Irish Railway Record Society

TRACK

Dublin Connolly-Rosslare Strand   During autumn the last remaining sections of jointed plain track on the Dublin-Rosslare line were re-laid with the IÉ standard of UIC 54 kg/m Continuous Welded Rail on concrete sleepers. This was the last remaining radial route from Dublin not completely re-laid.

The down main platform track at Wicklow was excavated and re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers in late October. The up loop had already been renewed, as had points at both ends of the station.

A section of old CWR on concrete sleepers at MP35³/₄-36³/₄ in the Wicklow-Rathdrum section was excavated and renewed with new CWR on concrete sleepers during full line possessions over the weekends of 28/29 August and 4/5 September. Coastal defence works also took place between Greystones and Wicklow. Up to and including Sunday afternoon, trains were substituted by bus between Arklow and Greystones. Saturday Arklow trains were cancelled.

The main and loop tracks in Enniscorthy station were excavated and re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers. The track through Enniscorthy tunnel was excavated and re-laid with CWR on hardwood timber sleepers during weekday line closures in October and November. Also re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers was a short section of track immediately south of Enniscorthy tunnel. Both main and loop tracks in Rosslare Strand were excavated and re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers. The remaining sections of jointed track between Enniscorthy and Wexford North and between Wexford South and Rosslare Strand have been re-laid with CWR. For this work, all trains were substituted by bus south of Enniscorthy from 08.35 Monday to 15.30 Friday commencing 4 October until 12 November, except October Public Holiday Monday.

There is now CWR continuously from Dublin Pearse to Rosslare Europort exclusive, with the exception of the platforms at Dún Laoghaire and Dalkey, and also between the Dargle River and the level crossing in Bray and the 5-mph track along Wexford Quay.

Limerick-Rosslare Europort   Substitute buses ran between Clonmel and Waterford from Tuesday 21 until Thursday 23 December for re-laying work with second hand materials between Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir (MP54-55¹/₈).

Limerick-Athenry-Claremorris   The Limerick-Ennis line was closed for miscellaneous engineering work including ballast tamping, cable laying and signalling work on Mondays-Thursdays between 08.50 and 15.45 from 8 November until 18 November. Trains were substituted by bus.

The Divisional Engineer's inspection car ran from Claremorris to Athenry and return on Thursday 14 October and from Athenry to Ennis on Thursday 4 November.

Dublin-Sligo   Excavation and renewal of track through various stations took place during the autumn. Dromod loop (down platform) was excavated and re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers in August. Boyle loop (down platform) was excavated and re-laid in September and Longford loop (down platform) was done in October. New facing points have also been installed to extend the loop at the Dublin end of Longford station.

A new trailing turnout was installed in the up line in Mullingar on Friday 29 October to connect the new bay platform. This bay was formerly known as the Cavan Bay . The new platform will be brought into service when Mini CTC is commissioned. The facing connection between the Dublin-Sligo down line and the former main route to Athlone was removed on Tuesday 23 November and replaced with a new set of left hand turn points installed 89 metres nearer Dublin . Associated signals were also altered. The new points are equipped with a Westinghouse type 63 points machine.

Dublin-Cork   Single line working was used for daytime re-laying work between Charleville and Mallow from Monday 22 November until Thursday 25 November. Considerable disruption ensued. On Tuesday 23 November, the 14.00 Tralee-Dublin, already subject to bus transfer from Tralee to Mallow, arrived in Heuston after 19.00, instead of 18.25. Sugar beet trains were badly disrupted when empty trains were delayed. Only four trains ran before Wellingtonbridge ran out of empty wagons.

In Limerick Junction, the unusual scissors crossover located in the middle of the up main Platform (Nos. 1 and 3), which connects both platforms to the up Cork line, was renewed on the night of Saturday 18/Sunday 19 December.

Dublin-Galway   CWR has been installed on Shannon Bridge in Athlone. It is on the existing timber beams.

Galway City Council has agreed to reserve a corridor of land along the railway line in Renmore for a future bus lane. The City Planner said the proposed bus lane would not jeopardise the development of a commuter rail line as there was already a designated area for a commuter link.

Athlone-Westport   The down loop at Ballyhaunis was re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers during weekdays in November. In Claremorris, No. 3 platform (Athenry line) and part of the old ‘ Burma Road ’ used as sidings have been re-laid with concrete sleepers.

Howth Junction-Howth   The ground frame controlled crossover at the buffer stops at Howth station was removed on Sunday 21 November. This crossover had not been operational for many years. From that date, locomotives no longer have a run-round facility.

Re-laying Programme   Completion of re-laying of the Dublin-Rosslare line noted above now sees the plain track sections of all radial routes from Dublin fully re-laid with CWR on concrete sleepers. Also fully CWR are Limerick Junction-Limerick-Ennis, Cork-Cobh, Manulla Junction-Ballina, Howth Junction-Howth, Islandbridge Junction-North Strand Junction and the still out of use Newcomen Junction - Glasnevin Junction line. Some re-laying work is still taking place in stations in conjunction with the Mini-CTC project. Most single line passing loops have also been re-laid with CWR. Sidings in Connolly were re-laid with CWR during December. The Rosslare Strand-Limerick Junction, Ballybrophy-Killonan Junction and Navan-Drogheda lines are largely jointed track.

Sandite   Adhesion problems are at their worst during the autumn leaf fall season and IÉ operates old track machines converted to put down a layer of Sandite (a mixture of iron filings, sand and silica gel) to help wheels grip the rail. One machine runs Kildare-Bray-Malahide-North Wall-Maynooth-Connolly-Kildare. A second runs Limerick Junction to Portlaoise and return or Limerick Junction-Cork-Cobh and return on alternate days.

BRIDGES AND TUNNELS

The programme of upgrading major bridges continues. Following work on replacing bridge bearings during the closure for commissioning Mini-CTC in April, a ‘silent deck’ was installed on the Nore River bridge at Thomastown (UB87) at 39 miles 810 yards on the Dublin-Waterford line during a line closure from Tuesday 14 September until Friday 24 September. Passenger trains ran between Dublin and Kilkenny, with substitute buses to and from Waterford .

IÉ have invested in major work on Belvelly and Slatty Viaducts on the Cork-Cobh line. Both are double track and consist of arch truss girder bridges constructed in 1887.

Slatty (UB421) is north of Fota at 172 miles 316 yards and comprises 6 wrought-iron bowstring girder spans and a masonry arch on both approaches. Representing an investment of €3.1m, the work was carried out by the IÉ Bridge Gang and included:

-      Strengthening the approach arches to accommodate the new deck

-      Strengthening the bowstring girders

-      Repairing the piers

-      Installing a new deck

-      Installing a track direct fixing arrangement over the bridge (embedded rail).

-      Repairing the bearings

-      Painting the retained areas of the bridge

Belvelly Viaduct (UB 422), south of Fota at 172 miles 1,182 yards comprises 3 wrought-iron bowstring girder spans with approach masonry arches. The spans were completely replaced by Ascon Ltd. Representing an investment of €2.9m, work included:

-      Strengthening the existing approach arches to accommodate the new bridge spans

-      Replacing the existing bowstring girder spans

-      Repairing the piers

-      Installing a track direct fixing arrangement over the bridge (embedded rail).

-      Upgrading the track

Both bridges now have a 'silent deck' and existing speed restrictions will be eased. Thompson Engineering of Carlow supplied the new bridge steelwork.

In October and November, preparation and coastal protection work resulted in cancellation of weekday trains between 09.45 and 16.30. A full line closure took place between Glounthaune and Cobh from 9 December until 9 January for the main works. Work is expected to be completed by April 2005.

A special timetable was issued with trains running between Cork and Glounthaune and with a bus connection to Cobh . Half a million passengers used the Cork-Cobh line in 2003. Between 2003-04 there has been a 42% rise in the number of passengers using the line.

The Ballybrophy-Killonan Junction line was closed for five days in November to allow renewal of UB45 (26 miles 880 yards) and UB52 (28 miles 1480 yards). Both way-beam bridges were renewed on 24 November with pre-cast concrete units.

OB702, which was a cast-iron jack-arch bridge at Roscommon town (97 miles 50 yards) was renewed on the 28 November. Laytown station footbridge OB74 at 27miles 176 yards was removed on 19 December following the opening of the new disability access footbridge ( OB 73A) on 17 December.

A programme of erecting crash barriers to prevent road vehicles crashing through bridge approaches onto the track below has been ongoing for some time. It has also been extended to roads running on embankments above railway lines. A 350-metre barrier is being constructed on such a road adjacent to the Dublin-Rosslare line near MP89.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 156, published February 2005.

Copyright © 2005 by Irish Railway Record Society Ltd.
Revised: June 14, 2005 .