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Unread 14-08-2017, 16:02   #18
comcor
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Cork-Dublin, Cork Commuter and occasionally DART and Dublin-Wexford
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The most relevant thing is probably that a parallel motorway isn't going to be built any time soon. Limerick Waterford is well down the priority list, with completion of radial routes out of Dublin and Cork-Limerick above it in priority. What all that means is that it is at least 10 years until a motorway is in place and it's probably going to be later than that.

That means that Irish Rail have plenty of time to consider a response.

Can the railway survive a parallel motorway. We can look at how other routes have done.

Those that have done OK fall into two categories
- Ones where the service is fast (Cork/Limerick-Dublin)
- Ones where the bulk of traffic is commuters heading into a city centre(Dundalk-Dublin, Wicklow-Dublin, Kildare/Carlow-Dublin, Midleton-Cork or Athenry-Galway)

The failures have been where the line is slow and the commuter traffic isn't there.

So it's pretty clear what Irish Rail need to do - increase line speed and build commuter traffic into Waterford and Limerick. The problem is that takes money and the projects need to compete with other parts of the network, where the money may see a greater return and where it isn't potentially dead money because other lines aren't in danger of closing.
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