Western Rail Corridor (all disused sections)

sligotrain wrote: »

The same John Mulligan who made a presentation to Roscommon County Council in February asking them to endorse the destruction of the WRC in favour of a walking trail. They sent him on his way

West Cork: Beara Way www.bearatourism.com
West Cork: Slí Gaeltacht Mhuscraí www.sligaeltachtmuscrai.com
North Cork: Duhallow Area
Limerick: Ballyhoura Way
South Tipperary: Multeen Way www.multeentourism.com
Galway: Hymany Way www.bearatourism.com
Galway/ Roscommon: Suck Valley Way
Roscommon: Minors Way & Historical Trail
Cavan: Cavan Way
Sections of the route to be completed in 2012/13 or upgraded

North Tipperary: Ormonde Way (to be developed)
Roscommon: Lung Way (to be developed)
Leitrim: Leitrim way (to be upgraded)

In 1979 the Western Inter County Rail Committee ( or Western Inter-County inetrchangeably)
was set up made up of County Councillors
from Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon
and Leitrim. They requested Dr Micheal
MacGreil, SJ, of the Department of Social
Studies at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth to conduct a study.
In his report Dr McGreil listed 19 reasons
for the re-opening of the line, Limerick to Collooney
in Sligo. The Western Inter County
Rail Committee now had people like sociologist
Dr McGreil and Frank Dawson, son of
Hugh Dawson who drove the last train from
Tuam, an expert on trains and transport who
was then Assistant County Development Officer
in Galway and is today County Manager in
Roscommon.
The Western Inter County Rail Committee
with cross party conviction in the merits of reopening
of the Western Rail Corridor were
now a strong lobby group.
Some special trains ran from Tuam and I
remember going on a special from Tuam to
the All-Ireland hurling final in 1981 between
Galway and Offaly.
In May 1986 a concert was held in Tuam Stadium
and the headline act was Country and
Western star Boxcar Willie on the invitation
of the Inter County Rail Committee and other
Community groups to coincide with the running
of a restored steam train from Tuam.
Boxcar Willie advised everyone concerned
to make sure that the track was not taken up
as it would be the death of the WRC, and this
proved to be excellent advice.
The late Minister for Transport Seamus
Brennan cried stop to CIE on two different
occasions, first when he tore up a bill for tens
of thousands of pounds served on Dr McGreil
by CIE after the Western Inter County Railway
Committee succeeded in persuading the
Minister not to allow CIE to formally abandon
the railway from Claremorris to Collooney in
1986.
Secondly Minister Brennan rejected recommendations
of the Strategic Rail Review by
Consultants Booz Allen Hamilton for larnrod
Eireann on April 3, 2003, where they suggested
the cost of re-opening the WRC would be as
high as £572 m. This was a defining moment,
when a Minister rejected a consultants'
report, and expressed confidence in the cross
party Western Inter County Railway Committee
and other Community Groups like the
then recently formed West on Track group
made up of Chamber of Commerce and community
activists.
Minister Brennan established an expert
working group under the chairmanship of Pat
McCann in 2004 to further assess the Western
Rail Corridor. This Committee made recommendations
based on four separate studies,
Land Use chaired by Des Mahon, Mayo
County Manager, Costs and Benefit, chaired
by Frank Dawson, Director of Community
and Enterprise Galway County Council, Rail
Travel Demand, chaired by Hubert Kearns,
Sligo County Manager and Funding chaired
by Gerry Finn, Director of the BMW Regional
Assembly.
The McCann report found in favour of the
reopening of WRC. Its general conclusion was
that a strong case can be made for the restoration
of the line. Land use patterns and settlement
strategies of local authorities along
the western seaboard were identified, which
the re-opening of the WRC would greatly
enhance including the Sligo Gateway, Knock
International Airport, Knock Shrine as a centre
for international pilgrimage, large scale
industrial development including that at
Oranmore-Athenry, Galway Gateway, Link to
Shannon Airport, Limerick Gateway.
Population projections envisaged up to 2020
predict an increase of almost 300,000 with a
commuter traffic increase in the region of 75 per cent.
They concluded that balanced
regional development and the front loading of
infrastructure are critical to the development
of the whole region.
At the request of the Costs & Benefits sub
group , larnrod Eireann commissioned international
consultants Faber Maunsell to undertake
a line survey and prepare a cost estimate
for the renewal of the railway. The resultant
cost estimate of €366 compares favourably
with that of the subgroups' own estimated figure
of €310 using 2002 prices. The very
detailed report includes the cost of totally new
foundations, concrete sleepers, continuous
welded rail, electronic signalling, automated
crossings, new stations, lineside fencing, passing
loops at stations and renewal of bridges.
They have costed a modern state of the art
railway capable of intercity speeds and of
accommodating complementary commuter
and freight traffic.

Section distance capital
cost (and average cost per mile) is

Ennis to Athenry 36 miles €74.7 m(€2.1m)
Athenry to Tuam 15.5 miles €34.7 m(€2.2m),
Tuam toClaremorris 17 miles €58.9 m(€3.5m),
Claremorris to Collooney 49 miles €197.4 m(€4.3m).

The benefits are best described in a non
conventional economic appraisal summary
prepared by the group under the direction of
the Rail Procurement Agency having regard
for Department of Finance guidelines on cost
benefit analysis.
The Demand Sub Group found that the
WRC will satisfy the needs of people wishing
to move from commuting by car, as well as
facilitating long distance travellers moving
away from cars to trains and feeder buses,
while facilitating the diversion of certain
heavy freight movements from road to rail.
These welcome changes would require the
WRC to offer a high quality rail service, with
attractive time tables, preferably clock face:
flexible fare packages, community and customer
participation in operations planning
and integrated travel centres, where bus and
train interacted seamlessly. The economic justification
for investment on this route
includes a number of important wider issues
that must to be taken into account.
Social and developmental considerations
must be considered due to the relative neglect
of the Western seaboard over a number of
decades. It was the sub group's view that a
commitment to significant infrastructural
investment including rail services within the
western corridor would have major benefits
into the future in relation to demographic,
social, cultural and land use development. The
long term development of the west requires a
rail and road network, which are complementary.
A bi-modal approach similar to that
existing on the east coast is recommended.
Research which was undertaken when I
was Chairman of Galway County Development
Board indicates that bus and road traffic
volumes on the Sligo-Claremorris road at present
generate 2.5 million passenger journeys
per annum with 3.5 million extra between
Claremorris and Loughgeorge and a further 6
million between Loughgeorge and Galway,
representing a pool of 12 million current passenger
journeys from which to draw rail passengers.
Co-incidentally 11 million people
drive through Claregalway each year!
The railway enjoys about 10 per cent market
share of traffic annually. Why should the
railway not expect a similar share of Galway,
Mayo, Sligo journeys. If the citizens of the
region took one return trip in the year there
would be 1.4m urneys. McCann points to the
demand that has emerged on the new Ennis-
Limerick train service introduced in 2004,
which within the first year generated 130,000
passengers on a 24-mile journey, with a frequent,
attractively priced service using new
trains. As stated in the Strategic Rail Review:
"It is clear that additional rail capacity, when
provided, has been more than matched by
demand.
The sub group reported that the WRC has
considerable freight potential. This was
acknowledged ten years ago when Minister
Noel Treacy brought about the introduction of
a daily container train between Mayo and
Waterford.
In a submission to the group, Mayo industries
advised that they alone produce 11,000
containers annually for export, worth €3 billion.
This includes 30 per cent of the world's
Coca Cola concentrate produced in Ballina.
This cargo goes by rail through the Greater
Dublin Area en route to Waterford Port.
Mayo industries have expressed a deep felt
interest in using the rail service and the WRC
would provide the most direct route. There is
an existing daily freight train between Mayo
and Waterford ideally more suited to the WRC
than the current routing which takes up to
twelve trains each week through the greater
Dublin Area. Each of these, carrying containers
for export and pulpwood for Coillte,
removes 18 articulated lorries from our roads.
Many companies in Tuam, Claremorris and in
several other centres have expressed interest
in using the rail service to ship products and
import raw material and other goods. Road
Engineers state that an articulated lorry fully
loaded to capacity can do up to 10,000 times
more damage annually to roads than the average
car.
Funding the Western Rail Corridor only
represents less than 1/2 of 1 per cent of the Budget of Transport 21. Yes 0.049 per cent! It is difficult to understand why Conor McCarthy
of An Bord Snip Nua tried to suggest that no
further work should be done on the Western
Rail Corrido the hext phase being, Athenry to Tuam
remains part of the Programme for Government.
This commitment has'beeh firmed up
on three separate meetings I had with Transport
Minister Noel Dempsey in recent months.
The most recent meeting was attended by Dr Micheal MacGreil, Secretary of Western Inter
County Rail committee, Cllr Michael McGreal
from Roscommon County Council (Chairman),
myself Cllr Michael Connolly (Vice
Chairman), Michael Kitt TD, Cllr Damien
Ryan, Mayo and Cllr Michael Fleming, Sligo.
Minister Dempsey was accompanied by
Anne Marie Smith from his Department when
he told us that the Luas and Metro were now a
five to six year programme, instead of three
years. The Minister explained this delay
would release funding for projects like the
Western Rail Corridor, phase two from
Athenry to Tuam and Claremorris.
This project has only a few critics and they
are mainly in the Dublin media, constantly
writing articles in the national press trying to
derail this project which is critical for the
future development of the West Coast and the
west in general. Phase 1 Ennis to Athenry officially
opened on March 29, 2010.
The Ennis to Athenry section has been completed and open
to the public since March 30, 2010 and has four
or five times the passenger numbers projected
and has surpassed all expectations. After the
first week, the service had to convert from a
two carriage passenger train to a four carriage
because of demand. Two extra trains are now
being introduced on the Galway-Ennis section.
The Future
I have great confidence in the future development
of the Western Rail Corridor. A report
and costing have recently gone to the Department
of Transport for the Athenry to Tuam
link. There is such cross party support for the
Claremorris-Tuam section that I am very confident
that it will be completed by 2014.
Work has already been carried out on the
Claremorris to Collooney section by CIE
reviewing fencing, cleaning undergrowth
from the track and re-opening of drains,
preparing it for laying new track, under the
CLAR programme. When the Collooney section
from Claremorris is open I believe that in
the future a link to Donegal could be explored
and a further link to Derry. This would have
the knock on effect of connecting every section
of the rail network to Tuam with a link to
every Irish airport, North and South. This
would have significant economic and tourism
benefits to the western economy. The Western
Rail Athenry to Tuam and other Railway
Companies started out in the age of steam and
graduated to diesel trains. In the third century
of rail fossil fuels will become less acceptable
and less available. The most effective way to
power public transport will be through a good
network of electrical rail routes drawing on
ocean and wind sources, which will be readily
available on the west coast.
I will conclude with the resolution passed
by the Western Inter County Railway Committee
in July 2005, a committee that I am a
member of for the past 11 years. The McCann
report was welcomed as a significant and supportive
document for the re-opening of the
Western Rail Corridor, from Collooney to
Ennis which would be a most valuable transport
infrastructure and would provide concrete
proof of the State's commitment to balanced
regional development.