Western Rail Corridor (all disused sections)

shamwari · 20-06-2011 5:48pm

westtip wrote: »

well I'm not sure of the relevance of this question however yes I do cycle, not as much as I would like to and I am not an avid road racer, I don't like cycling on irish roads (nor indeed roads in the UK) because its too bloody dangerous, I like "leisure" cycling and I have two small boys aged 6 and 8 who unfornately cannot enjoy the freedom of cycling along country lanes like I did in the 1960s growing up. I am an avid believer in the provision of greenways for leisure cycling because its just a nice way to get around - and in the case of the WRC northern section, for me anyway is a blindingly obvious good use of a publicilly owned facility, and using these old rural rail routes for greenways was something I saw make a huge difference to the leisure and activity tourism sector in the uk with the growth of greenways following the estalishment of Sustrans, although even as a child I was cycling with my parents along the Tissington Trail in Derbyshire before the phrase Greenway had been invented. take a look to see what I mean, this trail has been in place since 1971 and was one of the forerunnes of the whole greenway movement - we just happened to live near it when I was growing up.

http://www.derbyshire-peakdistrict.co.uk/tissingtontrail.htm

My passion for the Sligo mayo greenway is driven out of the need to have somewhere safe for my children to enjoy long distance tour cycling - and because like Corky and other I seriously do believe the western rail corridor arguments are seriously flawed, in terms of both economics and sociology, the WRC is not going to deliver a facility that will do the greatest good for the greatest number and certainly will not improve anything in the west of ireland, to any major degree - in fact I think the campaign is doing the west a great disservice because its driven out of arguments based on envy and does not address the real issues economically for the west - to drive our tourism and leisure industry forward we need to provide facilities our tourists actually want. A poor quality rural train service is not a priority.

does this answer your question: How much cycling do I do?

The question has been answered, and as I said above it wasn't a loaded one. You are right in that there is a paucity of decent places where ordinary folk can cycle recreationally, especially so where for young children.

I've cycled many of the roads here in north County Dublin over the years and they are, not to put too fine a point on it, in complete sh*te. They are a danger to vehicular traffic as well as cyclists and pedestrians. I was on a cycling holiday the week before last in Scotland. The A & B roads over there are mostly in excellent condition, and way ahead of their counterparts here.

To me, decent safe roads for all road users is ahead of a poor rail services in terms of priority, and dare I say it, cycles lanes/ways too.

westtip · 20-06-2011 5:49pm

dowlingm wrote: »

bk

In the case of the WRC, there should have been Iarnrod Eireann buses operating between Ennis and Athenry timetabled to connect to Athlone-Galway or Athenry-Galway and Ennis-Limerick trains, with tickets. The boarding counts should have determined where stations were located and how soon the line needed to be commissioned or if feeder service was the medium/long term appropriate mode (this should be happening on Tuam-Athenry, Dunboyne-Navan and Midleton-Youghal as we speak).

But that would have caused problems because The Sister Company wouldn't have liked IE operating buses under its own banner and the West On Trackers wouldn't have liked pictures of bus stops with no-one beside them when they were trying to persuade government to drop 106m on, among other things, slathering tarmac on the ground in Ardrahan.

Excellent idea for the phase 2 and 3 run a "shadow train service" as a bus service only picking up at the proposed stations running to time schedules that would be realistic and see if it gets supported - if it doesn't, then don't bother with phase 2 or 3 - then none of us can knock the idea anymore and WOT can prove their case.....should be an interesting exercise.

serfboard · 20-06-2011 7:07pm

westtip wrote: »

Excellent idea for the phase 2 and 3 run a "shadow train service" as a bus service only picking up at the proposed stations running to time schedules that would be realistic and see if it gets supported - if it doesn't, then don't bother with phase 2 or 3 - then none of us can knock the idea anymore and WOT can prove their case.....should be an interesting exercise.

Yes, but I can see the argument that WOT would make. "People aren't using this service because they don't want to have to get on a bus, then get off a bus and get on a train - if there's a proper train service they will use it". (Even if they have proved from Ennis->Athenry that they won't.)

Also, to be fair to them, Tuam-Athenry is a godawful road, and if the bus was to genuinely replicate the train service it should stop in Ballyglunin (presuming the train service would?) and that's a further detour down more boreens.

In the meantime, none of it would provide as good a service as Burkes Bus or for as cheap (€35 for a weekly commuter, or €5 single). Can't see IE doing Tuam->Galway for €5 single, considering Athenry, which is only approximately halfway there rail-wise, is €7 (IE web price).

Oh, and by the way, Tuam also has Bus Eireann as well.

dowlingm · 20-06-2011 7:19pm

serfboard - using buses to connect to railheads using same-brand same-ticket service is exactly how the GO Transit system works in greater Toronto in order to work around the limitations of a largely single track system, much of it even without mini CTC and/or owned by freight networks who will demand a high price for any expansion.

Initially buses bidirectionally to railheads,
then buses counterpeak/offpeak/weekends, trains at peak weekday directions and only after that trains 2-way all day

The extension of service from Bradford, formerly the Newmarket Line outer terminus to Barrie for instance used to be bus-only, is currently at peak-only weekday but is having a fifth rotation added later in 2011 and CTC + bidirectional service is planned down the line.

bk · 20-06-2011 7:20pm

dowlingm while I'm not yet at the stage of saying we should close down intercity rail yet, I admit I'm getting closer *.

If a coach can do the same routes as intercity rail, in almost the same time, at a fraction of the cost to both the customer and the tax payer, then why should we maintain intercity rail ?

Can you please give me the advantage of intercity rail, because increasingly I'm not seeing any.

Intercity rail made sense back when we had terrible roads between our cities and the train was much faster and safer. But things have changed, today the roads are about the same as rail (slightly faster in some cases, slightly slower in others).

So we have to decide, do we continue to maintain and subsidise intercity rail or would the money be better spent on commuter rail?

* I don't think it should be just shut down, rather the intercity bus routes completely opened up to competition and the subsidies on intercity rail reduced to nothing. Then IR can compete or not.

There is only a need to continue subsidising a service if there is some greater social benefit. I just don't see that benefit for intercity rail.

westtip · 20-06-2011 7:31pm

serfboard wrote: »

In the meantime, none of it would provide as good a service as Burkes Bus or for as cheap (€35 for a weekly commuter, or €5 single). Can't see IE doing Tuam->Galway for €5 single, considering Athenry, which is only approximately halfway there rail-wise, is €7 (IE web price).

Oh, and by the way, Tuam also has Bus Eireann as well.

serf just looked a that Burkes bus website - how on earth can any case be made for a "commuter" service from a town as small as Tuam with this clearly great bus service. agree with you IE just would not compete with this! and more to the Point IE want the extension of the WRC northern branch line like a hole in the head, part of the reason it won't happen.

dowlingm · 20-06-2011 9:42pm

bk

the problem to one extent is that IE aren't fully their own masters. Could you imagine for instance if they decided to skip Clara station while Cowen was Taoiseach? Bus Eireann has a lower visibility and its failures aren't quite as public and service changes or withdrawals don't tend to make it past the local newspapers. At the same time, businesspeople will not choose to travel by intercity bus but will instead drive which impinges on their productivity.

For me, the priority would be building on the best routes, those that have existing speed limits of 70mph or better but have speed restrictions which can be worked on or additional capacity added through passing track and which can sustain at least one three-car train (i.e. 4-5 buses per movement) to high load factor per direction per day.

That means Ballybrophy-Killonan and Ballybrophy Station suspended, Limerick Junction-Waterford suspended, Attymon closed, Ardrahan and Craughwell services only stopping on services which have shown consistent patronage (similar to Woodlawn). Any spare bob to be used to automate LCs that can't be closed and do land swaps with farmers to allow the closure of accommodation crossings.

ALL lines and stations not in current use should then be transferred lock stock and barrel to the National Transport Authority for them to maintain separate from the lines that have customers. Whatever about the rightness of IE maintaining the track their services run on, they definitely shouldn't have to pay for ones that the politicians and regulators won't let them close, but at the same time the taxpayer should retain the option of reusing those assets rather than selling them to adjoining farmers at the bottom of the market.

DWCommuter · 21-06-2011 12:48am

dowlingm wrote: »

bk

the problem to one extent is that IE aren't fully their own masters. Could you imagine for instance if they decided to skip Clara station while Cowen was Taoiseach? Bus Eireann has a lower visibility and its failures aren't quite as public and service changes or withdrawals don't tend to make it past the local newspapers. At the same time, businesspeople will not choose to travel by intercity bus but will instead drive which impinges on their productivity.

For me, the priority would be building on the best routes, those that have existing speed limits of 70mph or better but have speed restrictions which can be worked on or additional capacity added through passing track and which can sustain at least one three-car train (i.e. 4-5 buses per movement) to high load factor per direction per day.

That means Ballybrophy-Killonan and Ballybrophy Station suspended, Limerick Junction-Waterford suspended, Attymon closed, Ardrahan and Craughwell services only stopping on services which have shown consistent patronage (similar to Woodlawn). Any spare bob to be used to automate LCs that can't be closed and do land swaps with farmers to allow the closure of accommodation crossings.

ALL lines and stations not in current use should then be transferred lock stock and barrel to the National Transport Authority for them to maintain separate from the lines that have customers. Whatever about the rightness of IE maintaining the track their services run on, they definitely shouldn't have to pay for ones that the politicians and regulators won't let them close, but at the same time the taxpayer should retain the option of reusing those assets rather than selling them to adjoining farmers at the bottom of the market.

You are outdoing yourself dowlingm. I like this.

serfboard · 21-06-2011 5:26pm

dowlingm wrote: »

the problem to one extent is that IE aren't fully their own masters. Could you imagine for instance if they decided to skip Clara station while Cowen was Taoiseach? Bus Eireann has a lower visibility and its failures aren't quite as public and service changes or withdrawals don't tend to make it past the local newspapers. At the same time, businesspeople will not choose to travel by intercity bus but will instead drive which impinges on their productivity.

For me, the priority would be building on the best routes, those that have existing speed limits of 70mph or better but have speed restrictions which can be worked on or additional capacity added through passing track and which can sustain at least one three-car train (i.e. 4-5 buses per movement) to high load factor per direction per day.

...

ALL lines and stations not in current use should then be transferred lock stock and barrel to the National Transport Authority for them to maintain separate from the lines that have customers. Whatever about the rightness of IE maintaining the track their services run on, they definitely shouldn't have to pay for ones that the politicians and regulators won't let them close, but at the same time the taxpayer should retain the option of reusing those assets rather than selling them to adjoining farmers at the bottom of the market.

Agree that this is a great post, and that this is how it could be done. However, you have outlined one of the problems yourself. Aside from its ability/inability to do the job, the amount of political interference in IE must be deeply frustrating for the/any genuinely good people who work there.

westtip · 21-06-2011 7:18pm

dowlingm wrote: »

bk

ALL lines and stations not in current use should then be transferred lock stock and barrel to the National Transport Authority for them to maintain separate from the lines that have customers. Whatever about the rightness of IE maintaining the track their services run on, they definitely shouldn't have to pay for ones that the politicians and regulators won't let them close, but at the same time the taxpayer should retain the option of reusing those assets rather than selling them to adjoining farmers at the bottom of the market.

Yes indeed dowling a great post and in terms of he old WRC chestnut would transfer the entire line now to the NTA, and hold it in their ownership even if a Greenway is put over it - this way - WOT cannot oppose a greenway on the grounds it will impinge on future use as a railway - the railway can only come on the WRC if there is going to be demand and the onus to prov that demand is now very much in West on Tracks court. They failed to prove their case for Ennis Athenry so what will they say about the northern branch line? 200,000 passenger journies a year and with no intercity connections, I can see the next positive press release coming ....

westtip · 24-06-2011 4:23pm

A quick news update on the latest on this campaign - many of you may have looked at the Sligo mayo greenway campaign on facebook, the campaign now has over 300 Facebook friends but critically its good to see how many TDs and councillors have joined the fray and put their heads above the parapet by signing up as friends on this overtly campaigning facebook site.

John O'Mahony was the first Mayo TD to sign up today, yesterday Ciaron Cannon Galway East and Junior minister became a friend we have John Perry our local Sligo Minister on board (plus Tony Mcloughlin the other FG TD in Sligo), Lucinda Creighton a Minister of State is a friend and Jim Higgins MEP - plus a whole host of councillors from across the country. Some of you may be cynical of politician gathering friends on Facebook but all these TDs had to have it explained to them what the campaign was about before they signed up and they made considered decisions - if anyone here is not yet a friend on FB of SMG (and I know several posters are) then sign up today!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001773703036 of course don't foreget An Taoiseach may not be a facebook friend but he certainly did nothing to deny his support folling the article in the Irish Times in January. I always like to post this link now and again just to remind those dropping into this thread about what our Taoiseach thinks:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0131/1224288605586.html

Just checked the facebook page again - it gets better news! Nicki McFadden FG Senator on board, Derek Keating TD on board and now we have our first full cabinet minister on board as a Facebook friend of sligomayogreenwaycampaign - Phil hogan TD Minister For the Department of Environment community and local Government - this really is great news for the sligo mayo greenway project we now have An Taoiseach's support and now one open facebook friend at cabinet table.

mgmt · 24-06-2011 6:23pm

westtip wrote: »

I always like to post this link now and again just to remind those dropping into this thread about what our Taoiseach thinks:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0131/1224288605586.html

Last summer, the existing route attracted 300 walkers and cyclists on weekdays and up to 1,000 at weekends. It has been a “phenomenal success”, according to Mr Quinn. “Imagine what that is doing for these sleepy backwaters of Irish tourism,” he said.

Do you see that WOT!! The Whest has spoken. It's time to get over your inferiority complex of "the pale" and support a project that will be of great benefit to Mayo and Sligo and indeed the country.

Sligo and Mayo are already seen as an outdoor tourist locations; surfing, hill walking etc. Lets add another outdoor pursuit attraction to the region.

westtip · 28-06-2011 4:12pm

The measure of how desparate West on Track have become is indicated in this "correction" the Irish Times published:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0615/1224298936272.html

An article in the edition of June 10th, concerning the western rail corridor, said that the number of passengers has fallen short of that forecast in the business case.

However, the business case forecasts were based on 14 trains a day while there are only 10 trains a day currently. The service was described as Ennis-Athenry but these are towns on the route. The service extends from Galway to Limerick.

The Irish Times has done itself a disservice publishing this correction. The actual numbers using the through route from Galway to Limerick (ie on the full corridor route – for which there are indeed 10 trains a day), were about 50,000 for the first year in operation. The business case was indeed for 100,000 based on 14 trains a day on this route. The number of trains per day is 40% trains less than expected. If the numbers using the line are considered on a pro-rata basis – and increased by 40% the numbers would have been 70,000 per annum and this is making an assumption that loadings would have been the same as on other trains. The report was in fact wholly correct, the numbers using the through route on the Western Rail Corridor from Galway-Limerick including the new section of line from Ennis to Athenry have in fact fallen well below the business case expectations, and on a pro-rata basis had the number of trains been the expected 14 trains per day – the route would still have fallen well below expectations.

One assumes the Irish Times was forced into this correction by some unknown holy powerm, I am surprised they succumbed in doing so.

foggy_lad · 28-06-2011 5:11pm

westtip wrote: »

The measure of how desparate West on Track have become is indicated in this "correction" the Irish Times published:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0615/1224298936272.html

The Irish Times has done itself a disservice publishing this correction. The actual numbers using the through route from Galway to Limerick (ie on the full corridor route – for which there are indeed 10 trains a day), were about 50,000 for the first year in operation. The business case was indeed for 100,000 based on 14 trains a day on this route. The number of trains per day is 40% trains less than expected. If the numbers using the line are considered on a pro-rata basis – and increased by 40% the numbers would have been 70,000 per annum and this is making an assumption that loadings would have been the same as on other trains. The report was in fact wholly correct, the numbers using the through route on the Western Rail Corridor from Galway-Limerick including the new section of line from Ennis to Athenry have in fact fallen well below the business case expectations, and on a pro-rata basis had the number of trains been the expected 14 trains per day – the route would still have fallen well below expectations.

One assumes the Irish Times was forced into this correction by some unknown holy powerm, I am surprised they succumbed in doing so.

ah they made a mistake and put their hands up, it is just a shame the whest on track crowd wont do the same!

westtip · 28-06-2011 5:57pm

foggy_lad wrote: »

ah they made a mistake and put their hands up, it is just a shame the whest on track crowd wont do the same!

foggy but the Irish Times had no need to make a correction - what they said on June 10th was true, I'm deeply suspiscious as to why they had to make the correction, not that it will have made any impact on the likes of Leo Varadkar, WOT shot themselves in the foot with the quarter of a million users press release, once the numbers got truly revealed the bad press coverage they got was their own goal.

BTW the Sligo mayo grenway facebook campaign is flyign - nearly 500 friends with literally loads of FG TDs and other party TDs signing up to the campaign. Its great to see just how many supporters it is pulling in from literally all over the place.

Re Wesht on Track holding their hands up and saying they were wrong - you are having a laff aren't you?

foggy_lad · 28-06-2011 6:16pm

No I'm not 'avin a larf at all but it would be the decent thing to do when you cost the country a small fortune for something that will surely fail as easily as a chocolate heat shield.

pigtown · 28-06-2011 11:02pm

While I fully agree that the WRC has been/will be a failure, I dont think it's fair to accuse the WOT of costing the country a small fortune. They are entitled to campaign for whatever they like, the people who should be blamed are the politicians and officials who decided to go ahead with the project.

foggy_lad · 29-06-2011 12:56am

pigtown wrote: »

While I fully agree that the WRC has been/will be a failure, I dont think it's fair to accuse the WOT of costing the country a small fortune. They are entitled to campaign for whatever they like, the people who should be blamed are the politicians and officials who decided to go ahead with the project.

Wot are completely to blame as they knew this would fail but went ahead with their lobbying and misinforming the public with twisted and warped statistics to suit their own ends while those involved got treated like lords at conferences and seminars etc they were like mourners at a wake who did not know the deceased but turned up for the free meal, wot wanted this to get a free ride out of the whole thing.

Aard · 29-06-2011 1:03am

I guess what he means is that somebody had to sign the dotted line, and it wasn't WOT.

foggy_lad · 29-06-2011 1:17am

Aard wrote: »

I guess what he means is that somebody had to sign the dotted line, and it wasn't WOT.

Yes indeed I agree but the politicians were only acceding to the will of the people who had been hoodwinked by wot so they can't be held accountable for looking after their constituents.

D.L.R. · 29-06-2011 1:29am

foggy_lad wrote: »

Yes indeed I agree but the politicians were only acceding to the will of the people who had been hoodwinked by wot so they can't be held accountable for looking after their constituents.

The leaders can. You can't please all of the people all of the time. Strong leadership is required to take a step back and decide what is truly necessary and what isn't, even if (some of) your people/TDs disagree.

WOT certainly didn't represent the views of the majority of Irish people that this project was necessary. The typical one-for-everybody-in-the-audience populist approach may have won a few elections, but in terms of long term planning, its doomed to failure. The proof is in the pudding.

westtip · 29-06-2011 9:52am

D.L.R. wrote: »

The leaders can. You can't please all of the people all of the time. Strong leadership is required to take a step back and decide what is truly necessary and what isn't, even if (some of) your people/TDs disagree.

WOT certainly didn't represent the views of the majority of Irish people that this project was necessary. The typical one-for-everybody-in-the-audience populist approach may have won a few elections, but in terms of long term planning, its doomed to failure. The proof is in the pudding.

#

I think it was a matter of he who shouted loudest and more persistently got their way; I am sure WOT didn't represent the views of the majority of the irish people and even in the west I think their views were supported passively - that is someone came along with a petition and said wouldn't this be a great idea please sign here and low and behold a well organised campaign had 100,000 signatures on a petition - but there were no riots on the streets or Tuam, Athenry, or Claremorris demanding the WRC. In the west there has been far more active support for things like the cancer services in Sligo going but i am afraid WOT were very well organised and almost religous zealots in their pursuit of the corridor. They are not to blame for this, they "believed" in the cause; most people in the west didn't really care, cos it (WRC) was not going to make one jot of difference to their ordinary everyday lives. It was however a high profile project and in real terms a high visible "cheap" project to deliver. The fact it has been an abject failure - even on the one bit they thought might succeed is not really WOTs fault, it is the fault of the decision makers not being strong enough and saying no. The new decision makers don't need to be strong - the decision is already made for them re the northern branch line. WOT know that, we know that the proverbial dogs on the street know it - and when the decision is made, there will be much wailing and screaming about how much value this could provide compared to the DART, Metro North etc, but in reality it will end up being a storm in a teacup and will be long forgotten as people enjoy the west on the Sligo to Athenry Greenway

foggy_lad wrote: »

Wot are completely to blame as they knew this would fail but went ahead with their lobbying and misinforming the public with twisted and warped statistics to suit their own ends while those involved got treated like lords at conferences and seminars etc they were like mourners at a wake who did not know the deceased but turned up for the free meal, wot wanted this to get a free ride out of the whole thing.

Foggy I agree with your sentiments but these days are coming thankfully to an end - its now over two years since the last "Western Rail Corridor conference" in which public officers from the UK come in giving case studies about rural rail lines ....and Ministers roll up making promises - in fact at the last pow wow in Claremorris they had it all backfired, the then minister Dempsey came up with the "use it of lose it tone" in his speech you'd have to look up what he said - despite WOT saying it was all positive stuff and O'Cuiv as we know suggested a Greenway for the first time in public debate for the northern section - which went down like a lead baloon with WOT. Actually I think that day in Claremorris was the beginning of the end, even the FF ministerials were beginning to see through it, Dempsey knew even then he could not sanction phases 2 and 3 and stalled that till he left office, if you read the WOT news releases you would think it was happening anytime soon they are the masters of positive newspin, forcing the irish times into the correction quoted is a prime example, its all too late the horse has bolted, the WOT party is over.

serfboard · 29-06-2011 4:35pm

westtip wrote: »

the Sligo to Athenry Greenway

I love it. Westtip, you're gettin ambitious now, some might say greedy - is all this fame and attention from TDs going to your head?!

westtip · 29-06-2011 5:41pm

serfboard wrote: »

I love it. Westtip, you're gettin ambitious now, some might say greedy - is all this fame and attention from TDs going to your head?!

Hey ho you never know, as for attention from TDs - they will jump on every bandwagon and flavour of the month going, but lots more have joined the FB campaign as friends so maybe there is a change of mood and direction. as for Athenry to Sligo - who knows - it would certainly be a great facility!

mgmt · 29-06-2011 8:10pm

westtip wrote: »

Hey ho you never know, as for attention from TDs - they will jump on every bandwagon and flavour of the month going, but lots more have joined the FB campaign as friends so maybe there is a change of mood and direction. as for Athenry to Sligo - who knows - it would certainly be a great facility!

Enda Kenny is doing the 180km Ring of Kerry cycle this weekend, so he'll see first hand the benefits of thousands of cyclists to a region.

dowlingm · 29-06-2011 10:35pm

If the Athenry-Claremorris line was in North America, it would be open, even at 25mph, to allow freight or deadheading equipment trapped by flooding or congestion to be routed around or to free up extra slots - for instance the 2700 train which deadheads between Limerick and Ballina to operate the Manulla shuttle or go for maintenance. There would be no gates (and thus no keepers), just warning lights at LCs. Same with Rosslare-Waterford and Waterford-Limerick Junction.

Why can't this happen in Ireland?

Aard · 29-06-2011 10:50pm

I imagine the reason we need gates is to do with health and safety regulations. Somebody would probably sue after breaking the red light and being hit.

Carawaystick · 30-06-2011 1:13am

dowlingm wrote: »

Why can't this happen in Ireland?

cos people have built driveways and even car dealerships across the line...

Or did you mean why can't congestion happen in the Whesht?

westtip · 30-06-2011 1:16am

dowlingm wrote: »

If the Athenry-Claremorris line was in North America, ?

Its not. Its in a sparsely populated area of a small island off Europe, with little to no industry that requires heavy duty freight rail that is so small and insignificant the supply chain logistics are well met by road freight and by small scale redistribution to retail via road freight, that has no "dirty" industry like coal or steel requiring heavy duty freight haulage; its within a part of the country that desperately needs to improve its tourist infrastructure, its in a part of the country that does not have a mass transit need for suburban style commuting (ie a big city) to move daily masses of commuters in or out of a central business district of a large city that really requires mass transit commuting infrastructure like a metro suburban commuting infrastructure. Thats why dowling the WRC is a waste of time. Does this answer your question when you draw what are quite ridiculous comparisons with the mid west of ireland with the mid west of a continent known as north america?

Dowling Take out an atlas and work it out. Its not rocket science.

foggy_lad · 30-06-2011 9:58am

dowlingm wrote: »

If the Athenry-Claremorris line was in North America, it would be open, even at 25mph, to allow freight or deadheading equipment trapped by flooding or congestion to be routed around or to free up extra slots - for instance the 2700 train which deadheads between Limerick and Ballina to operate the Manulla shuttle or go for maintenance. There would be no gates (and thus no keepers), just warning lights at LCs. Same with Rosslare-Waterford and Waterford-Limerick Junction.

Why can't this happen in Ireland?

A lot of the crossings on the limerick to Galway branch line should be gate less and this would free up money and speed up journey times for the trains and motorists held up by politicaly correct nanny state ass wiping. If you drive onto a crossing in the path of a train past flashing red lights and loud bells or sirens you are not foolish but suicidal and the state should no longer be responsible for your safety!

Western Rail Corridor (all disused sections)

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