A rail corridor connecting Ballina, Athlone and Cork a no-cost solution to linking the West and South
There is already a "Western" Rail Corridor, it runs from Ballina to Cork via Athlone. All the stations, track other infrastructure are already in place, fully upgraded and operational to modern passenger and freight standards.
It may not be the traditional "Western" Rail Corridor from Sligo to Limerick, but there is an existing corridor which Rail Users Ireland referrers to as the "Northwest, Midlands and Southern Rail Link" which unlike the traditional Western Rail Corridor:
- Eequires absolutely no capital investment to bring into service.
- Will require zero operating subvention
- Will require no additional rolling stock to be purchased
- No additional staff will be hired
- In terms creating a useful cross-radial connecting rail service, the Northwest-Midlands and Southern Rail Link performs this function very well without the massive capital outlay of the entire WRC reconstruction
- As for rail-freight, Ballina is now the main freight terminal for the Northwest and Sligo Quay will be sold off in a few years, transhipment times and costs will be the same as a reopened Sligo - Limerick rail route
The Northwest, Midlands and Southern Rail Link connects directly with every rail service in the country with the exception of the Sligo line and offers excellent competition to road passenger transport. In particular, connecting the Midlands Triangle NSS Gateway with Cork
Rail Users Ireland does accept that there is a possibility of people wishing to travel from the Northwest by rail to the South, we just dont accept that squandering badly needed transport funds on reopening the old line Athenry to Sligo is the only way to do this.
We do not need to reopen the entire traditional Western Rail Corridor from Sligo to Ennis for hundreds of millions of Euro which would be much wisely spent on enhancing rail commuter services around Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.
In terms of demand, Rail Users Ireland estimates our Northwest, Midlands and Southern Rail Link proposal would be subject to the same passenger demands as Sligo - Limerick, and would certainly in excess of Sligo-Rosslare, but without gambling hundreds of millions of taxpayers money.
We called on the DoT and Iarnród Éireann to seriously consider this alternative to the hundreds of millions of Euro required to reopen the traditional Western Rail Corridor from Athenry to Sligo.
More importantly, this idea would serve the overall function of integrated transport to a greater degree than the West on Track plan, which is incredibly expensive and offers so little for the massive expenditure and later operating subvention which will be required.
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Clockface departures on the Dublin - Cork route will make this all possible.By synchronising passenger services from Ballina with a forthcoming clockface Dublin to Cork service this will create via connections, a rail passenger link from the Northwest of Ireland to the South/Southeast. Iarnród Éireann are planning massive increase in service frequencies, expected in the years to come and Ballina to Cork via the Midlands will become more practical and quicker by rail. We have, by default a cross-radial rail service without spending hundreds of millions on the reopening the Western Rail Corridor from Athenry to Collooney. The only investment required to get this service off the ground would be the printing cost of adding a new page in the Iarnród Éireann timetable publicising the new Ballina-Athlone-Cork service. Rail Users Ireland believes that with discounted fares, a publicity and marketing campaign aimed at the West, Midlands and South of Ireland - this could assume the mantle of the traditional "Western" Rail Corridor while saving the taxpayers of this country hundreds of millions of Euro. Timetable changes to make the Northwest-Midlands and Southern Rail Link possible:Retimetable improved Ballina-Dublin train frequency to connect with Dublin-Cork hourly services, giving a Ballina-Athlone-Cork service. Cost: None (no extra services) Comparing car/bus with this plan
This is a low risk venture to create a north-south connecting rail service at minimal cost using existing infrastructure just by altering the present Dublin-Mayo and Dublin-Cork rail services for improved connections. With a Ballina-Athlone-Cork service we only have to deal with the existing subvention and the gamble of the massive capital investment with reopening the entire traditional Western Rail Corridor is no longer an issue. |
Is there any part of the traditional Western Rail Corridor reopening project which is feasible?
Iarnród Éireann themselves have expressed no interest in opening the entire WRC, any plans or proposals to do so are purely political. Rail Users Ireland agrees with Iarnród Éireann.
The problem with reopening the entire traditional Western Rail Corridor are two fold. The initial capital costs and the on-going subvention.
- Galway-Ennis-Limerick should and most likely will go ahead as a new Inter-City service - the relay of the Athenry-Ennis section would be a moderate capital outlay/risk, with potential for heavy passenger numbers.
- Ballina to Galway and Sligo to Galway should remain bus only for the foreseeable future as reopening the WRC north of Tuam would not create a fast rail service due to the route having been constructed as a Victorian tramway and there are a total of 61 level crossings along its course.
- The roads from Sligo to Galway with exception of some areas (by-passes coming in the next few years) are very good. There is absolutely no reason to run freight up the WRC as the present network performs that function perfectly as it stands.