Ireland - public transport services, issues, plans and consultations (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

I've just read the papers. Apparently it's Boris ... 

I don't think he has quite reached Norman Lamont's description of "being in office but not in power". He would do well to avoid Julian Clary, just in case.

[grahame]

From the Nenagh Guardian

Rail group welcomes investment in local line

The North Tipperary Community Rail Partnership (NTCRP) has welcomed recent improvement works on the Ballybrophy-Limerick line that have commenced at Roscrea Train Station, while also stating that commuters must start seeing returns on investment soon.

Irish Rail has invested in the regional line that stops in Roscrea, Cloughjordan, Nenagh, Birdhill and Castleconnell in recent months, and this has resulted in the laying of continuous welded rail along almost two-thirds of the track.

This means that these new tracks can facilitate trains travelling at faster speeds than currently allowed, thus cutting journey times.

The NTCRP firmly believes that commuters must now see return on this investment with faster speeds and reduced journey times in the new Irish Rail 2021 timetable.

The NTCRP has continued its campaign for a better service along the line and has already met with Irish Rail management this month to push for an additional midday service and for an engineer?s report to be completed that would permit increased train speeds along the line.

The campaign is due to step up a gear later this month when representatives from the group meet with the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan to discuss investment to date in the line and how this can transformed into better services for the people of north Tipperary.

The group will also request that Minister Ryan directs the NTA^» (Newton Abbott - next trains) and Irish Rail to commence a midday service on the line.

The NTCRP is very grateful and encouraged by the recent wave of community support from the people of Nenagh and Cloughjordan that it has received since members appeared on RTE^» (Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Irish Broadcaster - website) News discussing their campaign last week.

It is clear that local people want a train service that is reliable, efficient and regular, and the group will be making these points clear to Minister Ryan when they meet with him in the coming weeks.

[grahame]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/367387502018/permalink/10157684182557019

I will confess to being very keen on this one ... it strikes me amongst all the excellent proposals I hear about to be double or treble times excellent.

South East on Track campaigns for better rail services across the South East of Ireland

Updates business case via https://southeastontrack.com/business-case (and I am mirroring it)

The Rosslare & Wexford – Waterford Rail line closed in 2010 during the Global Financial Crisis
• Low Passenger numbers were cited as the reason for closure.
• The service was minimal (one train a day each direction) and provided no commuter service to/from Wexford Town, the main Commuting destination of the region.
• The rail link has immense strategic value, linking Rosslare Europort to the South and West of Ireland, as well as being the only link apart from the Phoenix Park Tunnel which links the Connolly & Heuston Station rail networks.
• Commuter flows along the line are 3:1 in the Wexford Town vs Waterford City direction.
• Significant population increases are projected in the South East over the coming decades.
• The area currently has some of the lowest Public Transport commuter usage in the State.
• The line has been maintained since 2010, though this maintenance has been downgraded as of 20204.
• Estimated costs of refurbishment to passenger rail standard vary from €29 million - €72 million.
• The estimated cost (using EU^» (European Union - about) figures) to build a new rail link would be approximately €652 million.
• The line could be restored and upgraded for regular passenger service at a fraction of this cost.
• Severance of the rail link would leave Wexford Town the only urban area in the NUTS II Southern Region of Ireland with a population of greater than 15,000 not connected to Waterford and the rest of the Southern Region via a direct rail link.
• Significant developments are planned close to or on the rail line, including the North Quays project in Waterford City, Trinity Wharf in Wexford, Technological University of the South East (TUSE) in Waterford, Wexford, and Carlow and significant investment and increased ferry connectivity at Rosslare Europort.
• South East on Track’s analysis suggests an annual usage of 500,000 is feasible in the short to medium term.
• A rail link from Wexford/Rosslare to Waterford is consistent with a plethora of strategic and policy goals at European, National, Regional, and Local levels.

Reaching the Irish Parliament too.  Good.  Seanad Éireann debate - Friday, 26 Feb 2021
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2021-02-26/13/

Senator Ó Donnghaile spoke about a high-speed rail project and it will be part of a much wider rail review for the country. It is not just about Dublin, Belfast and Cork. We agreed to extend it to Derry and look at its potential. A number of Senators have raised the question of the likes of the western rail corridor. It is not just the N24 we need to look at but we must look at what to do with the rail line from Wexford to Waterford and Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Cahir, Tipperary town, Bansha and upwards. It is not just 19th century market towns that are our legacy. We have a legacy of being the best rail builders in the world and there are strands of rail line left that we are not using, in effect. Nobody really uses it because it is not designed to be used. It is still there and just giving up on those assets would make questionable sense. The Dublin to Belfast route will come under that wider rail review taking place this year.

[grahame]

Further article in the Irish Independent

The group behind the campaign to reinstate the Rosslare to Waterford rail line believe that, with some relatively minor investment, commuters could travel by rail between Wexford town and Waterford in just 45 minutes.

Presenting their business case report, South East on Track believe that it's 'now or never' for the reintroduction of rail travel between Wexford and Waterford and that should the current line be ripped up to accommodate the Rosslare to Waterford greenway, it would take some €652 million to create a similar rail line at a point in the future, making it extremely likely to happen.

For this reason, they are pushing for the route to be re-instated now. The report estimates that to refurbish the line to carry freight only from Rosslare to Belview would cost in the region of €29m. This rises to €54m to reinstate the current track for passenger services. However, should the Killanne-Killinick (Felthouse Junction) curve be reinstated, the total cost would run to around €89m, but would reduce the journey time to just 45 minutes.

While Iarnród Éireann last week spoke of a desire to expand their rail network, it's unclear whether the Wexford to Waterford line is likely to figure highly in their thinking just yet. Ten years ago when the route closed, dwindling passenger numbers were quoted. However, South East on Track say that's because the service was completely unfit for purpose anyway.

'If Iarnród Éireann said that they were reinstating the same service as what was there before, it wouldn't be much of a cause for celebration,' said spokesperson for the group Peter Branigan. 'That would be one service in the morning and one in the evening. There's no point in giving people something they are not going to use. This needs to be every two hours. For example, if you were using the train to go to Waterford for a hospital appointment, you won't want to wait around all day to get back in the evening.'

Although the numbers may seem significant from a financial end of things, South East on Track rightly point out that it pales in comparison to the billions that has been spent on motorway infrastructure in the model county in recent years.

A very different line to the TransWilts ... but I am minded how things turned around when we went up from two trains a day to a train every couple of hours ... took it up from 3,000 ticketed journeys at Melksham per annum (which is what the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)) told me when I asked about how busy the line way) to 240,000 journeys on the line in less than 3 years. And that was capped there was no more physical space to fit people on the train!


Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronyms 08:30

[grahame]

From The Waterford News and Start

THE Waterford to Rosslare Greenway project has been suspended by Wexford County Council as the push to see the existing and intact railway line included in the pending all-Ireland Strategic Rail Review continues.

The news was confirmed earlier this week by Wexford County Council Chairperson Ger Carthy (Ind) and was welcomed by the South East On Track (SEOT) advocacy group.

In a statement, SEOT spokesperson Joe Ryan (a former Mayor of Wexford) said the suspension of the Greenway project paved the way for the line to be featured in the Strategic Rail Review.

[grahame]

https://www.facebook.com/Wexford-Greenway-100479955490609

Common sense

[grahame]

From the Cork Commuter

The National Rail Network is Failing Rural Ireland

The first in a series of articles about Ireland’s intercity network, its future, and how it can work for everyone in Ireland

Ireland’s intercity network is, simply put, not that great. Both the extent of the network, and consequently, the service provided, are not at the standard of a modern European nation. Indeed, the Irish rail network is not even at the standard of a hundred years ago, when the network stretched from Mizen Head to Malin Head, and even Bantry was only a two hour rail trip away. In the 1950s and 60s, over 4,000km of rail was slashed forever, and what little infrastructure remained non-extensive, and hopelessly Dublin-centric. While there have been a few kernels of gold over the years – recent signalling upgrades being one of them – by and large the network, and the quality of service to rural Ireland has remained incredibly stagnant.

Article continues

It's failing more that just rural Ireland - it's failing on just about any journey between cities the are NOT Dublin ...

[grahame]

Sharing from a public Facebook post ... a winding down and closure of many miles of railway lines in Ireland

Thinking about the gradual winding down of Bord na Móna, it's sad to see the hundreds of miles of railway lines Todd Andrews helped open finally get closed. He probably oversaw the opening of more Irish trackage than William Dargan.

A challenge to some of our members here - to accept the closure of railways, or to celebrate that they're no longer needed for their original purpose, which was far from climate friendly or sustainable.

[Richard Fairhurst]

I understand that some of the Bord na Mona railways are being looked at for cycleway conversion, as part of extending the Eurovelo 2 route from Athlone to Galway. Not necessarily the most stunningly scenic route, I'd have thought, but good that they might be remembered in some form.

[grahame]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Dozens of ferry routes avoiding Welsh ports have been established between Ireland and mainland Europe over the past year because of Brexit, Ireland's foreign affairs minister has said.

Simon Coveney said there were 44 direct routes between Ireland and the EU^» (European Union - about).

"That figure would have been less than a dozen this time last year," he said.

The UK^▸ (United Kingdom) government said the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic meant it was too early to judge the new trading relationship with the EU.
The use of a so-called land-bridge from Holyhead to Dover had been a vital part of supply chains in and out of Ireland, Mr Coveney told BBC Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement programme .

Land-bridge movements refer to lorries from Ireland crossing Wales and England en route to other EU countries.

Well ... to repeat what I wrote earlier this year, "of course - what did 'you' expect"

[grahame]

From the Waterford News and Star

A CLAIM by Iarnród Éireann that the ‘temporary’ securing of the Barrow Bridge into an open position will “no way remove the future functionality of the bridge” has been rubbished by a man who worked on the bridge for 13 years.

Denis North started working with Irish Rail in 1957, working in New Ross until it closed in 1963 and then moving to Campile where he worked for 25 more years, before moving to the Barrow Bridge, where he worked until he retired in 2002.

[CyclingSid]

The All Island Strategic Rail Review has been launched. Some interesting graphics which our contributors with more knowledge/interest in the area will make the most of:
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/news/ministers-launch-public-consultation-all-island-strategic-rail-review
worth working through the links to get to the actual document
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/consultations/infrastructure/all-ireland-strategic-rail-review-consultation-document.pdf

[grahame]

Sadly, this story is from Ireland not the rest of the British Isles - see (here)

Public transport fares have been reduced by 20% until the end of the year.

From Monday, the reduction applies to Dublin Bus, Luas, Go-Ahead Ireland, Iarnród Éireann and Dart services.

It means that Transport For Ireland’s 90-minute fare introduced last year will fall from €2.30 to €2 for adults, and from 80c to 65c for children.

Iarnrod Eireann’s online fares were reduced last month, while prices on Bus Éireann and Local Link services were also reduced by 20% from the start of April.

[broadgage]

Rather a contrast to the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) where fares are ever increasing, and often for a worse service.

The recent elections in NORTHERN Ireland showed increased support for leaving the UK and becoming part of a united Ireland.
This sort of thing will add to the views that the grass really IS greener on the other side of the border.

[CyclingSid]

More news on the Rosslare - Waterford link, from RTE^» (Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Irish Broadcaster - website):

https://www.rte.ie/news/leinster/2023/0212/1356196-tensions-over-future-of-rosslare-waterford-rail-route/

It is expected that the all-island rail review will be published in the coming weeks, although because of the 32-county nature of the study, the lack of an administration in Northern Ireland is understood to have hampered these plans.

Although any lack of an administration in Northern Ireland shouldn't affect the Rosslare - Waterford link.