Rail line closed by flooding in December set to reopen

The last stretch of rail network that has remained closed due to flooding following storms in December is expected to reopen today.

Iarnród Éireann has confirmed that an inspection train will depart Limerick for Ennis at 1pm and the line will be reopened for passenger trains at 4.30pm if the outcome of that inspection is satisfactory.

The Ennis to Limerick rail line at Ballycar, near Newmarket-on-Fergus in Co Clare, has been closed for almost 140 days following extensive flooding starting in late December. Water levels, which also resulted in the closure of a local road, dropped significantly in recent weeks while a test train was able to travel the affected stretch of rail line last week.

There have been repeated calls for relevant parties to meet and try and resolve the problem which has affected the rail line and hundreds of acres of farmland for over three decades.

The ‘Ballycar Lough Flood Study’, commissioned by Iarnród Éireann and completed in October 2011, concluded: “The cause of the flooding is the works carried out by the Office of Public Works in 1929 when they increased the catchment area.”

However, the OPW has said: “Flooding on the line at Ballycar is an operational matter for Iarnród Eireann and is not the responsibility of the OPW. Ballycar Lough does not form part of a Catchment Drainage Scheme undertaken under the 1945 Arterial Drainage Act, therefore OPW has no responsibility for same.”

Despite the line being raised by 60cm in 2003, rail services were suspended for seven weeks in February 2008, a further eight weeks late in 2009 and for 110 days in 2014. Iarnród Éireann has said raising the line again would only “exacerbate the problem in the area while offering limited benefits to Iarnród Éireann”.