, native_name_lang = , image = 02 Boyne Viaduct Drogheda 2007-10-5.JPG , image_size = , alt = , caption = , official_name = , other_name = , carries = Belfast-Dublin railway line , crosses =

River Boyne The River Boyne ( ga, An Bhóinn or ''Abhainn na Bóinne'') is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newberry Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through C ...

, locale = Drogheda , owner = , maint = Iarnród Éireann , id = , architect = , designer =

John Benjamin Macneill Sir John Benjamin Macneill FRS (1793 – 2 March 1880) was an eminent Irish civil engineer of the 19th century, closely associated with Thomas Telford. His most notable projects were railway schemes in Ireland. Life He was born in Mountpleasant ...

, engineering = , design = Stone arch & Iron truss , material = , length = , width = , height = , mainspan = , spans = , pierswater = , load = , clearance = , below = , life = , builder = , fabricator = , begin = 1851 , complete = 1855 , cost = , open = , inaugurated = , toll = , traffic = , preceded = , followed = , heritage = , collapsed = , closed = , replaces = , map_cue = , map_image = , map_alt = , map_text = , map_width = , coordinates = , lat = , long = , references = , extra = The Boyne Viaduct ( ga, Tarbhealach na Bóinne), a 30-metre-high (98 ft)

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, or viaduct, that crosses the

in Drogheda, carrying the main

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

–

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

History

The viaduct was designed by the Irish civil engineer Sir

using new mathematical stress analysis developed just a few years before by

William Bindon Blood William Bindon Blood (20 January 181731 January 1894) was an Irish civil engineer. Life He was born on the family estate in Cranagher,Queen's College, Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

. Construction began on the bridge in 1853 and was completed in 1855. It was the seventh bridge of its kind in the world when built, and considered one of the wonders of the age. Prior to its construction, railway passengers had to make their way through the town of Drogheda from the stations on either side of the

until the construction of a temporary wooden bridge, which allowed trains to cross the river from May 1853 until the completion of the viaduct. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the viaduct was identified by the British as being of great strategic importance as part of the British plans for a counter-attack following a German invasion of Ireland. 2005 marked the 150th anniversary of the viaduct, and Iarnród Éireann and the

Railway Preservation Society of Ireland The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) is an Irish railway preservation group operating throughout Ireland, founded in 1964. Mainline steam train railtours are operated from Dublin and Belfast, but occasionally from other locatio ...

ran a special service operated by a steam locomotive between

Drogheda railway station Drogheda MacBride railway station ( ga, Stáisiún Droichead Átha Mac Giolla Bhríde) serves Drogheda in County Louth, Ireland. Description The present station is located on a sharp curve on the southern approach to the Boyne Viaduct. Forme ...

and

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

Description

The viaduct comprises twelve stone arches on south side, and a further three on the north. It is located near a tight curve, which necessitates the slowing of trains as they approach. The central

Pratt truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

bridge was originally made of three iron spans that originally carried two tracks. The Boyne viaduct, Drogheda

When the bridge was refurbished in the 1930s, new steel girders replacing the ironworks were constructed inside the original bridge before the iron structure was removed. This allowed trains to continue running throughout the renewal process; however, the new bridge was no longer wide enough to carry two tracks. The northbound and southbound tracks were

interlaced Interlaced video (also known as interlaced scan) is a technique for doubling the perceived frame rate of a video display without consuming extra bandwidth. The interlaced signal contains two fields of a video frame captured consecutively. This ...

so that one rail lay between the tracks in the opposite direction, as points and a single track would have required a

signal cabin On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetabl ...

on the north side of the viaduct. In 1932, the three spans over the river were replaced with the current iron trusses. These were built by the "Motherwell Bridge Engineering Company" with G.B. Howden as the chief engineer. When the tracks were relaid in the 1990s, singling was introduced, and the interlaced tracks were replaced with a single track over the viaduct and points at each side. The structure has been listed by the

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) maintains a central database of the architectural heritage of the Republic of Ireland covering the period since 1700 in complement to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, which focuses on ar ...

as a heritage structure.

Refurbishment

Over €6.1m was awarded for the refurbishment of the Boyne Viaduct financed through the European Union’s INTERREG IVA Programme. The project involved a number of essential refurbishment activities, including steel repairs and full repainting, renewal of work over the viaduct, waterproofing of the deck, and installation of a new drainage system. The project was officially completed on 7 December 2015.

References

External links

Drogheda Boyne Viaduct Refurbishment Project
{{Coord, 53, 43, 00, N, 6, 20, 15, W, region:IE_type:landmark, display=title Drogheda Bridges completed in 1855 Buildings and structures in Drogheda Railway bridges in the Republic of Ireland Transport in Drogheda Viaducts