Fire causes disruptions to Luas red line

By Heather Harte

Tram services in the city centre were disrupted by a fire on St Patrick’s Day, when a derelict building at the corner of Queen St and Benburb St sustained considerable damage.

The fire broke out early on Saturday morning.  Overhead power lines used to power the trams on the red line were switched off. This helped to facilitate the safe demolition of the damaged building, which is directly adjacent to the line.

The disruption meant there were no services running between Heuston and the city centre, with services only running from Heuston outbound to Tallaght and Saggart.

Luas operator Veolia said that Dublin City Council (DCC) had to work on the building, which had become structurally unsafe since the fire on the 17th of March.

DCC’s Consultant Structural Engineer confirmed that the buildings were “very unstable and it was not possible to secure the buildings as they had originally planned”. This resulted in delay to works on the overhead lines.

Furthermore, the Council’s Buildings Department informed Luas personnel on Saturday March 24th that they had “progressed works on the fire damaged buildings on Benburb Street to a point where the overhead power lines could be turned back on, permitting the trams to travel safely”.

All services were fully resumed by Saturday evening.