Does Waterford-Limerick have passenger potential?

[comcor]

Where I can think that this has been done (e.g. along the A4/A10 in Amsterdam), it's generally been to allow realignment of line in suburban areas. The trains that serve those lines don't go too fast.

The Paris-Brussels TGV line does parallel the A1 motorway for a decent distance, but if you look on a map, it's not just built in the motorway margin. It follows a much straighter line and the motorway often drifts away by as much as 300m.

If we ever considered this in Ireland, using it to rebuild an existing line doesn't seem the way to go. Maybe it could work if the M20 was ever built from Limerick to Charleville, as it would be a commuter line and cut off the Limerick Junction corner on the way to Cork, but that's really the only instance where I could imagine it working.

[Thomas Morelli]

Originally Posted by comcor

If we ever considered this in Ireland, using it to rebuild an existing line doesn't seem the way to go. Maybe it could work if the M20 was ever built from Limerick to Charleville, as it would be a commuter line and cut off the Limerick Junction corner on the way to Cork, but that's really the only instance where I could imagine it working.

That sounds like something that would work quite well.
It would link Cork, Limerick and Galway directly by rail.
The plans for the M20 are all over the news at the moment.
Do you think the infrastructure of the M20 would allow a reasonable speed by train?

[comcor]

It's more that you're only looking at 30km, so even if speeds of 100km/h could be acheived, you could get Cork-Limerick below the hour mark.

However, if the Dublin-Cork mainline does ever get to 200km/h, it should be able to get close to that via Limerick Junction (and match it if there was a bit of investment into Limerick Junction to Limerick), so it's questionable as to the benefit there.

It could also allow for commuter services along a Charleville-Croom-Patrickswell-Raheen-Limerick route, but realistically, you may as well run an all stops service from Cork to Limerick and vice versa as the two cities commuter belts come within touching distance of each other (Charleville is arguably in both).

[Thomas Morelli]

I got the idea from an article on engineersjournal.ie, which was comparing Ireland's transport system with Denmark's. http://www.engineersjournal.ie/2016/...he-right-track

The Danish King Frederik V in 1761 had to rely on the expertise of French engineers to design many ‘straight-line’ roads as there was a lack of expertise available within the country. In the 1790s, road design standards were published and included details on cross sections, structure and curvature.

Subsequently, roads lost much of their significance in Denmark, with some being converted to railways (those straight lines coming in handy) to further service industry. Rail lines also continued in Ireland, peaking at 3,500km of track in 1920.

Do you think this would work for the Western Rail Corridor between Tuam and Collooney (if it returns) and the M17, considering there are a lot of gradients, sharp turns and level crossings on the line's original alignment?