Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp
this is a bizzare topic and no mistake, its like we're all gone back in time.
Lest anyone mistake marko of RUI as being pale rail here, I am as far as i know the only person on this forum who actually uses this line and was defintitly the only one who used the early morning commuter train to Dublin. In fact one glorious day I was the only passenger on board and had an entire express train to myself in morning rush hour from Portlaoise into Dublin. Many thanks to Alan Kelly.
Irish Rail are at the moment replacing the wooden sleeper track with concrete between Ballybrophy and Roscrea. This tells you all you need to know about the line. It operates for two reasons - firstly, so that it can be closed if Gov demands for cutbacks get very fierce. Secondly, to keep some lads in Irish Rail in Limerick with something to do. We have long said that the trains on the branch are going in the other direction to the rush hour traffic. To be fair IR did start doing the splits so that one car goes back to limerick and the other to Ballybrophy, but in reality they need to move the crews to portlaoise and start the service at Brophy to get to Limerick for working hours and then come back in the evening. Hell, you can even have it shuttling up and down all day long causing nobody and harm or offence.
The commuter thing to dublin was heavily advertised, it was in the local papers, the radio, there were posters in many shops in the towns along the route. There was no uptake simply because the numbers heading east do not exist in any great quantity. Even Templemore/Ballybrophy has small numbers - there comes a point when the commuting day is simply too long to make Dublin as a destination desirable. By contrast Limerick is nearer, and accordingly gets a lot of commuter traffic.
I think that this is the cheapest and easiest way of making the most of the line which means it wont be done.
As for building new lines..... there just isn't the potential customer base to justify it. Even at the height of the madness Roscrea was not going to be a dormer town, Templemore was next on that map, and Borris in Ossory is just down the road from Ballybrophy station. That money will be needed to make what already exists more attractive.
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Sorry just reading over this thread, are the current CWR line works likely to improve that situation? I have a recollection that replacing with concrete sleepers was not a good thing.
I see a lot of comments about the dreadful state of the line. Will CWR relaying have helped at all?
I know the major issues still exist but making any positive changes is surely a good thing and could lead to more good news for the line.