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Unread 08-08-2012, 10:12   #65
Thomas J Stamp
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Home of Hurling
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inniskeen View Post

The only long term future for the Nenagh line requires at least the restoration of the previous 70 mph speed restriction, a direct curve at Ballybrophy and a decent frequency. The bulk of the line's potential is undoubtedly to Dublin - why would this route be different to almost any other in the country ? Given a decent journey time and a useful timetable, I am sure there is also some potential for local traffic into Limerick, but this would almost certainly be secondary in volume and importance to traffic to Dublin.

For the immediate future the best that can be hoped for is that the line can be sustained until the economic tide turns and there is again an appetite for investment in rail transport infrastructure.

The next few years will be extremely challenging for the railway generally and it is more than possible that there will be little or no investment in the system, let alone game changing investment in the Nenagh line.
the only part i do not agree with you here is that the potential is to dublin. you have said it yourself, there is only a small number of commuters this far out. those who do commute from Thurles and Templemore (we surveyed them in the Templemore Rail Users Group) chose jobs in dublin which allowed them to use the train, or moved to the towns as they were next to be developed as dormer towns.

the latter aspect is one which did not materialise in the towns on the branch line - because there was no service. Now, given the current economic circumstances we find ourselves in, that is not going to change soon. As someone who works in Roscrea and Nenagh I can tell you that the potental for a commuter service to limerick, which gets in at 8.30 ish starting from Brophy, is (or was) a real one. Limerick is only one hour away and is a lot easier to access than dublin, and if the track was developed and services were developed, a functioning branch shuttle service would solve all these problems, you can have a shuttle which connects to the brophy trains, you can have a shuttle that gets people into limerick and back in time for work and whatever. you can lay on specials for the rugby matches or gaa matches in limerick.

NRP rep told me of an idea to close the branch for one year to put into place the infrastructure you suggest. Personally, i have only one problem with that, which is the over-riding temptation it will give the DoT to close it permanently. The gas thing is that the only posters on this thread who use the line all see that it has potential. If only we would drop the fantasy island elements and use the damn thing as a branch line to its potential and sell it as that then things would be a lot easier.
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