[Article] Limerick to Galway rail line reopened

[Colm Moore]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0329/rail.html

Limerick to Galway rail line reopened
watch listen Monday, 29 March 2010 22:23

The Limerick to Galway rail line has been officially reopened, with trains travelling between the two cities for the first time in 34 years.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said support for this phase of the project would be critical to the successful completion of the next phase from Galway to Tuam due to be opened in 2011.

Minister Dempsey today attended the official departure of the first service from Limerick at 10.30am.
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The re-opening of the rail link comes after €160m was spent upgrading the Ennis to Athenry line.

As well as serving Limerick, Ennis, Athenry and Galway, the project involved the building and total fit-out of new stations at Sixmilebridge, Gort, Ardrahan and Craughwell.

Car parking facilities, as well as mobility-impaired access, are provided at the new stations.

There will be five services each way along the new route starting at 6am from Limerick, with journey times varying from just under two hours to two-and-a-half hours.

An estimated 300,000 passengers a year are expected to use the service.

The new link has been widely welcomed, however Labour's Jan O'Sullivan said it was disappointing the route did not include a terminal at Moyross as part of the important regeneration process.

Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy Eames, who lives in Oranmore, said the greatest mistake on the line was that it did not include a stop there, which serves a hinterland of up to 15,000 people.

An Oranmore stop is planned to open in 2011.

West on Track, which has campaigned heavily for the new service, said it is important to proceed to phases two and three to Tuam and Claremorris.

However, Iarnród Éireann cannot say when these phases will be started given the current difficulties with the State finances.

http://www.rte.ie/business/2010/0329/rail.html

Limerick & Galway reconnected by rail again
watch Monday, 29 March 2010 14:19

The new Limerick to Galway rail line was officially launched today - reopening the rail links between the two cities for the first time in 34 years.

However, some reservations have been expressed that the service does not include the populous areas of Moyross in Limerick and Oranmore in Galway.

The re-opening of the rail link comes after €106m has been spent on upgrading the Ennis to Athenry line.

As well as serving Limerick, Ennis, Athenry and Galway, the project involved the building and total fit out of new stations at Sixmilebridge, Gort, Ardrahan and Craughwell. Car parking facilities, as well as mobility impaired access, are also provided at the new stations.

There will be five services each way starting at 6am from Limerick, with journey times varying from just under two hours to two and a half hours. An estimated 300,000 passengers a year are expected to use the service.

'West on Track', which has campaigned heavily, for the new service said it was important to proceed to phases two and three to Tuam and Claremorris. However Irish Rail can not say when these phases will be start given the current difficulties with the State finances.

[Colm Moore]

Press releases, etc. here: http://railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=12206

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...reaking62.html

Limerick-Galway rail line reopens
TIM O'BRIEN in Galway

Thousands of people turned out for the reopening of passenger services on the rail line between Limerick and Galway today.

At each of the eight stations along the 60 kilometre route - which last carried fare-paying passengers in April 1976 - locals waved flags and cheered in scenes of driving rain as the train bearing Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and his retinue travelled along the route.

Iarnród Éireann is reopening the line, which was built in 1869, at a cost of €106 million. It will run five services a day in each direction Monday to Saturday and four on Sundays.

Marquees were set up at a number of stations to house the crowds and plaques commemorating the occasion were unveiled at each stop with Mr Dempsey pointing out the route was the State’s longest section of new track and “the first of the State’s inter-city lines to be reopened.”

Mr Dempsey promised his “absolute commitment” to the reopening of phases two, three and four of the Western Rail Corridor, which are from Athenry to Tuam Co Galway, to Claremorris Co Mayo, and to Collooney Co Sligo respectively.

The commitment was, he said, dependent on getting the money at Cabinet and he said the best way supporters of the reopening of the rail corridor could help, was to show their support the new service between Limerick and Galway.

At about two hours duration the journey time from Limerick to Galway is longer than the 1 hour 30 minutes for road journeys between the two cities, and likely to be considerably longer when a motorway is completed between Galway and Ennis.

In addition to existing stations at Limerick, Ennis, Athenry and Galway, new stations have been built at Sixmilebridge Co Clare, and Gort, Ardrahan, and Craughwell in Co Galway.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...267342575.html

Galway-Limerick rail link reopens

Pic: Mayor of Galway Cllr Declan McDonnell welcomes Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and, left, Minister of State for sustainable transport Ciarán Cuffe, to Ceannt Station in Galway city yesterday. Photograph: Joe O'Shaughnessy http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...67342575_1.jpg

TIM O'BRIEN

FIVE MINISTERS, about eight mayors, one Senator and several thousand local people turned out along the route for the reopening of rail passenger services between Limerick and Galway yesterday.

At each of the eight stations along the 60km section between Ennis and Athenry which last carried fare-paying passengers in April 1976, locals waved flags and cheered, oblivious to the driving rain, as the train bearing Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey and his retinue arrived. Some freight services had continued on the old line until 2001.

Marquees were set up at stations along the route to house the crowds and plaques commemorating the occasion were unveiled at each stop. Mr Dempsey said that the route, which was reopened at a cost of €106 million, was the State’s longest section of new track, and “the first of the State’s inter-city lines to be reopened”.

At Galway, Mr Dempsey went further and promised his “absolute commitment” to the reopening of phases two, three and four of the Western Rail Corridor: from Athenry to Tuam, Co Galway; to Claremorris, Co Mayo; and to Collooney, Co Sligo.

The commitment depended on getting the money at Cabinet, and he said the best way supporters of the reopening of the rail corridor could help was to use the service between Limerick and Galway.

At about two hours’ duration, the journey time from Limerick to Galway is longer than the one hour and 30 minutes for road journeys between the two cities, and the gap is likely to be considerably larger when a motorway is completed between Galway and Ennis.

However, Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív, who was on board the first train yesterday, said that with varying traffic conditions, actual journey times from city centre to city centre could beat road times, particularly at rush hours.

At Ennis, Minister for Defence Tony Killeen came out to welcome the train, while at Sixmilebridge, the Shannon Airport Authority had a bus on hand to emphasise the 14-minute journey to the airport, a feature which it claimed makes the airport more accessible to the people of Galway.

In addition to existing stations at Limerick, Ennis, Athenry and Galway, new stations have been built at Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, and Gort, Ardrahan, and Craughwell in Co Galway.

At Crusheen in Co Clare and Oranmore in Co Galway, people smiled and waved as the train went through yesterday, scotching rumours of protests from locals disappointed at the lack of a station for them. But there was good news with CIÉ chairman Dr John Lynch revealing that opening stations at both Crusheen and Oranmore was “almost certain”, and would likely happen within a year.

The only note of caution sounded on the day was from new Green Party Minister of State with responsibility for sustainable transport, Ciarán Cuffe, who, while celebrating yesterday’s opening, said he would also be prepared to preside over the closure of some train services if they did not make economic sense.

Speaking largely in the context of the possible closure of the Waterford to Rosslare line, Mr Cuffe said the future of any line would depend on its usage and need.

The fifth Minister present was Peter Power, who was on hand to wave the train off from Limerick city.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...267342690.html

Campaigners say next section of corridor could open in year
TIM O'BRIEN

CAMPAIGNERS FOR the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor expressed delight yesterday with the restoration of passenger services between Limerick and Galway, and insisted the Galway to Tuam section of the route could be opened within a year for as little as €30 million.

The campaign, which was congratulated by CIÉ chairman Dr John Lynch on its “terrific achievement”, said, however, that the reopening yesterday should be considered as a “work in progress”.

Colman Ó Raghallaigh of the West-On-Track community-based campaign group, said the “vision” for the service was an intercity-style service running from Galway via Limerick and on to Cork.

He said Iarnród Éireann would take delivery of 52 new intercity carriages next year, of which two trains of three carriages each could operate the service.

Mr Ó Raghallaigh said in the first year of operation the Limerick to Galway trains would be a commuter service.

He said longer journey times than for those travelling by road were not a major difficulty as commuters “don’t mind an extra five minutes; what they want is reliability and certainty of journey time”.

He said after the first year the intercity aspects of the service would come into play, and faster times could be obtained with new trains. Next year the extension to Tuam would also be coming on stream.

He said work on this would start this year, and could be completed in a year for just €30 million.

He said “economic commentators” who had derided the railway project as “idiotic” should now be “ashamed of themselves”.

Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey also had criticism of what he called the “naysayers” and the “overwhelmingly negative image of the project in the newspapers”.

A further boost for the campaigners was provided by Dr John Lynch, who revealed that large numbers of level crossings may not be as big a difficulty in reopening lines as had originally been thought.

Dr Lynch revealed there had been 143 level crossings on the 36-mile Limerick to Galway route, all of which had to comply with stringent modern safety systems.

However, even more hopeful for the service was Sligo vet Peter Bowen-Walsh. He believed a proposal to link Sligo to Derry could attract EU cross-Border funding.

Speaking on the first train yesterday, Mr Bowen-Walsh said this would represent a “real rail network”.

[Mark Gleeson]

Galway to Limerick, the slow way
They say it’s faster to drive from Galway to Limerick than to take the new train route but, as KATHY SHERIDAN discovers, you’d miss out on the brief encounters with strangers

EVER BEEN stuck in a traffic jam and felt a pressing need to get out and demand to know where all the others were going and why the hell they couldn’t cycle, walk or take a bus? No? Not even a little bit curious? True, there is the risk of being knocked unconscious by a deranged driver who fails to see the value of such research.

Trains are so much more civilised. You can pull up next to any stranger at a station and they’ll talk – even at 6.30am. Of course, it helps that people are at their most vulnerable around that time, a fact soon verified when I ask a chatty man I now know to be a loiterer to direct me to the ticket desk. He points me to a machine, I press the button for Limerick, insert €15 – good deal for a train, I’m thinking – get the ticket, and ask my helpful friend where the train is. He escorts me out to the bus. We stand looking at one another uncomprehendingly. Yes, I have purchased a bus ticket.

Call it research (please, expenses authoriser). I can now verify with total certainty that the bus to Limerick is little more than half the price of the train, which came to €28.50 – oddly, still 50 cent more than the online price of the Dublin-Galway leg (which, Ryanair-style, would have been €3 cheaper if I hadn’t the cheek to want to use a credit card).

So, yes, buses are cheaper. But anyone can get a bus. This, by contrast, is only the second day’s train service to Limerick in 34 years.

6.40AM DEPART GALWAY

Before proceeding, I must contend with another setback. To be frank, after 34 years of dammed-up demand, I expect the train to be mobbed, with people hanging off the roof.

Instead, there are Abdel, Patrick and me. And John, the ticket collector, who is only going as far as Ennis.

Abdel looks remarkably kempt and alert for this hour of the morning, in crisp white shirt and suit. He is Dr Abdel Wael, a 29-year-old medical doctor from Khartoum in Sudan, working on unpaid attachment at University College Hospital in Galway, and heading for a 10am interview at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick. He has been in Ireland for 70 days, he says, as we shiver on the train (the other carriage is the unheated one, interestingly). But he notes with no great yearning that it’s 40 degrees in the shade back in Sudan. I suggest that with the state of the economy, perhaps the heating is being rationed. He looks at me gravely and says: “It’s not that bad. . .” And it’s not. We should all start our mornings with some perspective from Abdel.

The gentle motion is taking us through landscapes where sheep and lambs are safely grazing, cattle are still slumbering, and the new day is opening over jewel-green fields and ancient stone walls, the gathering light reflecting off little rivers and small, temporary lakes, as an old Massey Ferguson queues at one of the 143 level crossings.

The only early bus – even at half the price – would have got Abdel to Limerick at 10am, cutting it too fine for his hospital interview. This way, he gets to Limerick at about 8.40am, with plenty of time to spare.

Our other passenger is Patrick Rochford, a 22-year-old student who is trying to get to Cork for an 11am board meeting of Experimental Intercultural Learning, a non-profit trust that administers travel awards for young people in all sorts of settings, from Nigerian healthcare and turtle egg conservation in Mexico to working time with the governor of Vermont. He could have got the 5.30am Galway-Limerick-Cork bus. But that would take him first to Shannon bus station, where it would arrive around 7.30am, meaning a 45-minute wait before pushing on to Limerick city, and another half-hour wait there before heading for Cork, arriving at 11.40am. Six hours on and too late for his purposes.

The direct 7.05am service from Galway would get him to Cork at the same time, but still too late.

By train, he’ll get to Limerick soon after 8.30am, and is torn between getting a bus or another train all the way north to Limerick Junction, to connect with the Dublin train to take him south again to Cork.

7AM ATHENRY

We’re only five minutes behind the timetable. Ben Hannon joins us. Now we are four. He’s from Limerick and took the 11.55am train yesterday up to Athenry to visit his girlfriend. So will he be using the service regularly, we ask hopefully? “Well, [the relationship] only started recently, so hopefully. . .”

How recently? “A couple of weeks.” We can tell you, Louise, he’s keen. And the train is ideal, better than the bus, since you only live just around the corner from the station and the €20 fare is worth it.

7.10AM CRAUGHWELL

But we are still four, alas, pulling out of Craughwell. John McGrath, the ticket collector, assures us that it gets busy from Ennis, but frankly we’re not interested. From Ennis, the trip becomes a mere commuter journey to Limerick, and – worse – one that has been running for several years. John thinks people are going to wait and see whether the new route lives up to its promise. “And this is Holy Week, so it’s not a typical week.”

7.20AM ARDRAHAN

Mary Kelly gets on. She works in administration and is off to Limerick to do some shopping. She’s taking the train because “it’s a novelty”, and has paid €17.25 for the round trip. “It’s effortless. But they’d want to start offering more attractive fares,” she says, suggesting that Irish Rail missed an opportunity to run promotional offers this week to market the new route.

7.30AM GORT

A pretty station from this angle. Teresa Fahy, from Newquay in the Burren, and her cheerful 12-year-old grand-daughter Doireann climb on, and confirm that Gort station is indeed newly refurbished, a clean and lovely place. They are sitting in the first of the two carriages, both wrapping their collars around their faces to ward off the cold. We suggest they join us in the second, where the heaters are working – sort of. Teresa is going to babysit her other grand-daughter in Limerick, and makes the journey regularly, so is glad to have the train. In fact, she tried to use it on Monday, but only chained officials were allowed on. Between them, the trip is costing €8 return, since Teresa has a travel pass and she got free parking (this week only) at the station.

8AM ENNIS

Our intimate little idyll is destroyed by a small flood of commuters. No one is hanging off the roof yet, but the train is certainly three-quarters full by the time we pull out at 8am. Micheal Lynch, a graphic artist and personal trainer, home on a visit from California, is on the way to Cork to collect his new passport (no queues in Cork) and teams up with Patrick. Two sisters, Geraldine O’Brien and Siobhán Flanagan, from Bray and Greystones, are on the multi-leg return journey to Co Wicklow, after one of their regular visits to Geraldine’s daughter in Lissycasey, Co Clare.

8.40AM LIMERICK

We arrive on time, or thereabouts. After a pause, our train pushes on to Limerick Junction, with Patrick and Micheal aboard.

LATER . . . THE OTHER WAY

So who’s heading back to Galway? The 15 or so in the queue are a leisurely bunch in the main. Three generations – Nancy Cahill; her daughter, Niamh Cahill Donnellan; and Niamh’s sons, Andrew (six) and Barry (three) – are looking forward to a day out in Galway. They’ll take a bus out to Salthill and get a scent of the sea. The round trip cost €30 for the five (Nancy and Barry travel free), says Niamh happily.

Marie Jerome and her two teenage sons, Darragh and Dean Lillis, from Castleconnell, Co Limerick, are just trying out the new service – but there’s no hiding their joy about spending a day in Galway. They all like “the younger, more vibrant, more European” feel of the city. For Dean, there are more places to sit and relax, more parks and cafes. Darragh finds it “a more sociable city, less closed than Limerick”. And, says Marie, there’s a Marks Spencer in Galway. What? No Marks Spencer in Limerick? Afraid not.

Later, we check back with Patrick. His trip worked out rather well. He got into Cork before 11am. Soon after, he’s sifting through EIL applications for Japan: 61 candidates for a single place. Later in the day, he’ll be doing the whole journey in reverse, hopefully in time to have his feet washed in St Nicholas’s Church, since it’s Holy Thursday.

And Abdel? The interview went well, he thinks. Does he think he got the job? “It never happens that way . . . Often they say ‘very good’, then you never hear from them again. But they asked for more documents so I’ll get them to them today.”

But the train service at least was working out. By now, he was back on the 11.55am train, waiting to be whisked back to Galway .

And yes, it’s true as some allege. Given a fair wind, you can drive faster. Brian, the photographer who accompanied me, says he can drive it in 90 minutes without breaking the law, and providing it’s outside peak time. Ah, but then you’d miss being able to see in the dawn, and lurching gently through that magical landscape, the light spreading over that emerald fields – and the brief encounters.

So the count is 7 and one of those don't count, Waterford Rosslare morning train approx 30

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...267546081.html

[Tadhg17]

People in Galway/County Galway aren't exactly rushing to get the early morning train to Limerick! They should have had some promotional fares the first week at least on the route.

I wonder was the train from Galway that departs Ennis at 8am on time all week?

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...269640188.html

Galway rail route beats expectations
GORDON DEEGAN

PASSENGER TRAFFIC on the first phase of the Western Rail Corridor has exceeded expectations, Iarnród Éireann said yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the company said 16,000 journeys were made in the first month of the new Limerick-Galway service, which has been restored at a cost of €106.5 million.

The service was reintroduced after 34 years on March 29th.

“The first month’s operations have exceeded expectations, with significant demand experienced from day one,” the spokeswoman said.

Colman Ó Raghallaigh of West on Track said the performance on the new rail line “has confounded the critics”.

“We believe that, given the success of phase one, there is now no further excuse for prevarication as far as continuing with the next phases to Tuam and Claremorris.”

The Iarnród Éireann spokeswoman said: “The 16,000 passenger journeys recorded are on top of the existing 14,400 monthly journeys on the Limerick-Ennis service, meaning the through route has seen over 30,000 passenger journeys in its first month.

“This is a strong and encouraging start for this new service. While the initial interest was a great start, we are now seeing daily demand being sustained.

“There is little doubt that, as summer approaches, new demand – in the form of domestic and overseas tourists – will also see new rail customers taking to the line.”

The reopened line delivers a direct Galway to Limerick service and serves Limerick, Ennis, Athenry and Galway and new stations at Sixmilebridge, Gort, Ardrahan and Craughwell.

The passenger numbers comes in spite of an Iarnród Éireann business case anticipating losses of €2.4 million per annum in the new service, while a Government-commissioned study has stated that the line’s “cost-benefit analysis would suggest that the scheme is not good value for money and should not have gone ahead”.

Before the line was opened, Iarnród Éireann said the number of passengers anticipated in the business case would be exceeded.

Iarnród Éireann said: “It is an important piece of infrastructure, connecting two gateway and one hub under the National Spatial Strategy. The line will require subvention, but the investment was made on that basis.”

Mr Ó Raghallaigh said: “Clearly we are pleased but not surprised at the excellent performance of the railway to date. Anyone who knew anything about the movement of people in the west of Ireland could easily have predicted this.

“Indeed, the railway is so successful that there is a clear need for an additional evening service out of Galway after six o’clock. And we believe that Iarnród Éireann is examining the possibilities regarding the provision of such an extra ‘commuter’ service.”

[dowlingm]

No breakout of Sixmilebridge's uplift for Limerick-Ennis, no breakout of Athenry-Galway. No breakout of what the yield per passenger is accounting for social welfare passes etc. I wonder did the IT have to call Colman or did he already have the numbers?