Malahide Media Coverage

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...266107766.html

Viaduct was not sunk in bedrock as expected

FIONA GARTLAND

IARNRÓD Éireann staff maintaining a viaduct in north Dublin did not “appreciate” that the structure was sitting on a man-made causeway instead of being sunk into the bedrock, a report carried out by the rail company has found.

A major accident was narrowly avoided last August when a section of the Broadmeadow Viaduct which crosses the Malahide Estuary collapsed moments after a commuter train passed over it. The line, which links Dublin to Belfast, was closed for three months and cost €4 million to repair.

The report, which was independently chaired by John Buxton, a chartered civil engineer, also said an engineer sent to examine the viaduct a week before the collapse misunderstood the concerns raised by the Malahide Sea Scouts.

The report said the structure of the viaduct was unusual because the piers holding it up did not extend down into the bedrock of the sea. Instead, they sat into a manmade causeway made of large stone blocks which rested on the bed of the estuary. This made the piers vulnerable to erosion.

It said in 1967 grouting was carried out on the causeway and it was believed this would reduce the need for ongoing maintenance.

Since then, engineers had focused on the foundations of the piers, replacing stone blocks to protect the piers, but not the entire causeway.

“It was no longer appreciated that the structure as a whole comprised two separate components: a causeway/weir and a viaduct,” the report said.

The importance of maintaining the causeway “was no longer fully appreciated”. In the months prior to the collapse, the channel between pier 4 and pier 5 deepened and the flow became ever stronger with standing waves, the report found. Eventually, pier 4 became undermined and collapsed.

On August 17th, the week before the collapse, a group leader of Malahide Sea Scouts noticed a rock at the base of pier 4 had been washed away and contacted Iarnród Éireann.

But “a misunderstanding appears to have developed” so that the engineer looked primarily for cracks or missing stones in the pier structure rather than in its foundations, the report said. He found some faults in stonework, but none were of a serious structural nature.

The report also found climatic, oceanographic and hydrological changes over recent decades contributed to the erosion. It commended the actions of the train driver, Keith Farrelly, for his quick thinking in placing his power controller into the “coast” setting, which reduced the force acting on the collapsing viaduct as the train passed over it. The signalman was also commended.

The report made a number of recommendations, including that a handover process be put in place to ensure knowledge is not lost when staff move or retire. Yesterday, Iarnród Éireann denied suggestions it had been warned in a report in 2006 that the estuary was prone to serious erosion.

The report, carried out by independent specialist divers, did not state that there was any reason for concern about scour at that time, but did recommend underwater examinations be carried out every six years, a spokesman said. He added the divers could not have known the piers were not sunk into the bedrock because Iarnród Éireann had not told them.

The organisation has said it has carried out a number of improvements recommended in the report including replacing pier 4 and retro-fitting other piers with piled foundations; installing a bridge monitoring system on the viaduct and reviewing other bridges susceptible to scour, including the Rogerstown Viaduct, on the same line.

Opposition spokesmen on transport, Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd and Labour Party TD Tommy Broughan, called on Iarnród Éireann and the Minister for Transport to come before the Oireachtas transport committee.

“A culture of secrecy and complacency has flourished in Iarnród Éireann for far too long,” Mr O’Dowd said.

Photo: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...66107766_1.jpg Malahide Sea Scouts in Broadmeadow Estuary causeway days before Broadmeadow Viaduct collapsed. Iarnród Éireann's report into the collapse found that an engineer sent to examine the viaduct a week before the collapse misunderstood the concerns raised by the sea scouts

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...266107774.html

Viaduct report: Findings and recommendations

Staff maintaining the Malahide estuary viaduct did not know its piers were not sunk into the ground, but were sitting on a man-made causeway.

Maintenance work was only carried out on the bases of the pier and not on the causeway itself.

Malahide Sea Scouts warned Iarnród Éireann a week before the viaduct collapsed that they had seen a rock at the base of one of the piers being washed away.

The engineer who received the sea scouts’ complaint thought they were referring to cracks and pointing on the pier above the water.

Climatic, oceanographic and hydrological changes contributed to the erosion of the causeway and the collapse of the viaduct.

The report recommended a handover process should be put in place to ensure knowledge is not lost when staff move or retire.

The report also noted the process for dealing with observations from the public should be documented and unified across the organisation.

It recommended a number of improvement works on the viaduct and on monitoring systems for all such bridges, which Iarnród Éireann has said it has completed or is in the process of completing.

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...266294150.html

Rail staff unaware of article on Malahide viaduct
PAUL CULLEN

IRISH RAIL says its maintenance staff were unaware of a technical paper published in 2000 which documented the structure of the Malahide viaduct that collapsed last August just after a commuter train passed over it.

The company’s report on the incident, published last week, says staff did not “appreciate” that the structure was sitting on a man-made causeway instead of being sunk into the bedrock.

Since the 1960s, repair work focused on pillars holding up the track over the Broadmeadow estuary, north Dublin, rather than on the causeway they were built on, the report said. New engineers joining the company did not know there were two separate parts to the viaduct.

However, it has since emerged that an article on the Malahide viaduct published in the Irish Rail Records Society journal in 2000 documents the history and structure of the viaduct. The article was written by Oliver Doyle, at the time a senior manager in Iarnród Éireann, though not in maintenance.

Mr Doyle’s paper details the scouring effect of tides in the estuary and the efforts made over the years to counteract erosion. It also recounts how the viaduct was maliciously damaged during the Civil War. Asked about the article, a spokesman for Iarnród Éireann said yesterday that knowledge about the structure of the viaduct had been lost over time.

Mr Doyle’s paper had appeared in a railway “enthusiasts’” magazine and maintenance staff remained unaware of it.

After last year’s incident, the line, which links Dublin to Belfast, was closed for three months and cost €4 million to repair.

Last week’s report from Iarnród Éireann will be followed by a report from the Rail Accident Investigation Unit later this year.

[Mark Gleeson]

I have a copy even of the journal with the viaduct piece in it and it is extremely detailed.

The IRRS journal is common sight within IE after all most of the articles are written by senior IE engineers who naturally get sent a copy when they are published, even the RPA had the current edition on the coffee table in reception in Parkgate Street last time I was in.

[ACustomer]

Good to see that those dreaded railway enthusiasts, anoraks, or whatever one calls them, have their uses!

[Colm Moore]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0324/rail.html

Commission's report on viaduct collapse sought
Wednesday, 24 March 2010 16:28

Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd has called for the publication of a report by the Railway Safety Commission into the collapse of the Malahide Viaduct.

During Ministers Questions, Deputy O'Dowd said the Government had promised to make the Commission operate under the Freedom of Information Act, but it was refusing to do so.

He said the Irish Rail attitude to the affair was shameful, disgraceful and self-serving.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said he could not commit to furnishing the deputy with the report at this stage as it may form part of the investigation into the incident.

Minister Dempsey said he agreed there should be maximum information available as long as it did not prejudice the investigation.

Labour TD Tommy Broughan said there were questions to be answered about the Railway Safety Commission.

He said Railway Safety was subject to the same kind of light touch regulation as the banking industry.

[Mark Gleeson]

Of course the RSC are being unhelpful, they aren't carrying out the investigation, the rail accident investigation unit are!