This tragic derailment happened at Buttevant, when the Dublin express
was about 20 miles away from Cork.
There was no suggestion of terrorist involvement. The derailment was
generally seen as a horrific accident which raised questions about
adequate investment in railway safety, and the part played by human
error.
The excerpts and links below will give you more information.
Please just ask for clarification if you have a query, or if any of
the links fail to work.
Best wishes - Leli
The Irish Railway Record Society says:
" . . . . the company's worst rail accident occurred. On 1st August,
1980 the Friday of the Bank Holiday weekend, the 10.00 hours express
from Dublin to Cork was derailed as it passed through the closed
station of Buttevant, resulting in the deaths of eighteen people. A
notable feature of the accident was the almost total destruction of
some of the carriages in the train, while others were virtually
unscathed.
http://www.irrs.ie/Common%20Files/CIE.htm
=========
The inadequacy of some of the carriages in 1980 has been mentioned
recently in the Irish parliament, during a debate on railway safety
measures:
"The Bill is concerned with rail safety and prompts me to look back at
one of the worst Irish train accidents of recent times, in August
1980, when the Cork to Dublin train derailed outside Buttevant, not
far from my area, costing the lives of 18 people. The expert bodies
that reviewed that accident discovered that the old timber-frame
carriage bodies mounted on a steel frame were totally inadequate and
were completely destroyed, while the more modern steel-frame carriage
bodies survived. An inquiry was held and eight recommendations were
made covering various aspects of the accident, many of which have been
implemented."
http://www.irlgov.ie/debates-03/27Feb/Sect3.htm
=========
A speaker in a previous parliamentary debate suggested that money
spent on Irish railways would improve their safety record:
"Between 1955 and 1983 35 people died in rail accidents, including 18
in Buttevant and seven in Cherryville. The IRMS states unambiguously
that if £230 million was spent on safety measures and £20 million per
annum on track renewal, risk levels would reduce by 50 per cent over a
30 year period. We are advised that each year there are 92 derailments
and 18 collisions, mainly on sidings."
http://www.gov.ie/debates-98/17nov98/sect5.htm
=========
The crash is mentioned in a report of the Irish Law Reform Commission
which discusses corporate responsibility for deaths in accidents like
the one at Buttevant, but without giving any further details:
http://www.lawreform.ie/6%20Oct%20Final%20CP.pdf
=========
This newsgroup posting points to human error:
"Buttevant was caused by an erroneously set hand-worked facing point,
whose installation and use were the result of jaw-droppingly
spectacular incompetence."
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=buttevant+crash+OR+derailment+OR+derailed&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&c2coff=1&selm=3A9E1496.1443B3EB%40tcd.ie&rnum=2
=========
"The Buttevant rail disaster still ranks as one of the worst of its
kind ever in Ireland. At 12.45pm on August 1, 1980 the Dublin to Cork
express entered the Buttevant station at 70 mph carrying some 230 Bank
Holiday passengers. It careered into a siding and smashed into a
stationary ballast train. The carriages immediately behind the engine
and goods wagon jack-knifed and were thrown across four sets of
rail-line. Two coaches and the dining car were totally demolished by
the impact."
http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1998/04/14/ihead.htm
=========
"I saw [typo for "was"?] the man at the center of that horrific rail
crash in Buttevant twenty years ago. I was the man changing the rails
that time. It was done by hand then. It had a very bad effect on me
for a long time after. But I stood up to it all. It was awful to see
the aftermath of the crash. It was the worst disaster in years. It was
a hard luck accident."
http://www.churchtown.net/memories/53.htm
=========
"But it does go to prove that no form of ownership has a monopoly on
safety or on an adequate safety culture. (Think of the Buttevant crash
in 1980 . .)"
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=buttevant+crash+OR+derailment+OR+derailed&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&c2coff=1&selm=39ED8A2A.7AA3A51%40tcd.ie&rnum=1
=========
"There was an incident on CIE around 20 years ago at Buttevant when
plywood vehicles ended up in much the same way."
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=buttevant+crash+OR+derailment+OR+derailed&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&c2coff=1&selm=7tr5ed%248vs%242%40news8.svr.pol.co.uk&rnum=8
=========
If you want to read what was said at the time, there are a few
pay-for-view articles online from lexis-nexis at:
http://web.lexis.com/xchange/ccsubs/cc_prods.asp
The Associated Press, August 4, 1980, Monday, AM cycle, International
News, 361 words, Report Railwayman Working on Tracks Before Irish
Train Disaster, DUBLIN, Ireland
The Associated Press, August 3, 1980, Sunday, AM cycle, International
News, 139 words, Two Americans Among Dead in Irish Train Crash,
DUBLIN, Ireland
The Associated Press, August 2, 1980, Saturday, PM cycle,
International News, 499 words, Death Toll May Hit 20 In Irish Train
Wreck, DUBLIN, Ireland
The New York Times, August 2, 1980, Saturday, Late City Final Edition,
Section 1; Page 4, Column 3; Foreign Desk, 67 words, 17 KILLED IN
DERAILMENT IN IRELAND, Associated Press
The Associated Press, August 1, 1980, Friday, AM cycle, International
News, 686 words, Irish Train Derails, DUBLIN, Ireland
=========
The report of the public inquiry into the accident was published by
the Government Stationery Office in April 1981, reference number PRL
853. To ask about obtaining this, you would need to contact the:
Government Publications Sales Office
Sun Alliance House
Molesworth Street
Dublin 2
Tel: (01) 647 6879
=========
searches:
Cork 1980 crash OR derailed OR derailment
Buttevant crash OR derailed OR derailment OR accident
accident investigation OR inquiry
Dublin stationery office
searches in Irish library catalogues and public information sites |
