Derailment due to freak circumstances, says report

THE derailment of a freight train in Co Tipperary last year was due to a freak combination of factors, a report has found.

The train was traveling across the Cahir Viaduct bridge, 200 yards from the Cahir train station, with 22 wagons of cement at 6.15am. on October 10.

When the train derailed, it divided in two. The two locomotives and the 10 carriages which had crossed the bridge remained on the track, while the remaining 12 carriages fell through the deck of the bridge.

Seven of these carriages fell onto the river bank and five went into the river. The driver of the train escaped unharmed and there was no-one walking under the bridge at the time.

“There was considerable damage but thankfully no deaths or injuries,” said an Iarnród Eireann spokesman yesterday.

The independent inquiry set up by Iarnród Eireann also found it difficult to discover the reason for the derailment. It was not caused by the weight of concrete in the wagons, the bridge structure, vandalism on the line, or excessive train speed.

However, more detailed tests discovered that the accident was possible in a “unique circumstance”.

The freight train had an older, two-axle design, and this limited suspension system, when combined with the rigid timber waybeam bridge, led to the derailment.

Iarnród Eireann said the accident could not have occurred on the route with any of its passenger trains because they have more modern axle designs with better suspension.

The company has examined all waybeam bridges in the country and has reduced speeds from 40mph to 30mph for the older freight trains. It said modeling had shown this would prevent derailments.

The Cahir Viaduct was badly damaged by the accident and is being rebuilt at a cost of e2.6 million. Passenger and freight services on the Limerick Junction- Waterford line are due to return when the work is completed in June.

A report by the Interim Railway Safety Commission last October noted the fortunate timing of the accident.

“Had the circumstances of the derailment or its time of occurrence been different it is possible the driver of the train and/or members of the public may have been injured,” it said.