The most alarming conclusion reached by the Railway Safety Commission, in its report on the collapse of Cahir Viaduct in October 2003, was that it could easily have been a passenger train which tumbled into the River Suir, rather than just 12 cement wagons.
The report, published last week, found that the principal cause of the viaduct's collapse following the derailment of a freight train was defects in its timber deck structure which had not been noticed by Iarnród Éireann's equally defective inspection and maintenance regime.
Although the carnage on Ireland's roads is immeasurably higher, accidents on the railways have claimed precious lives. The worst - at Buttevant, Co Cork, in 1980 - caused the death of 16 passengers and two members of staff. It was after another disastrous derailment in Co Roscommon in 1997, in which 15 people were injured, that the Government commissioned International Risk Management Services to carry out a review of railway safety in Ireland. Subsequently, a great deal of money was invested in upgrading the permanent way as well as signalling and other elements of railway infrastructure.
It is noteworthy that the consultants' report was submitted to the Government in October 1998, exactly five years to the month before the collapse of Cahir Viaduct, and that one of its findings was that there was a "predictable, intolerable and unacceptable" risk of a fatal train derailment within two years if immediate action was not taken to improve railway safety. The report specifically recommended that Iarnród Éireann should introduce "a risk-based bridge inspections programme", underpinned by planned maintenance and/or repairs.
As the Railway Safety Commission noted in last week's report on the Cahir Viaduct collapse, a new railway patrolling standard with revised reporting and signing-off arrangements had been in the course of development for about two years prior to the accident. However, implementation of this programme only started a month afterwards. The commission's report made a total of 15 recommendations, including a review by Iarnród Éireann of its safety management and communications systems, monitoring adherence to speed limits and ongoing track monitoring using the best available technology. Such a review must be carried out urgently.
At a time when the Government is planning to invest substantially in the railways, with projects such as the €400 million upgrade of the line between Heuston Station and Hazelhatch, Co Kildare, announced yesterday by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, it is essential that the issue of safety is treated seriously.