Western rail corridor (WRC) - Capital Plan

[comcor]

It would be great to know what the usage for point to point on exiting non-radial services are.

Are passengers just connecting from a Dublin service or is there significant traffic on the line itself.

We can’t extract that from the rail census, but I assume Irish Rail have some idea from ticket sales.

[Goods]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breaki...se-938937.html
The data shows the extent that there is demand for rail service in IE yet the system is struggling to respond with the result that trains are crowded and there is little sign of expanding the network in places like Navan, or doubling track on lines such as to Mullingar or Tullamore. Irish Rail work on the basis of limiting the service rather than allowing it grow

[Goods]

https://amp.irishexaminer.com/breaki...mpression=true
Demand for commuter rail has never been as high and instead of investment in double track and higher frequency IR trying to reduce peak time numbers. Has to be a better way!

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Goods

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breaki...se-938937.html
The data shows the extent that there is demand for rail service in IE yet the system is struggling to respond with the result that trains are crowded and there is little sign of expanding the network in places like Navan, or doubling track on lines such as to Mullingar or Tullamore. Irish Rail work on the basis of limiting the service rather than allowing it grow

Originally Posted by Goods

https://amp.irishexaminer.com/breaki...mpression=true
Demand for commuter rail has never been as high and instead of investment in double track and higher frequency IR trying to reduce peak time numbers. Has to be a better way!

You do realise that IE are constrained in what they can and cannot do by what funding they receive from the government via the NTA.

Almost everything you’re blaming them on requires capital funding from government/NTA and they have dithered on that for years, especially on the rolling stock side.

Unless people make enough of a fuss about it to their TDs then things aren’t going to change. Public transport investment is always long term and that doesn’t fit into the political cycle unfortunately.

[Goods]

Agree completely capital funding is a gap though I think IR planning is faulty as we seem to suddenly realise that demand has increased despite the graph going up for years. Irish Rail board is a politically selected group so the Board ensures that there is no bad news for the serving govt and vested interests are not threatened. Look at the way that bus services competes with the train instead of one backing up the gaps in the other. See how Rosslare Harbour is being run down in terms of rail service and look at the way Waterford port has been run down in terms of rail freight links. The railways are idle at night so freight can move without congestion but the road freight business prefers to obstruct rail freight. Using the railways more effectively will reduce the overheads and contribute to capital budget. Doublin of track eg to Mullingar would increase commuter frequency of trains instead of turning customers away at peak time. Not including a rail link to the airport when the M50 was built was good for the car park business at the airport.

[Goods]

https://www.handling-network.com/tra...h-railfreight/
Ballina leading the way in IWT trains. If WRC was in place a link between Ballina and Cork or Rosslare would open many options for rail use

[comcor]

Unfortunately, the container terminal in Cork is moving from Tivoli to Ringaskiddy and will not be rail connected (of course the plan is to build a new motorway there right through the middle of a suburban area, but road funding is how things work in this country). There's no great prospect of a rail connection either as the options would be very expensive, with either a new rail line right through the suburbs of Cork (major CPOs so expensive) or an underwater tunnel from the Cobh line so incredibly expensive from an engineering perspective).

For me, Belview is the obvious connection point if there is to be a rail/port connection on the south coast. It can handle containers already (unlike Rosslare) and is properly rail connected (unlike Cork).

I doubt freight makes the case for the WRC though. There's no great benefit in shipping rail freight fast as we don't move time-sensitive goods over the rail network (and this is the case in countries with much more elaborate rail freight). While there is a case for freight trains avoiding the Dublin area because of disruption to existing services, there's no major issue with going Ballina-Athlone-Athenry-Limerick-Belview on the current network, with no capital investment required. If the WRC is reopened, it will need to stand on projected passenger numbers.

[Goods]

Very fair points and I agree that eliminating rail freight link to Cork under the new plan is not good planning at a time when IE is trying to reduce its carbon footprint.
I hadn’t realised that Ballina Athlone Limerick was an option that works.
There seems to be an intentional strategy over a number of years in breaking the rail link to our ports. This is happening in Cork, Belview recently, Rosslare seems to have been cut to the quayside and Foynes. Having an alternative north south route that avoids the congested mainly Dub - Cork line is a future good plan.