Warning systems for two Laois railway bridges by the end of June

Irish Rail is finally on track to install a warning system to prevent two railway bridges in Portlaoise being hit by lorries.

The new system will measure high sided vehicles as they approach the Mountmellick Road and Mountrath Road bridges and issue an alert to the drivers if they exceed the bridge height limits.  

Plans for the warning system were released to Leinster Express/Laois Live in a Freedom of Information request. Iarnrod Eireann/Irish Rail expects to have the new system in place by the end of June this year.  

The bridges on the busy Mountrath and Mountmellick Road are frequently struck by tall vehicles. A tender was issued by the national rail carrier for a new warning system in 2022 with plans for work to begin on the new anti collision system at the end of that year. However, the works never materialised. 

So-called ‘bridge strikes’ result in delays for rail passengers as Ianrod Eireann engineers have to stop trains and inspect the bridges after each strike before services can resume. Regular traffic through Portlaoise is also impacted as vehicles can become wedged under the bridges creating tailbacks. 

An illuminated warning sign approaching the bridge on the Mountmellick Road is no longer working and existing signage has failed to prevent collisions. 

Plans to prevent further collisions were outlined by the Chief Civil Engineer’s Department at Iarnrod Eireann. 

“We have appointed a contractor and are looking to have the over height detection system installed and in operation by end of June 2024. There is an existing system in place and we are looking to fix and upgrade this and re-use it where we can and install new detection points where required.  

The system itself will consist of 1no. detection point to be installed either side of Bridge UBC145(Mountmellick Road bridge). When a  HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) passes the detection point and is over the bridge height of 4.1m  (UBC145) it will trigger the warning sign, which in turn will illuminate and display a message to the  HGV Operator to divert his/her vehicle to the left/right to the nearest slip road as to avoid a  potential bridge strike,” they explained.   

The Mountrath Road bridge, which is labelled UBC146 by Irish Rail, has an additional detection point.  

“Bridge UBC146 will consist of 3no. detection points, 1no. Portlaoise Town side and 2no. Mountrath side of the town. The reason for 2no. on the Mountrath side is due to the fact there is no slip road left/right as you approach UBC146 and therefore there has to be 2no. detection points installed; 1no. detection point positioned beyond the roundabout on the Mountrath Road and 1 no.  positioned near the Secondary School (Portlaoise Bypass towards Tullamore).

Pictured above: Detection system map for the planned Mountrath Road system. 

Again, if a HGV (Heavy  Goods Vehicle) passes any of the detection points and is over the bridge height of 4.3m (UBC146) it  will trigger the warning sign, which in turn will illuminate and display a message to the HGV Operator to divert his/her vehicle to the left/right to the nearest slip road as to avoid a potential bridge strike,” they stated.