Closure potentially on the cards

[Traincustomer]

as below

[Traincustomer]

Wish it wasn't the case but the signs of potential closure of Limerick Junction - Clonmel - Waterford are growing stronger:
http://www.independent.ie/national-n...s-2803490.html

[Thomas J Stamp]

there is no secret in this. irish rail have deliberatly let those lines wither so they can be offered up as a sacrifice to the mc carthy altar.

Doing something as radical as putting in a timetable that suits the people of North Laois and North Tipperary as opposed to the staffing rosters in Limerick Depot would have transformed the Ballybrophy line years ago.

There is latent demand there, but IE simply never had any interest in it because passengers or not, they could run an empty train up and down it thanks to the subsidy.

Now McCarthy 2 has blown the gaff wide open. there will be no savings in this, IE will simply re-deploy the staff into the main Cork/Limerick line, but it looks good.

[Thomas J Stamp]

on a seperate note, the sheer cheek and brass neck of John Lynch as displayed by him in that article just beggers belief. His quote has all the class and standards one would expect of him. It is not his mess now, and he is quite happy to start laying the blame on future closures on his successor.

What Mr Lynch fails to address is that, due to the monumental failure of his company to do their job right, under his chairmanship and his watch, the comapny which he leaves behind may now embark on these drastic cuts.

Blaming the immigrant population for leaving the country is a splindid example of his class. It is his failure, his boards failure, his managers failre, to attract customers that is the cause of this situation. No-body else can take the blame. He oversaw the transformation of this company form one that was a transport provider into a property development company. His dying breath and his last will and testament being an utterly useless proposed commercial/residental development beside Connolly Station - to be filed along with those for Cork, Docklands and Tara Street.

Goodbye and good riddence to him, I do hope the door slams on his backside on the way out. I also hope he has the manners and grace to refrain from commenting anymore on CIE, Irish Rail, and any particular lines, as he was the one, as chairman and de-facto leader, who oversaw their declaine and demise and did not one thing to prevent or reverse it.

I wish the new chair well, and hope that he is better than Lynch, not that it would be hard. I would normally say as a joke that my cat could have run CIE better than him, but that would be wrong. He ran CIE as he and his political masters saw fit and correct, thus he fulfilled his brief correctly, and in the end that is the most dammning thing you can say about him.

[James Howard]

What is interesting from the article is the assertion by Michael Kilcoyne of the Consumers' Association that fare hikes would force people of the buses and into their cars. This is typical of the blinkered attitude of the Irish Ruling Classes.

I don't know about most people, but back when I was in the prime demographic of a bus user (i.e. student / low-income worker / city centre resident), Dublin Bus didn't have to worry about me taking my car instead of the bus because I didn't actually have one.

Dublin Bus's main competition is the bicycle as it is cheaper and faster for pretty much any journey in the city. You just get a bit wet and sweaty which generally isn't too much of a problem for people who don't work in offices. An in terms of intercity transport, the train is competing against the car but if Bus Eireann are thinking about putting up their fares, the private bus companies will be rubbing their hands with glee.

[markpb]

Originally Posted by James Howard

I don't know about most people, but back when I was in the prime demographic of a bus user (i.e. student / low-income worker / city centre resident), Dublin Bus didn't have to worry about me taking my car instead of the bus because I didn't actually have one.

An awful lot of students have cars these days.

An in terms of intercity transport, the train is competing against the car but if Bus Eireann are thinking about putting up their fares, the private bus companies will be rubbing their hands with glee.

BE are cheaper and faster (or as fast) than IR for quite a few IC routes these days. I wouldn't write them off just yet.

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp

there is no secret in this. irish rail have deliberatly let those lines wither so they can be offered up as a sacrifice to the mc carthy altar.

Well, except for the money spent on the Nenagh rail relaying, plus whatever was spent lifting Tipp loop.

The worst of it is, if these lines were suspended at the same time as Rosslare-Waterford or earlier, 6 x 2700 or more could have been deployed onto Dublin Area services jammed to the doors. Now 57 22000 cars are arriving, service is contracting, Bus Eireann are locked in mortal/suicidal combat by jacking up the X routes and NIR are filling up with their 4000 class arrivals too so no chance to sell some to them!

Originally Posted by markpb

BE are cheaper and faster (or as fast) than IR for quite a few IC routes these days. I wouldn't write them off just yet.

Nenagh/Roscrea being a prime example of a route where the bus is faster.

[Inniskeen]

The utterly galling thing about these lines is the large amount of taxpayer's money that has been spent on track upgrading, bridge renewals and level crossing elimination without any real attempt to provide a worthwhile service.

Take the Limerick/Waterford line for example.

1. No services oriented towards potential commuter traffic into Limerick or Waterford.
   
2. Irish Rail insist on operating the line as separate portions with extended waiting times at Limerick Junction and no through services.
   
3. Minimal frequency.
   
4. Undemanding schedules.
   
5. No Sunday services.
   
6. Near zero marketing effort.
   
7. Low end rolling stock.
   

Ironically despite all the handicaps a modest amount of business is evident to/from Dublin and from local stations to/from Waterdord.

One thing is clear, there is little future for these lines (and others) unless the service offering is dramatically improved.

[Thomas Ralph]

It's the same plan as the Waterford-Rosslare, run the line into the ground by operating service levels that nobody would want to use, then claim it's got to close because it's not economical.