Wall on brink of collapse threatens Dart line
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DART commuters were left without a service from 7pm last night after engineers were forced to close the southbound line from Dun Laoghaire to Bray to allow engineers carry out repairs to a wall which was in danger of collapsing.
However, the full service is expected to resume this morning following the repair works.
And Iarnrod Eireann last night said it has seen flooding in parts of the country which have never been affected by bad weather.
The transport company said it was monitoring a number of locations across the network so that any problems with flooding could be dealt with as quickly as possible.
A spokesman added that the extent of the flooding was "unprecedented".
"We are monitoring a number of locations across the network at the moment," he said.
"We're getting flooding where we never had it before, in areas which did not tend to be susceptible. Ballinasloe flooding at the railway bridge is absolutely unprecedented and Ennis station has never flooded before."
The Galway/Dublin line re-opened at 4.30pm yesterday, but bus transfers will remain in place until the end of the week between Longford to Carrick-on-Shannon due to flooding on the Sligo line.
The Limerick to Ennis line was closed due to a landslip, but the service is expected to resume today. Arklow to Gorey remains closed for embankment strengthening, and bus transfers are operating, with services expected to resume later this week.
Bus Eireann said that all services were operating as normal apart from services northbound from Galway where delays of up to four hours were experienced.
Irish Rail engineers were carrying out remedial works along a stretch of DART line in the hope that full peak-time commuter services can run this morning. The line between Dun Laoghaire and Bray was closed at 7pm yesterday to allow engineers work on a retaining wall next to the line south of Dalkey.
- Paul Melia
Irish Independent
