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Independent, Thursday September 10 2009

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...s-1882404.html

By Fergus Black

Thursday September 10 2009

WORK on the €4m reconstruction of the rail link which collapsed into the sea is on target and expected to be completed by the end of October.

Irish Rail hopes to have the line back in use by the end of November, which is good news for thousands of commuters forced on to buses following last month's collapse of the rail viaduct over the Broadmeadow Estuary in Malahide, north Co Dublin.

Work to restore the rail link involves a number of major parallel projects. Engineers have begun filling the breach in the causeway that is believed to have undermined one of the piers supporting the viaduct and leading to the collapse.

The damaged pier is being reconstructed and 10 other piers that support the viaduct are being strengthened while substantial repair works to the weir beneath the bridge are being carried out to protect the estuary environment.

But the investigation into the cause of the near disaster will take six months to complete and will also include the inspection of 84 bridges that cross open water.

The company also revealed yesterday that changes in safety inspections to rail lines would be considered as part of the major investigation into the collapse. While current inspections meet international standards, the type of inspections and how often they are carried out will be reconsidered.

Irish Rail also confirmed yesterday that the restored line at Malahide would be continuously monitored above and below the waterline while the investigation continued.

Clad in hard hats, high visibility clothing, lifejackets and wellington boots, members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport joined senior Irish Rail officials at the scene of the near calamity that could have sent rail carriages and hundreds of passengers plummeting into four metres of water.

As they looked at the yawning gap where the rail link collapsed, committee TDs Fergus O'Dowd and Darragh O'Brien and Senator John Ellis were briefed by rail officials, including company chairman John Lynch and chief civil engineer Eamonn Balance.

The visit came ahead of a hearing next week when officials from Irish Rail, the Rail Safety Commission and the Department of Transport will be quizzed on the incident and future safety measures.

Five days before the collapse, a group of Sea Scouts raised concerns about erosion to the piers holding up the rail line and the following day an engineer inspected the viaduct, finding no visible structural problems.

Two days later, a track monitoring vehicle travelled over the line and found the railway was operating as designed. It was on August 21 that an alert train driver raised the alarm and the line was shut down.

Defending rail inspection standards, Irish Rail chairman John Lynch described the collapse as a "unique situation" and said even had an engineer walked the bridge every day, he would not have found problems beneath the waterline.

Inspections

Under current regulations, bridge structural inspections take place every two years with below-the-waterline inspections once every six years while lines are "walked" three times a week.

- Fergus Black