REPAIRS to a railway visitor attraction in Downpatrick after severe flooding last year could cost more than £2m, with volunteers told it will be “unlikely to fully recover without significant support”.
Downpatrick and Co Down Railway had been enjoying the first full year of activities for visitors since the pandemic, but became one of many premises in the town centre badly damaged by rising waters.
The charity had previously faced a repair bill of around £500,000 for restoring buildings and equipment alone.
A damage report from a specialist railway engineering firm in England has now advised that repairing the fleet of 29 vehicles to their pre-flood condition would be over £2.3m.
This includes £626,400 to lift all 29 vehicles, or £21,600 each, £1.45m for 58 “bogie overhauls,” £150,000 for critical spares overhaul and £100,000 for miscellaneous inspections and repairs.
The report suggests that it would take around 10 weeks to repair two vehicles at a time, or over three years for the entire fleet.
It continues: “In all cases, the flood has significantly reduced the life span of every component and assembly on every vehicle”.
Suggesting that the railway is “unlikely to fully recover without significant support,” the volunteers are advised that it may be time to consider a new era with less vehicles in use, or kept stationary.
With pressure on to make repairs quickly before the stock deteriorates further, this means the charity will likely need to make difficult decisions before any possible insurance payout is agreed.
Last month, the charity had already criticised a decision not to award affected businesses a £7,500 funding grant if they already had flood insurance.
Shortly before Christmas, the Northern Ireland Civil Service then said that funding of up to £100,000 would be provided to businesses affected by the flooding in areas like Newry and Downpatrick, with £10m released.
This money is part of a reallocation of £15m from capital project funding that was announced by the Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.
Mr Gardiner has said he is hopeful the railway can benefit from this latest round of funding, but that he was still “shocked” at the prospect of having to find £3m.
“We knew these things were expensive and it’s extremely hard to explain to people when they see flood waters recede and everything looks fine on the surface,” he said.
“But you can imagine what we could do with £3m to repair the place and make it better for visitors, rather than simply trying to get back to where we were in October before the flooding.
“In a way that’s soul destroying. We will try our best to cut that bill down and call in favours. We’ve already been talking to Irish Rail and Northern Ireland Railways but this may need political support.”
“This could possibly be something that’s too big for us to do on our own, we’re only a few volunteers in the grand scheme of things.”
With no shortage of “tenacity and determination” to make as many repairs as possible, he said that the reality remained that in-house repairs can only go so far.
“One thing I don’t want this to impact on is morale, because as a volunteer organisation we’re not getting paid to do this.
“If you think it’s just going to be wiped out, then a part of you might think it’s game over. So right nw we’re trying to keep everyone’s spirits up which is tricky.
“The sheer logistics of things as well, even if we did manage to move things to Belfast, Dublin or England for repairs it’s a huge effort.”
Further information on a fundraising appeal started by the volunteers can be found at Flood recovery appeal | Downpatrick & County Down Railway.
