[Article] Flood may close Ennis to Limerick rail line for months

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...260761169.html

Flood may close Ennis to Limerick rail line for months
PAT FLYNN

THE ENNIS to Limerick railway line is likely to remain closed until February after a large section of track became submerged in flood water. The situation has again highlighted a dispute over who is responsible for carrying out flood-relief works.

The line has been closed since December 1st. However, while flood water has receded in most parts of Co Clare, levels at Ballycar near Newmarket-on-Fergus continue to rise and are not expected to abate for up to eight weeks.

Services were suspended for 50 days in February and March 2008 after the same section of the line became submerged. During that closure it cost Iarnród Éireann over €300,000 to provide bus transfers between Ennis and Limerick.

Recurring flooding in the area is resulting from a blockage at a point where water from a nearby lake passes underground into a local river.

Iarnród Éireann has stated that because the railway line is not the cause of the flooding the OPW will need to develop a flood-relief scheme for the area. Iarnród Éireann has already twice raised the line since 1995.

However, the OPW has said: “In view of the fact that the railway line is the only significant beneficiary, the OPW will not be managing or commissioning a study or any proposed works for the area.

“Our financial allocation for such works has been further eroded as a result of cutbacks and savings in public expenditure.”

Clare Fine Gael deputy Pat Breen believes confidence in the reliability of the rail service is being eroded even before the expansion of the Western Rail Corridor.

“This same section of the rail line was flooded previously in February of 2008, and at that stage commuter rail services between Ennis and Limerick were disrupted for 50 days. This track was lifted in 2004, and when this flooding occurred in 2008 I was advised by Iarnród Éireann that a further substantial lift would require major civil engineering works and they were to investigate the feasibility of having this work done.

“The OPW at the time was also to undertake a feasibility study to look at the whole catchment area and to include hydro-geological studies so that a future plan could be developed. I have seen little evidence of any action being undertaken in the meantime.”

[dowlingm]

So the drivers and equipment usually on that route - what happens with them?

This whole thing is now baked in fail sauce. That there was an outstanding fight between OPW and IE - there should never have been a go on Ennis-Athenry until that was resolved. But no, we can't merely entertain the worst case scenario, we won't believe it until we've demoed it.

I suppose there could have been an Ennis-Athlone shuttle to interline with Dublin service from Galway and Westport if the northern half of the WRC wasn't also a canal.