Written by Tim Casterton for RailStaff
The Mayo freight yard is working flat out as Iarnród Éireann seeks to grow its rail freight operation, reports Tim Casterton.
Ballina (or Béal an Átha in Irish), with a population of around 11,000, is a large town in the north of County Mayo on Ireland’s west coast.
It’s situated about 120 miles from Dublin and served by a branch of the Westport line which has passenger train connections at Manulla Junction with all four of the daily Inter City services to and from Dublin. The branch shuttle makes six journeys each way daily.
Ballina may be a small player when it comes to passenger services, however it is a major hub on the Iarnród Éireann freight network with the small freight yard handling container trains to and from both Dublin and Waterford and timber trains to Waterford.
Tim Casterton recently visited the town to see the rail freight operation in action and to witness how such a small yard copes with the volume of traffic.
‘Liner train’
When I arrived, the DFDS ‘liner train’ (as intermodal trains are known as in Ireland) was in the yard being loaded up.
It wasn’t due to depart until the following morning, however the containers for the service were arriving on locally operated trucks from businesses and Jimmy Tarpey, the Fantuzzi reach stacker driver, was lifting them and transferring them to the train as soon as they came in.
For several years now the DFDS block booked ‘liner’ trains between Waterford Port and Ballina have lead the freight revival in the west, initially operating twice weekly each way and in more recent years running three times a week.
The route is cleared for 9’ 6” high containers on standard wagons and the trains mostly carry DFDS or LYS branded 45’ long boxes.
The service is routed via Portarlington, Kildare and Kilkenny (using the avoiding line – known as the Lavistown Loop) with the up and down services operating from Waterford Port and Ballina on the same days.
Loadings on the services have been consistently good with it being a rare sight to see any empty wagons running in the formation. At about 14:30 the DFDS train was shunted back over the level crossing onto the newly re-commissioned Crossmolina Siding
At a few minutes after 15:00hrs, the IWT (International Warehousing and Transport – a Dublin based company) liner from Dublin Port arrived behind Inter City liveried locomotive 234 named ‘River Aherlow’ which was driven by Gerry Duffy.
The train was formed of Iarnród Éireann’s ‘Talgo’ pocket wagons which are run on the route on alternate services to allow 9’ 6” containers to be carried.
At the time of writing, the route between Ballina and Kildare is cleared for 9’ 6” boxes, however the section between Kildare and Dublin Port is currently awaiting engineers clearance with test trains having run in July of this year. These services are run for IWT.
It is rare to see empty spaces
Having started on a modest twice weekly basis on 20th August 2009, they soon expanded to three times per week and then five times per week. Like to DFDS trains, they run loaded both ways and it is rare to see any empty spaces on them.
IWT now benefits from having the use of new sidings laid by the Dublin Port Company within the port complex rather than having to load and unload on the Alexandra Road Tramway in Dublin which was necessary when the services commenced.
No sooner had the train had stopped than Jimmy Tarpey set to work with the Fantuzzi lifting the boxes off. In most cases it was ‘one off, one on’ as containers were already waiting on road vehicles to be loaded onto the train and to collect boxes off it.
The unloading took about 30 minutes with a short break while Driver Duffy ran loco 234 round to the other end of the train ready for the morning departure.
The Irish timber company, Coillte, also operates around two trains every week from Ballina (with the neighbouring town of Westport also operating around two trains weekly).
2011 has seen a 20% increase in the tonnage of timber being moved to the pulp mill in Waterford. The trains run to Waterford’s ‘Sally Park’ freight yard.
Although no timber train was in during my visit (it was operating from Westport that day) it was explained to me that the loading took place at the south end of the yard to keep out of the way of the containers. It was also stockpiled there as well ready for loading.
Yard Supervisor John Cuffe was justifiably proud of the volumes of traffic being handled by the Ballina terminal saying, ‘We’re very busy, but that’s the best way to be.’
A high proportion of the traffic to and from Ballina is connected with the drink manufacturing factory in the town with concentrate liquids being brought in and out in tanks.
Other traffic includes pharmaceuticals and an 18 month contract for the removal of asbestos (mixed with peat) from a power station that is being decommissioned. Local haulage firms and factories often buy any empty slots that are available for ad-hoc traffic to Dublin.
John went on to say that they were hoping that a logistics company would obtain planning permission and take a large vacant plot of land adjacent to the yard soon as that would bring in even more rail traffic to Ballina Yard.
Greener and more efficient
On the day after visiting Ballina I met up with Stephern Aherne, Iarnród Éireann’s Freight Manager for a chat and a cup of tea at Dublin Connolly station.
Stephen is delighted with the volume of traffic through Ballina and spoke of requests from customers to have the yard opened longer hours for deliveries.
He’s keen to see the 9’ 6” clearance approved for the remainder of the Dublin to Ballina route as that will free up the pocket wagons for other services. Additionally, there are aspirations for the line through to Cork to be cleared for 9’ 6” containers to make the route more attractive for potential freight customers.
Surprisingly the Republic’s second largest city doesn’t have any freight traffic at present, however with increases in road fuel costs, reductions in truck drivers permitted working hours and pressure for Ireland to reduce ‘green house gas’ emissions, it can only be a matter of time before more logistics companies follow the lead taken by IWT, DFDS and Coillte in returning to the greener and more efficient rail freight mode.
There is a certain irony that at present, although freight may not be the largest sector operated by Iarnród Éireann, it was the only one to turn in a profit last year of around €1m (and that without any subsidy) and the company is keen to build on this huge success with new traffic to other destinations.
Thanks to Stephen Aherne, Iarnród Éireann, John Cuffe and Noel Enright for arranging my visit to Ballina, the freight hub of the west.
Ballina is actually 166.5 miles from Dublin(Broadstone) via Mullingar. There is word that more services are planned and possibly one to Cork as well. Should the second and third phases of the Western Rail Corridor be completed it would give a shorter journey to Waterford and a much needed boost to the Limerick Junction to Waterford line which is struggling to remain open at present.