Coastal protection works on Wicklow railway line still years away

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

Coastal protection works along the Dublin to Wicklow railway won’t get underway until January 2029 at the earliest.

The announcement was made during a presentation from the East Coast Railway Infrastructure Project (ECRIP) team during the September monthly meeting of Wicklow County Council.

ECRIP is a suite of five projects being delivered by Irish Rail to provide improved coastal protection to the rail line along the east coast. The three projects that are relevant to Wicklow are protective measures that will be installed along 65km of the route between Bray and Greystones North Beach, Kilcoole to Newcastle and Newcastle to the Murrough in Wicklow town.

In recent years Irish Rail have seen an increase in wave overtopping and coastal erosion on this section of the line, which has led to increased disruption to services.

The objectives of ECRIP at a very high level is to provide improved coastal protection in conjunction with works as part of the Dart+ Coastal South project.

There are also a series of objectives to protect and maintain the rail corridor, to ensure safe operation of the railway and support low carbon connectivity and transport into the future.

The project team are also consulting with all parties in relation to accessibility to the relevant beaches. A reference design report will set out the guidelines that need to be achieved, and where improvements can be made to provide additional access and safety points for people with additional needs.

Following the presentation there were widespread concerns raised by members from the Wicklow Municipal District about the timeline for the project delivery.

Cllr Paul O’Brien warned the Murrough may not be around by the time works are due to get underway.

“If on average we have two storms a year, which we're having, and plus, by the time January 2029 rolls around to be quite honest with you we won't have a Murrough.

“It's been said at our MD meetings, ‘well, what are you doing about the Murrough’, and we have tried to explain to the people we haven't got the capabilities in the Wicklow Municipal District or indeed the county council to deal with this issue; it's going to cost many hundreds of millions of euros.”

Cllr John Snell highlighted the risk of nothing being done in the intervening years.

“Bearing in mind that we're in 2025 now, you're talking about 2029 before it would have any protection of the Murrough. So, while we talk about all our marine assessments, our planning permissions, none of that is protecting the rail line as we speak, so it's going to be four years' time before there's works put in place to protect the coastline.”

Cllr Danny Alvey highlighted concerns around rock revetments in Wicklow town and the impact on local wildlife.

“I would be concerned if there's gaps in the revetments, we would only be doing the same further on up and down the coast. But one of the biggest things I have concern around is how revetments in general would necessarily meet the objectives of the Murrough Special Area of Conservation.

“There are issues that may be present for species like the little tern and all the different waders there at the Cooldross breeding site.” he added.

Cllr Gail Dunne said he was worried about the proposed timeframe for the works.

“The Murrough is in a bad way. It's falling apart. It's a special amenity area for Wicklow town. I am very worried about the timeframe and whether that will be relevant going forward.”

Cllr Graham Richmond questioned what kind of contingency plans are in place if coastal erosion over the next four years becomes more pronounced.

“We're on the back of what has been a very good summer. So, if this followed up for the next four years and we get a handy autumn and winter, is there any plans if there is an emergency of such where the coastal erosion has been sped up? Because I think that’s one area where people believe is most at risk.”

Following a question from Cllr Steven Stokes, who is chair of the Transport Strategic Planning Committee, Cian Lynch from Iarnród Eireann and Damien Keneghan from Jacobs Consultants agreed to provide regular updates about the status of the project.

Mr Keneghan also acknowledged the frustration about the lack of urgency to proceed with the works.

“We share the concerns about the timeline. Submitting the marine area consents in July we brought the activity forward. So, MARA is a relatively new organisation, they are developing new guidelines, new procedures on how to do things. So, we have brought that activity forward to get the marine area consents in place to allow us to submit planning next year.”

There is a monthly forum with Irish Rail, the local authorities and the Office of Public Works. We have a separate forum with the National Parks and Wildlife Service as well, so we are engaging with several parties to deliver the best project we can.”

“We are doing everything we possibly can to meet that programme and to get the works started in 2029.” he added.

In response to queries around the cost of the project from Cllr Snell Mr Lynch said funding is being made available by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority (NTA).

“We get a yearly allocation of funding to deliver the project. It is also worth noting that we recently got awarded some EU CEF funding that will help to feed into our ongoing design and revisions and updates.”

At the conclusion of the presentation following a question from Cllr Tom Fortune, Mr Lynch and Mr Keneghan affirmed their commitment to help find a solution to reopen a section of the Bray to Greystones cliff walk that has been closed since 2021.

Chief executive Emer O’Gorman added that work is currently ongoing.

“We have been in constant discussions and consultation with our colleagues in Iarnród Eireann. As you know we have RPS engaged doing a study and a survey, and a lot of the drone footage came from Iarnród Eireann, so we are working in partnership with them.

“It wouldn't make any sense to do anything with the Cliff Walk without being in consultation with Iarnród Eireann. So just to confirm that is happening and will continue to happen.”

Phase two of the public consultation process is to begin on September 15 and run until October 13.

A public consultation report will then follow, when the reference design phase will get underway. The Environmental Impact Assessment Report is due to be completed by next summer, with a planning submission to An Coimisiún Pleanála to be lodged in September.

Off the back of a successful planning application, Irish Rail aim to go to detailed design with a contractor appointed in autumn 2028, with construction starting in January 2029.