another of 2¹/₄ miles.

Portlaoise Depot   Following completion of the five year track re-laying programme at the end of 2003, IÉ reduced the number of contract staff employed at Portlaoise concrete sleeper factory by twenty-eight. They were offered alternative employment on the DART upgrade project and about one third took up this offer.

In early 2004, IÉ sought further reductions with newspapers indicating between fifteen and twenty-one permanent staff positions will be eliminated by a voluntary severance scheme. IÉ said that staff will be trained in other activities in the depot in order to reduce the lay offs when the sleeper making section is shut down. Other activities in the depot include rail welding, assembling track panels and scrapping old panels. Funding is only available for 26 miles of track re-laying over the next five years, down from 400 miles re-laid between 1999 and 2003.

BRIDGES AND TUNNELS

The Bridge Gang has carried out major structural repairs to Span 11 of the Barrow Bridge , UB140, on the Waterford-Rosslare line. This work was completed at the end of March.

Repairs are also being carried out to Thomastown Viaduct, UB87 at 39 miles 810 yards, on the Kilkenny-Waterford line in preparation for a composite deck renewal, which is programmed for later this year. The bearings on this bridge were replaced with ‘Elastomeric’ type bearings in the shutdown of the line between 19-28 April.

Major repairs are also taking place on UB186, 39 miles 440 yards, Dublin-Rosslare line, which is the 5-span bridge over the Avonmore River at Rathdrum. OB699 (96 miles 240 yards) at the south end of Roscommon station was renewed on Sunday 4 April as part of the bridge renewal safety plan to eliminate all Cast Iron Jack Arch Bridges. On Sunday 18 April, a new overbridge was installed at Shandra, MP44³/₈, in the Portarlington-Geashill section.

SIGNALLING

Mini-CTC Project  The construction sequence for the Mini-CTC project is Galway , Waterford , Tralee and Sligo lines. The second line to be commissioned was the Cherryville Junction-Waterford West section on Wednesday 28 April and represented an investment of €6.5m.

Work also continued on the other lines. By mid-April, signals and cables were in place in Banteer, with signal posts and foundations for location cases constructed in Millstreet.

Train Radio   The Cherryville Junction-Waterford line was converted from the open channel radio system linked to each signal cabin (Mode C) to the standard mainline train radio system with the commissioning of Mini-CTC. The signalman in Waterford ECP can be contacted on Channel 61.

From 25 February, train drivers have been able to directly contact the signalman in the Heuston SER (Signal Equipment Room) who controls the signals in Heuston station, Inchicore and its approaches, over the mainline train radio system. Before this, they contacted CTC in Connolly who put them through to Heuston SER.

Axle Counters   To identify their location for operators of trolleys and permanent way machinery, the location cases adjacent to axle counter detection heads on both Galway and Waterford lines are now marked with two horizontal reflective white strips facing trains entering the section and one reflective white strip facing the trains leaving the section. Trolleys and other such items are to be removed from the track before encountering the detector heads.

LEVEL CROSSINGS

31 March, new Braking Point Marker Boards were brought into use in advance of four level crossings protected by colour light distant signals in the Thomastown-Waterford section. The crossings were Rossinan (XW169 at 53 miles 1,012 yards), Ballygeoghan No.1 and No.2 (XW175 at 54 miles 858 yards and XW176 at 54 miles 990 yards) and Milltown (XW181 at 55 miles 1,144 yards). The colour light distant signals were installed many years ago closer to the level crossing than current practice and also without a stop signal in advance of the level crossing, which is now current practice.

Upgrading   On Sunday 28 March, Ashfield level crossing XA068 at MP67⁷/₈ in the Tullamore-Clara section was converted from an A-type with road user operated metal gates to a four-barrier type. Standard flashing lights are provided to alert road users. Two-aspect green-yellow distant and green-red stop signals give signal protection to the crossing in up and down directions. Previously there were no signals. The crossing keeper controls the signals from a local control panel, but it is later planned to transfer control to the CTC in Connolly.

Closure   In January, IÉ applied for planning permission for the construction of a new road to allow closure of Commons AHB level crossing (XB018) at MP49¹/₂ between Drogheda and Dundalk . The existing road through the level crossing ends in a dead-end following the construction of the M1 motorway and has virtually no traffic.

CAHIR VIADUCT

The contract to re-build the viaduct was awarded to a consortium led by IrishEnco (See JOURNAL 153). The work is estimated to cost €2.8m and it is expected that the line will re-open to traffic in July in time for the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore Knock pilgrimage on 1 August. Initially, work was mainly off-site, but scaffolding was in evidence at the viaduct in March. Work on site was much in evidence at the end of April with cranes at river’s edge and at the station end of the bridge.

The repaired bridge will feature a new concrete deck slab inside the existing box girders. The slab will rest on new structural steel cross members, which are suspended from the top of the existing box girders by new external steel frames that are in effect saddles on top of each box girder. The box girders will be repaired and will be fitted with additional internal bracing. The track will remain to one side of the bridge.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 154, published June 2004.

Copyright © 2004 by Irish Railway Record Society Ltd.
Revised: August 03, 2004 .