Irish Rail confirms rivet damage to two bridges

IRISH RAIL has confirmed rivet damage to two Dublin city centre railway bridges, but said there is no danger to members of the public.

The bridges at Townsend Street and Shaw Street carry Dart, outer suburban and Rosslare line trains.

The Railway Safety Commission said it carried out a ground level inspection of the bridges in recent weeks following reports from a member of the public.

The commission said: “We could see some signs of corrosion and possible rivet damage.” It subsequently received an assurance from Irish Rail “that the bridges have been inspected at the required frequency mandated in Irish Rail’s standards”.

The commission added: “We have now asked for further details regarding maintenance activities.”

Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny confirmed damage to the rivets on the bridges but said there was no danger either to train or road users. He said corrosion and rivet damage had been spotted as far back as 2009 and the company had increased the frequency of its “touch inspections” from every six years to every two. Ground level inspections are also carried out every two years, he said.

A touch inspection is when an inspector can get within touching distance of the area to be examined, he explained.

Mr Kenny said it was “standard structural practice to incorporate redundancy” in the bridge design. He explained this meant bridges would be made with more rivets than was strictly necessary. However, he said the decision to increase the frequency of touch inspections had been taken as an additional safety measure.