Damning report finds lapse in safety checks
IRISH RAIL CRITICISED FOR HAVING LACK OF EVIDENCE
Work being carried out to restore the viaduct after its collapse in 2009.
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Wednesday July 28 2010
A DAMNING new report has criticised Irish Rail for failing to provide any proper evidence that checks were carried out on a viaduct on the Belfast-Dublin line before it collapsed last year.
A train bound for Dundalk had just cleared the tracks along the Broadmeadow viaduct at Malahide before the bridge dramatically collapsed into the estuary below on August 21st last year.
The collapse of the bridge closed part of the northern rail line for three months last year and caused havoc along the busy commuter network in Fingal.
Now, the safety record of Irish Rail has been called into question by the Railway Safety Commission (RSC) which found major lapses in checks on the viaduct.
The probe into the collapse at Malahide by the RSC also found that the 'vast majority' of safety checklists 'have never been used' and the required number of inspections are 'not being achieved'.
The investigation report into the collapse of the viaduct last August also says there is a 'lack of evidence' that Irish Rail checked for erosion, which caused a pillar supporting the track to collapse, because inspectors could not gain access to the bottom of the structure to complete an examination.
The RSC probe is one of three investigations into the collapse of the viaduct last August.
Last March an internal Irish Rail probe found that the reason the bridge fell into the Broadmeadow Estuary was because the seabed was being washed away from at least 2006, undermining the foundations of a pillar that supported the track.
Engineers failed to realise that the foundations needed to be maintained because the knowledge had been lost as staff retired.
The RSC report identified four instances of non-compliance with the standards which relate to a failure to undertake inspections and checks, failing to use the correct form of inspections and failing to implement a 'competence assessment' for safety staff. It also found that safety staff had not been issued with job descriptions.
- Olivia RYAN
