Quote:
Originally Posted by comcor
The 5K must surely be yet another example of IN&M bending statistics to suit their agenda.
I have to assume that it's what you get when you divide the total cost of operating the line by the number of services, rather than the increased cost of operating the service.
How much fuel is it going to use? 200 litres maybe. And Irish Rail won't be paying duty on it.
The extra staffing required can't be that high. Mostly services will be on lines that were already operational, although the morning service will mean an extra hour worked by a few people.
Wear and tear on tracks and trains? Can it be that high?
I just can't see how it can add up to 5K.
The worst part is the suspicion that the figures must have come from within Irish Rail to make the case for closing the line before it's had a chance.
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i understand the figure is actually around €2,000 per day, I guess an extra 0 got lost in the matrix somewhere.
As someone who lives between Templemore and Roscrea and who works in Roscrea, it will be interesting to see that the actual patronage, as opposed to the usual vocal support, wil be for this. I was involved in a survey for the Templemore Train Users Group several years ago and we know that about half a dozen to a dozen people were using the early morning services from Temeplmore who lived in what would be the catchment for this early service. Undoubtedly there would be others who use Thurles.
They should be expected to get this train (although its arrival time is only relevent to those who work in that part of the city centre nearest Heuston) but will probably get the early Cork/Limerick trains out of Templemore as they still get in earlier.
The real acid test is the numbers of new passengers who will use it. Of course, what should be done is an early train from Ballybrophy to Limerick which would take an awful lot more people.
I also wonder where they are getting this train from, and is it really only a long long pullback of a planned commuter service planned from Portlaosie inwards? The amount of commuter stops on the way in suggests it is.