Malahide viaduct

[Thomas Ralph]

Due to subsidence of the viaduct at Malahide, there are no services between Howth Junction and Skerries until further notice. Dublin Bus is honouring train tickets in the affected area. Other DART services may be subject to variation.

[ofjames]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0821/rail.html

[Mark Gleeson]

Have to wait for the video but it sounds extremely bad

The description is that of the embankment and not the viaduct itself. Very serious and may take days if not weeks to sort out depending on how bad it is. I'd assume the safety people from the RAIU are on the way out to see it as well

Due track layout in Malahide it can't be used as a terminus really, will have to wait on precise details

[losexpectation]

Iarnród Éireann says initial indications are that subsidence caused an embankment to collapse and that the damage appears to be quite bad.

so how long is it going to take to repair?

[ThomasJ]

According to irish rail northern commuter services are suspended until further notice with bus transfers are being arranged for dublin belfast

Notice is advising passengers to use dublin bus or bus eireann but not saying whether or not rail tickets will be accepted

[Mark Gleeson]

For reference the station level displays are saying ticket valid on Dublin Bus

They also imply services are running Skerries-Drogheda/Dundalk

[ThomasJ]

Any idea what could have caused this ? Record rainfall for july ? Soaked soil ?

[Kilocharlie]

A 20m section of the Viaduct collapsed - pictures on RTE web. Very serious with rails in mid-air and a derailment only narrowly avoided according to RTE.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0821/rail.html

[losexpectation]

pics now,http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0821/rail.html, total collapse of sections

[Mark Gleeson]

Looks like the very centre span collapsed, pier on the right looks to have collapsed as well

Very serious, could be weeks to repair

I have the engineering details of the viaduct somewhere at home, they could prove interesting. The piers the bridge is carried on appear to be the originals. Scour from the tidal flows has always been a problem

[Mark Gleeson]

At least Irish Rail seem to be making an effort of sorts

21st August: Major disruption to Northern Commuter, and Belfast Enterprise services by Corporate Communications

UPDATE 21.15HRS, Friday 21st August

There is significant disruption to Northern commuter, and Belfast Enterprise services due to a serious incident in which a 20 metre section of the viaduct has given way across Broadmeadow estuary, north of Malahide this evening. The incident occurred shortly before 18.30hrs this evening.

An investigation into this extremely serious incident is underway.

Services:

Northern commuter services are seriously disrupted. A shuttle rail service is currently operating between Drogheda and Skerries only. Customers travelling between Dublin city and all stations north of Malahide are advised to travel by Dublin Bus or Bus Eireann services.

Belfast Enterprise services will operate with train services between Belfast and Drogheda, and with bus transfers between Drogheda and Connolly, with resulting delays.

These arrangements will continue tomorrow, and weekday service details for next week are being arranged.

DART services between Malahide and Howth Junction have resumed, and are operating normally.

Due to the severe damage to the viaduct, we regret to inform customers that the line across the estuary will not reopen for, at the very least, several weeks, with resulting disruption continuing.

Iarnród Éireann apologises for the inconvenience caused.

[Bluetonic]

There has been 'spring tides' the last few days.

Extremely high tides. Further up the coast at Balbriggan it's was as high as I've seen it in recent years, if as high as ever.

[tigger1962]

so commuter chaos for the next few weeks wonder how they'll handle the annual/monthly commuter ticket holders!

[Charlie Hungerford]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The description is that of the embankment and not the viaduct itself. Very serious and may take days if not weeks to sort out depending on how bad it is. I'd assume the safety people from the RAIU are on the way out to see it as well

I think the RAIU people are going to be swarming around this issue like flies - that's an absolutely catastrophic failure!

[James Shields]

Looks bad, alright. Not looking forward to several weeks of bus transfers to work. :-(

It's very lucky the driver who spotted it managed to stop in time, or a very serious incident could have arisen.

[losexpectation]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catb/3843727118/

[Rashers]

We will see how good the contingency plans are. I know the time of the Skerries freight derailment, there was chaos with lots of mis-information.
There were no extra buses put on, and the Dublin Buses were full from towns like Balbriggan, so no one else got on en-route.
I tried to get a taxi to Malahide, but that took an hour as so many people ended up driving.
I really hope they have learnt from all the past mistakes.
I fully acknowledge this is on the serious end of the scale in terms of impact, but call in the army of whoever, if they do not have the skills/capacity.
Time will tell.
They will need a lot of buses to start transporting people in from Skerries. And will they bring them just to Malahide, or to the city centre?
Assuming they get the buses, not sure how you 'fast track' them along the M1 to the Port Tunnel, and into the city centre.

[Jister]

If it happened in the dark it would not have been spotted I would imagine. If it happened in another month or so it would have been dark at 6pm!!!!

A shockingly close call.

[Mark Gleeson]

Whats even scarier is there was an even closer call within the last month.

Exceptionally lucky today, the consequences of a full 8 coach 29k railcar rolling off the viaduct are too shocking to imagine.

[ThomasJ]

latest @22.30hrs

21st August: Major disruption to Northern Commuter, and Belfast Enterprise services by Corporate Communications


UPDATE 22.30HRS, Friday 21st August

There is significant disruption to Northern commuter, and Belfast Enterprise services due to a serious incident in which a 20 metre section of the viaduct has given way across Broadmeadow estuary, north of Malahide this evening. The incident occurred shortly before 18.30hrs this evening.

An investigation into this extremely serious incident is underway.

Services:

Northern commuter services are seriously disrupted. A shuttle rail service is currently operating between Drogheda and Skerries only. Customers travelling between Dublin city and all stations north of Malahide are advised to travel by Dublin Bus or Bus Eireann services.

Saturday: Trains will operate between Dundalk/Drogheda and Skerries as follows:

Depart Drogheda: 06.30, 07.30 (starts from Dundalk 07.03), 08.30, 09.30 (starts from Dundalk 09.55), 11.30, 13.30, 15.30, 17.30, 19.30, 21.30

Depart Skerries: 07.00, 08.00, 09.00, 10.00, 11.00, 12.00, 14.00, 16.00, 18.00, 20.00, 22.00

Further services for Dundalk will be confirmed later.

Please note again that customers travelling between Dublin city and all stations north of Malahide are advised to travel by Dublin Bus or Bus Eireann services on Saturday.

Belfast Enterprise services will operate with train services between Belfast and Drogheda, and with bus transfers between Drogheda and Connolly, with resulting delays.

These arrangements will continue tomorrow, and weekday service details for next week are being arranged.

DART services between Malahide and Howth Junction have resumed, and are operating normally.

Due to the severe damage to the viaduct, we regret to inform customers that the line across the estuary will not reopen for, at the very least, several weeks, with resulting disruption continuing.

Iarnród Éireann apologises for the inconvenience caused.

now it would be helpful to know how to get from malahide to skerries best i know is sutton-swords village-skerries (102 and 33-although you might be a few minutes walk from off the bus to skerries rail station)