Irish Railway Record Society
TRACK
Dublin-Cork Work has commenced on upgrading the layout at Portarlington. It is planned to increase the Dublin-Cork line speed through the station from the current 30-mph to 80-mph. Previously the speed limit was 60-mph. The new track alignment will see the points at the Cork end re-aligned and moved towards Dublin. The trailing crossover at the Dublin end of the platforms will be moved towards Dublin and the platforms will be extended. A new short down loop is proposed on the site of the existing down siding. The station area will be re-signalled, with the new solid state interlocking and Emergency Control Panel to be located in the Level Crossing Control Centre in Athlone.
Preliminary work including establishing contractor’s compounds and installing cable ducts took place in April. An additional telecommunications room was also under construction. The trailing crossover from the up to the down main at the Dublin end of the platforms and the connection to the down sidings were taken out of use and removed on Sunday 6 May.
Cork Between 16 and 21 April, the locomotive-release points and ground frame between bay Platforms 1 and 2 were removed. Platforms 1, 2 and 3 were shortened by 20m, 60m and 60m respectively, leaving usable lengths of 170m, 134m and 90m.
Newcomen Junction - Glasnevin Junction The line re-opened at 18:00 on Sunday 7 January. Driver route training and signal sighting tests commenced next day in preparation for the opening of Docklands station.
On Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 February, 167+166 were on a PW train on Newcomen curve clearing out old rails.
Limerick-Rosslare Europort The 09:50 Limerick Junction-Waterford, 11:47 Waterford-Limerick Junction and 16:35 Limerick Junction-Waterford were substituted by bus during weekdays in February and March to allow track re-laying between Carrick-on-Suir and Waterford (75 miles 1,050 yards-76 miles 840 yards & 72 miles-72 miles 1,320 yards).
Ballybrophy-Killonan Junction The Killonan-Birdhill section was closed between 08:30 and 17:30 on Saturday 10 February to allow track tamping between MP451/2-463/4.
In March the Minister for Transport told the Dáil that ‘12 miles of the route, out of a total of 53 miles, is subject to a speed restriction of 25-mph but that part of the speed restriction will be removed during 2007’.
Platin (Drogheda)-Navan Re-laying with second hand materials has taken place between MP153/4-163/4.
Weedspray The new train entered service on 10 April, working Portlaoise-Enniscorthy. It consisted of three 40ft flat container wagons, each with two 20ft water tanks mounted on them, and former GSV 3187, which contains the pumping and spraying equipment. It was hauled by 142.
Procurement Plasser and Theurer GmbH, Austria, has been awarded a contract worth €1.4m for the supply and delivery of a dynamic track stabiliser.
In March, IÉ sought tenders for ‘rail-grinding services to correct railhead defects using multiple CNC controlled grinding heads mounted on a powered rail vehicle’ and for ‘rail flaw detection services, to detect both internal and rolling contact surface defects, using ultrasonic / eddy current equipment mounted on a rail vehicle, which can be either powered or towed’.
BRIDGES AND
TUNNELS
New bridges are being built at 57 miles 1,400 yards Dublin-Cork for the Portlaoise Western Circular road and at 57 miles 880 yards Dublin-Kilkenny for the Carlow bypass.
Span 14 of the Barrow Bridge Waterford-Rosslare is being repaired and painted. Gabriel Hughes Contracting Ltd, Dromore, has been awarded a contract to paint 8 spans of the 'Loop Line Bridge' across the River Liffey and Beresford Place in Dublin.
Major strengthening work on UB125 River Suck at Ballinasloe was completed on the 22 January. Major strengthening work has commenced on UB106 Shannon Bridge in Athlone. This work is programmed for completion at the end of the year. UB117 at Portarlington station was renewed on 6 May during the line closure to remove the trailing crossover.
The ‘Lady Stairs’ footbridge OB54 Dublin-Belfast was renewed and raised on 28 January. This footbridge crosses the Balbriggan-Skerries coast road and the railway line at Ardgillan Park and the road part had been struck and badly damaged in 2006.
SIGNALLING
Rosslare Line Re-signalling Installation work continued throughout the spring with no disruption to services.
Procurement IÉ estimates that it will spend about €2.5m per annum on cable troughing, cable laying, location base erection and mast erection including bases for signalling and telecommunications. They have established a 3-year ‘framework agreement’ for the provision of skilled labour for the installation of signalling and telecom cables with Global Rail Services Ltd Inchicore, K N Plant Ireland Ltd of Blackrock Dublin, Cro-Bar Construction Ltd Glanmire Co Cork and CWS Communications Ltd Croghan Co Dublin. As and when work packages arise, contracts will be awarded either on the basis of the original tenders or on foot of mini-tender competitions between those admitted to the framework.
The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 163, published June 2007.