Interviews

A smoother ride

Northern Ireland is close to replacing the last of its jointed rail tracks with continuously welded rail, as part of a project that will see many other track safety improvements and eventually improved services on the Coleraine to Derry-Londonderry line. RTM speaks to Translink NI Railways’ Infrastructure Executive Clive Bradberry.

The original plans for a full renewal of the Coleraine to Derry-Londonderry line had to be abandoned when the expected funding could not be found following the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review. But Translink, Northern Ireland’s public transport company, managed to put a pot of money together by deferring some other schemes and taking money out of contingency budgets elsewhere to implement a smaller-scale project known as the Track Safety Improvement Works (TSIW) scheme.

Then, following representations to the Minister for Regional Development by local representatives from Derry- Londonderry late last year, focused on its upcoming year as UK City of Culture 2013, further funding was made available. The BBC reported at the time that the extra £27m, which enabled renewal works to each end of the line section, was transferred from a budget allocated to the A5 Derry to Dublin road upgrade.

The Derry to Coleraine line is about 30 years old, formed of jointed track – 50kg/m flat-bottom rail on concrete sleepers – and is showing serious signs of wear and tear with a breakdown of the bottom ballast and a 60mph PSR in place.

Translink NI Railways’ Infrastructure Executive Clive Bradberry said that when it became clear that the original plans for a full renewal of the line section could not happen due to the lack of funding, they had to choose between further reducing speeds on the line, or implementing interim measures to try to keep current service standards in place. They decided on the latter course of action and managed to find enough money to fund it.

He said: “The main bulk of the work is the central 18 miles of the line section. We’re going to re-rail it, taking it from jointed track to continuously welded rail (CWR). Where we’ve got wet beds at the joint locations, we’re going to be renewing those, broken sleepers will be replaced, and because of the CWR, we’ll be making sure we’ve got full ballast shoulders all the way along that section.”

Blockade plans

The wet beds and broken sleepers work is now done, he said, and Translink is replacing the ballast ahead of the re-railing. This work is being done at night from now until mid-May, so residents living near the line are being contacted directly to warn them of possible noise. The next stages of the work, at either end of the line, involve a full blockade of the line, he said, and some of the TSIW programme has been folded into this. He explained: “The overall programme involves starting a blockade of the line section at the end of July this year, when we’ll be doing the rerailing in the centre sections, and the complete renewals of the two end sections as well.

“Originally when we had just received the go-ahead for the TSIW programme, we took the decision to do it all at night time so we could keep the trains operating. But when we received the monies and approval to go ahead and do this renewals work as well, we decided that the only way we could do the renewals effectively was in a blockade. So we decided to put the main bulk of the TSIW programme back and carry those works out during the blockade as well. It was just more cost-effective that way.”

City of Culture

In the short term, the works will not lead to any service changes or a lifting of the 60mph PSR, Bradberry said – they are simply about ensuring current levels of service can be maintained rather than reduced.

He said: “It’s about maintaining services, improving ride quality and making sure we can keep the frequencies we currently operate, so when Derry-Londonderry is the City of Culture, we’ve got a reasonable service to offer.”

However, a second phase of the works in 2014-15, involving resignalling and the construction of a new passing loop, will allow a higher line speed and potentially an hourly rather than two-hourly service on the line.

£20m has been committed in 2014-15 for those works, which will be completed in 2015.

Smoother ride

However, one benefit that passengers will notice much sooner is the ride quality, because of the switch from jointed rail to CWR.

Bradberry said: “Ride quality on the line is going to improve tremendously. It’s a similar process to the re-railing and welding up between Ballymena and Coleraine a couple of years ago: that’s held up well and the ride quality is so much better. It’s like chalk and cheese compared to what it was like on jointed track.”

As reported in RTM’s special focus on rail in Northern Ireland and Ireland last year, the rail network is undergoing something of a renaissance, with passenger numbers up more than 60% since 2002, punctuality figures in the high 90s, new CAF-built Class 4000 rolling stock gradually replacing the tired Class 80 and 450 stock, and the success of the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin following decades of underinvestment in that line.

The end for jointed rail

Bradberry, who has worked in rail for 26 years, nine of them with Translink, has seen for himself the results of all these improvements, and said the latest works are just “one more element in our overall plan to improve services”.

He added: “This work we’re currently planning and some work on the Larne line will remove all the jointed track from the whole of the network, which helps bring the network quality up.

“With the replacement of the rolling stock, we are seeing further improvements in already-good reliability figures. “We’re not just getting the trains out and running a good network, but we managed to freeze fares last year, we’re introducing mobile phone ticketing this year, and that is all really helping to entice people out of their cars and onto the trains"

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