2:20 was once per week non stop. Currently there is a 2 stop in 2:30 time twice a day which is comparable. I've experienced the 'fast' train and we were consistently 5-10 mph over the published speed limit most of the way. Not acceptable in the safety era we live in. How you average 80mph from Thurles with a 90mph limit just wan't going to work and it didn't a lot of the time as it ran late
The official best time is 2:07 which involved hitting 120+ mph, cracking a few brick arch bridges in Cork and structural cracks to the locomotives
Much of the track laid in the 1976-1984 period is life expired at this point, 25-30 years is the accepted life span, so money is needed to sort it out.
In reliability terms Dublin Cork is miles better now compared to any time in the past, trains run to time, the lights and air con work and there are 3 times more trains than 20 years ago
The amount sought is small, labour intensive and is spread around the country so it ticks a lot of boxes.
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