Irish Railway Record Society

TRACK

Dublin-Cork In December 2007, IÉ advertised for consultancy services ‘to assist in the implementation of a detailed track renewals programme’ on the Dublin-Cork line.

‘The services provided for this large scale renewals project will include design and detailed technical advice as well as overall expertise in track renewals ... The services will be provided extensively over the first year of the project and with further requirements over the subsequent six years of the lifespan of the project as necessary’.

In January, IÉ advertised for ‘a comprehensive survey’ of the Dublin-Cork line. ‘The survey will include: Aerial surveys and mapping, comprehensive land surveys over the full 330 mile route.

New steel mileposts are being installed, mainly at the southern end of the line.

Dublin-Cork line trains and a single bay platform used by both Limerick and Waterford connecting trains. The latter is split and now carries platform 2 and platform 3 signs.

Dublin-Rosslare Europort Re-laying took place at weekends of a small section of track between the Dargle River and Bray.

Limerick-Rosslare Europort Train services into and out of Limerick station were substituted by bus on the evening of Saturday 29 and morning of Sunday 29 March to allow points renewal.

Ballybrophy-Killonan Junction The Killonan-Birdhill section was closed on weekdays in April from 08:30 until 16:10 to allow further track re-laying with CWR.

Cork-Cobh Drainage and other works near the Dublin Rd skew bridge at Tivoli resulted in the cancellation of all Cork-Cobh services from 10:00 to 15:30 during weekdays in mid-April.

Platin (Drogheda)-Navan-Tara Mines The first section of CWR on the line has been installed on a section between Navan station and Tara Mines. Commons Rd level crossing (XK22) was also renewed.

Procurement In February, IÉ advertised for tenders for the operation of its Infrastructure Department track maintenance machines such as tampers, regulators, sleeper changers, track recording car and Sandite machines. Heavy maintenance of the vehicles will be performed by IÉ. The contract duration is 5 years and is valued between €10-15m.

In March, IÉ advertised for the supply of ‘an estimated 20,000 softwood treated timber sleepers over the course of the next three years subject to satisfactory performance. Softwood Sleepers ... to be produced from North European Redwood or Maritime Pine. Other varieties of species will be considered’.

IÉ has advertised for the supply of friction buffer stops. The estimated quantity is 150-200 over 5 years.

SIGNALLING AND LAYOUTS

Limerick Junction New signal posts and cable troughs have been installed at various locations as part of the station area re-signalling.

Rosslare Line New CTC signalling was commissioned on Sunday 27 April. In the months prior to the commissioning old track and signalling was removed from various stations to minimise the amount of work to be done during the commissioning closure period. The line was closed in stages to allow commuter services continue for as long as possible while still allowing new points, axle counters and signals to be installed and commissioned.

The line from Rosslare Europort to the up home signal at Wicklow was closed from 10:28 on Monday 14 April. The final train to use the Electric Train Staff (ETS) was the 07:40 Rosslare Europort-Dublin, a six-car 2800-class. This was also the last passenger train to use the station at the pier, as a new platform has been built beside a new running line adjacent to the siding to the turntable. The final movement from the pier sidings was light engine 077, which moved to the new station area to stable, in readiness for testing new track and signals. Track to the former station and pier sidings has been disconnected. The line between Rosslare Strand and Wellingtonbridge was also temporarily closed.

By the following weekend new track and signals had been commissioned in Rosslare Europort, Rosslare Strand, Wexford and Enniscorthy. Locomotive 077 tested Rosslare Europort-Wexford-Enniscorthy on Wednesday 23 April and Enniscorthy-Rathdrum next day.

On Friday 25 April, the section from Wicklow to the up home signal at Greystones was closed. Locomotive 077 tested the new track and signals at Wicklow on Saturday. Bray-Greystones was closed on Sunday 27 April to allow Greystones interlocking to be replaced by the new interlocking. This staged closure arrangement allowed commuter services to Dublin to operate as long as possible. On the Sunday, Greystones was tested by 077 and the system was commissioned at 18:45, some 5 hours ahead of schedule. This allowed the 18:30 Dublin-Rosslare Europort operate through instead of being a bus. DART services also re-commenced.

The re-signalled line is controlled by the signalman at Greystones. Two solid-state interlockings control the line, one controlling Greystones-Arklow and the second controlling Gorey-Rosslare Europort. They appear as one interlocking to the signalman. Both interlockings are located in Greystones. Details will appear in a future JOURNAL.

Hot Axle Box Detectors The network of detectors is being extended, as CTC and level crossing modernisation has reduced the number of staff who observe passing trains. On 14 February, new detectors were commissioned at MP72¹/₂ at Clonahard LC and at MP102 on the Sligo line, at MP99 at Fuerty LC on the Mayo line, at MP7¹/₄ at Gortmore No. 2 LC and MP28 at Freemount LC on the Tralee line. New detectors were brought into use at Camolin (67 miles 120 yards Gorey-Enniscorthy) on 27 April and on the up road at Tivoli (Cobh-Cork) on 12 May.

Laois Traincare Depot On Sunday 10 February, the mainline track and signals for the new depot were commissioned. The layout is effectively a 230m long CTC loop off the down Cork main with connections to the new depot at its southern end. The solid state interlocking is located in Athlone, but the track and signals are controlled by the Mainline CTC signalman in Dublin. As in recent installations axle counters are used instead of traditional track circuits. All signals are prefixed PL.

Alterations were made to signals in the adjacent Portlaoise station interlocking. The down main and loop starters at Portlaoise were converted to three aspect, effectively becoming the down distant for the Depot. In the up direction, the new three-aspect up home signal for the Depot provides a distant signal for Portlaoise station.

BRIDGES AND TUNNELS

In preparation for renewal of UB500 River Shannon Bridge at Drumsna on the Dublin-Sligo line, IÉ sought tenders for 'the supply and set up of a crawler / mobile crane (possible 750ton crawler crane or 1200ton mobile crane), for the installation of the new superstructure steelwork... To allow the installation of the new superstructure, the crane will also be used to install the bearing shelves, to remove the existing wrought iron spans, and to aid in the installation of the reinforced concrete deck. This contract will require that the crane be set up for lifting on Monday 11 August 2008, with the period of the works being from 11 August - 29 September 2008. The crane will be set up away from the track in a separate site compound area, and will not affect any train movements or require any possessions. The lifting operations will only be carried out with a possession of the line'.

The steel channels and timber waybeams on the 7-span Enniscorthy Viaduct UB323 Dublin-Rosslare have been completely replaced. This work along with some minor repairs was carried out during the line closure for re-signalling from 14 April. CWR was installed.

Repair work commenced on the final span (Span 15) of the Barrow Bridge UB140 Waterford-Rosslare on 21 April and this work is programmed for completion by the end of June, when the painting of this section will commence. Some strengthening work to the steel supports for the signal cabin on the bridge is also scheduled.

Major strengthening works commenced on Ossory Rd Bridge UB7 (Sligo line over the Royal Canal and former MGWR line) on the weekend of 9/10 February under a full line closure and this work will continue throughout the year under planned closures.

LEVEL CROSSINGS

Barriers Four more crossings in the Killarney-Farranfore section have been converted to four-barrier type. They were Ballyhar on 7 March, Killeen on 14 March, Bealagrellagh on 25 April and Ballinelane on 16 May. Rockfield, between Manulla Junction and Westport was converted on 15 May.

Type Change Factory level crossing (XR162) at Wexford South, which was a manned level crossing with semaphore signals, reverted back to a U-type (user operated) with ‘iron gates’ and no signals on 4 April. The road and land on the seaward side are currently out of use.

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