The best that can be said about the collapse of the main North-South railway line near Dublin is that no lives were lost, and no-one was injured. A potential disaster was averted, but there will be great disruption to commuters for a considerable time to come.

The circumstances of the rail collapse are dramatic. A vigilant of train driver spotted dangerous subsidence on the track as he crossed on the opposite line, and immediately raised the alarm. Shortly afterwards some 20 metres of the line on the viaduct which spans the Broadmeadow estuary collapsed into the water at around 6.30pm on Friday evening.

A number of trains had passed over the track both ways shortly before the incident occurred, but because the alarm had been raised so quickly, others were alerted- including a 7pm passenger service from Dublin to Belfast.

It is not difficult to guess the scale of the disaster if the alarm had not been raised in time, and it is ex

tremely fortunate that the driver was able to spot the subsidence during the longer light of a summer evening. If this had taken place in the darkness of winter, there is no knowing what might have happened.

Apparently this viaduct had been inspected only last Tuesday, so at this stage it is difficult to apportion blame. With rising costs, it is difficult enough for the railway authorities from north and south to keep this vital cross-border link continually on track, but this latest mishap has created enormous

added difficulties. It is estimated that the line will take at least three months to repair, at a likely cost of several million euros. This is a setback which the rail operators do not need, at a time when they want to encourage more people to use the trains.

Some experts believe that it will take even longer to repair the damage, and that it will cost more. That is for the future, but in the meantime many thousands of commuters will be seriously inconvenienced.

This harks back to the bad old days when the North-South line was continually disrupted by bombs and bomb warnings, but even then the spirit of commuters was tested by the bus-rail service which was no substitute for an uninterrupted train journey.

The same spirit will be required by commuters again, in the foreseeable future, but many will opt for travelling by road in the prevailing circumstances, thus adding to the traffic congestion.

There should be sympathy for the rail operators, who have faced so many difficult challenges in keeping the line open, over the past four decades. Train journeys, at their best, can provide comfort and efficiency and as the service improves with new technology this seems to many people to be an efficient way to travel.

In the meantime, the pressure will be on the railway operators to restore the link as soon as possible, and also to improve the service to meet the needs of the modern traveller.