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.
