John Sisk & Son (Sisk), in partnership with Iarnród Éireann, is leading the revival of the 42km Limerick to Foynes railway line. Dormant since 2001, the route is being transformed into a modern freight corridor by Sisk’s infrastructure team, positioning Ireland for a more sustainable logistics future.

Sisk was awarded the €65m civils contract as part of the €151.5m scheme, with work beginning in February 2023. The outdated infrastructure, including jointed rails and timber sleepers, has been fully removed and replaced with a modern continuous welded rail system on concrete sleepers.

Meticulous co-ordination

Track laying was completed earlier this year, with work continuing onsite with the installation of new precast over and under bridges. Civils works will be substantially complete by year-end. The work has required meticulous co-ordination, heavy lifting, and environmental sensitivity across a geographically narrow corridor.

River Deel bridge and Robertstown installation.

Access was one of the major engineering challenges. The Foynes line is predominately a single-line railway, which means a relatively narrow corridor to work in and single-line access to isolated parts of the country.

Sisk had to create 17 decentralised logistics hubs along the route to facilitate just-in-time delivery of materials and maintain flexibility in the programme. These hubs enabled distributed construction in an isolated, difficult-to-access environment. Sisk also installed three No. temporary turnouts to allow road rail vehicles to pass each other as required.

Sustainability and environmental sensitivities also shaped the engineering approach. At Robertstown viaduct, spanning a tidal tributary of the Shannon, Irish Rail opted to replace the original three-span bridge with a single-span lattice girder bridge to avoid in-river construction.

Designed by O’Connor Sutton Cronin and fabricated by Mack Engineering, the 42m bridge was delivered and installed in 4No. sections using a 1200-tonne mobile crane, with the sections assembled in place over the river. This avoided impact on the sensitive ecosystem while streamlining the construction timeline.

Other major structural works included the refurbishment of five underbridges, one overbridge, and well over thirty stone arch structures. Two of the five were fully replaced with precast bridge decks.

River Maigue reinstallation.

A new of steel bridges were refurbished, including the River Maigue bridge, which was lifted off intact and removed to a compound 300m up the road, where the bridge was then encapsulated in a tented structure, sand ballasted down to bare steel and refurbished to replace any damaged or corroded members, before being repainted, moved back to site and lifted back into position.

These decisions allowed Sisk to maintain momentum while meeting environmental and safety standards.

The Deel bridge was lifted out and disassembled on site before being trucked to Tipperary and refurbished in Mack Engineering’s facility, before being shipped back to side, reassembled and lifted back in place.

Efficient material management

Throughout the project, efficient material management has been crucial. Local supply chains could not meet the project’s peak demand, so materials such as ballast were stockpiled early ballast was hauled from Wicklow and Westmeath due to the suitability of the material rather than local capacity, stockpiled on site to avoid any delay with construction.

Rail delivery to point of relaying.

In total, the project will use 220,000 tonnes of ballast, 66,000 concrete sleepers, and nearly 90km of rail, imported in 36m lengths and welded onsite. Old sleepers were exported to Sweden for disposal by incineration due to the presence of weathered Cresote, reflecting Sisk’s strong sustainability focus.

The entire line is expected to be operational in late 2026, with freight services beginning shortly after.

The project is a key component of Shannon Foynes Port company’s vision 2041, Iarnród Éireann’s Rail Freight 2040 Strategy, and the EU TEN-T network.

It is essential for maintaining the port’s status as a strategic logistics hub and supports Ireland’s shift towards low-carbon, intermodal freight solutions. Though currently freight-only, the infrastructure has been designed to allow future passenger services if required.

The Sisk delivery of the Limerick to Foynes line sets a new benchmark in Irish rail reinstatement, blending precision, sustainability and innovation.