Irish Railway Record Society

NORTHERN IRELAND RAILWAYS

NITHCo

In January, the Board of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (NITHCo) appointed Catherine Mason as the Group Chief Executive of the Holding Company and its operating subsidiaries (Translink). Catherine was previously Managing Director of Arriva Midlands (UK) and Commercial Director of Cross Country trains.

 BELFAST RAPID TRANSIT

In April, it was reported that consultants for the Government would recommend it not to invest in a £590m rail rapid transit system but would favour bus based schemes on grounds of cost (£147m) and insufficient demand. The reports indicated that running a Luas style service in Belfast would cost taxpayers £6.78m annually, while buses would cost £1.44m to run each year.

LONDONDERRY LINE

In January, Translink advertised for contractors to upgrade the line between Ballymena and Coleraine. The full notice gives considerable detail and is largely reproduced here:

‘Translink wish to appoint a suitable competent contractor to carry out track life extension works on the Ballymena to Londonderry railway line between Broughdone Level Crossing and Coleraine Station. The section of track comprises a total of 24.25 route miles in length of single line with 2 passing loops. Track circuit block signalling existing between Ballymena and Coleraine. This line is comprised on the following sub-sections between stations and halts: Ballymena to Cullybackey MP33.39 - 36.37; Cullybackey to Killagan (passing loop) MP36.37 - 43.32; Killagan to Ballymoney MP43.32 - 53.31; Ballymoney to Coleraine MP53.31 - 61.55’.

‘Much of the current track was re-laid circa 1976-1978 consisting of jointed rails on concrete sleepers. The condition of the track has now badly deteriorated and requires intervention to extend its life. Typically deterioration of the track bed has occurred at rail joints. Movement occurs at the joints as trains pass over them. The combination of insufficient depth of ballast, poor quality ballast and poor drainage provision have resulted in the generation of wet spots at joints. Over the years these have developed into slurry spots and have spread out linearly from the joints leading to further movement at joints and given rise to a "bouncing effect" on trains, as they transit the joints. The deterioration in track condition has resulted in the original general line speed being reduced from 70mph to a Permanent Speed of 60mph. In addition, a 40mph restriction has been imposed over a 4 mile section south of Ballymoney with a 20mph restriction imposed in March 2007 over a 1 mile section immediately south of Ballymoney. A number of other Temporary Speed Restrictions (TSRs) have also been imposed at other locations along the section’.

‘The route between Ballymena and Coleraine is to be converted to continuously welded rail using mainly the existing rails (crop and weld) whilst retaining the existing sleeper spacing. In an area to around Ballymoney Station formation repairs will be carried out over a total distance of approximately 6.5km. Between Broughdone Level Crossing and Coleraine, where the ballast shoulders are sub-standard these will be repaired/formed with ballast and additional top ballast will be provided at various locations where existing volumes are deficient’.

‘The duration of the contract will be approximately 21 months. The anticipated start date on site is August 2008. The purpose of the tendering process is to ultimately appoint a single supplier to carry out the works.

14 weeks. During this period bus substitution will be put in place as required and every effort will be made to minimise inconvenience to passengers. In addition, during the closure period, Translink intend to operate trains between Coleraine and Derry’.

Also in January, the Minister told the Assembly: ‘Work will need to be done on the lines at Ballymena and Coleraine in order to rectify specific problems with wet beds. That is in advance of a track-life-extension project that is due to start later this year. That work will restore the 70 mph capability between Ballymena and Coleraine and will protect the existing overall 60 mph speed limit between Coleraine and Derry. The project will cost £12m and will be completed by 2010’.

NIR advertised the following details: ‘Between Broughdone-Coleraine.

Phase 1: Repair of all 'wet spots' currently ongoing due to be completed late summer 2008.

Phase 2: 5 mile track re-lay between Ballymena (Broughdone) and Ballymoney. Planned for autumn 2008 - late summer 2009. including a period of complete closure between March and May 2009. During this second phase there will be some night time work’.

The Minister also said ‘The re-lay of the track from Derry to Coleraine will start in 2011. It will take two years to complete, at a projected cost of £64m. That work will enable trains to run at 70 mph. The major upgrade of the Coleraine to Derry line could not be planned until the restrictions on investment on the line, imposed by the railways review group and the regional transportation strategy, had been lifted’.

‘The next stage involves examining possible engineering solutions to the project and producing an economic appraisal in order to assess the most economically advantageous solution. That will include the production of resource plans, detailed cost estimates, a design brief, a risk plan and a procurement plan. It will take up to 18 months to complete and to gain approval for a project as complex and high-value as this’.

‘The sequencing of the remaining stages of the design, procurement, implementation and handover will depend on the procurement strategy that is developed for the project. It is envisaged that following the completion of design, tendering and approval processes, commissioning and construction of the new line will take two years’.

‘On completion of the track re-lay between Coleraine and Derry, the line will have been improved sufficiently to reduce journey times by 30 minutes. By then, two additional trains will be deployed on the line. That will allow commuter trains to arrive in Derry before 9.00am’.

In April, The Minister told the Assembly: ‘Following a meeting with Ministry of Defence officials last year, Translink have registered a formal interest in purchasing a strip of land at Ballykelly. Translink are currently undertaking a timetable modelling exercise to identify the requirement and best location for passing facilities on the Coleraine to Derry line. The exercise is expected to be complete in two to three months after which Translink will decide what land is required. If it is decided that the MOD land at Ballykelly is the best location for the passing loop, the process to buy the land will commence’.

ENTERPRISE

In January, the Minister for Regional Development said that Translink and IÉ had asked for funds to buy new rolling stock for the Enterprise as part of their plans to increase frequency and reduce journey times on the route. He said both companies were preparing a business case for the renewed investment to be considered as early as May. ‘It has been accepted and proven that where we have made investments in public transport – in railways, in the tracks and the rolling stock – that it has improved the service and has also improved the uptake of the service and passenger numbers have increased and I think that is what we want to see. In the longer term interests, on environmental issues – in reducing our carbon footprint – we want to attract more and more passengers onto public transport – onto railway’. A proposed journey time of one hour forty minutes was quoted in the report. If funding is not available, a fall back option of refurbishing IÉ Mk IIIs and using 201-class locomotives is considered by both companies as a poor second best.

According to a BBC report there were 42 major Enterprise breakdowns in 2007, on average one breakdown every eight days. In 2006, there were 44. Less than 1% of services broke down. The trains are 15 years old and each do 250,000 miles per year.

In March, the Minister told the Assembly: ‘Passenger numbers attributed to the Enterprise service are those actually travelling across the border irrespective of which stations they board or alight at. During the year to March 2007, some 861,000 people used the Enterprise to travel across the border. This compares with 819,000 passenger journeys in the year to March 2006 and 837,000 passenger journeys in the year to March 2005’.

Copyright © 2008 by Irish Railway Record Society Limited
Revised: March 04, 2010 .