Western Arc Rail campaign

Hungerford · 17-10-2012 10:07am #1

The Western Arc Rail campaign appears to be a new crowd on the rebuild the western railways scene but they do appear to be gaining some political backing from Sinn Féin in the North as the link indicates:

Derry Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson says there’s no rail network in Ireland at the moment, but a concerted campaign in Europe could make it a reality - and create vital transport links for Derry and Donegal.

And a quote from the MEP herself on the Irish railway system:

What we have is a ‘line’ connecting Belfast to Dublin, a link to Larne and what passes for a link between Belfast and Derry which is so sub-standard the majority of commuters will not use it. Donegal, Sligo, Galway and much west of Shannon are no better served.

The full piece is here:
http://www.derryjournal.com/news/local/all-ireland-rail-network-is-the-future-1-4375033

corktina · 17-10-2012 1:13pm

political opportunism, but I think she's backing the wrong horse there...the vast majorty of people would rather have decent road links.

dowlingm · 17-10-2012 7:09pm

Sinn Fein still think there is a pot of (green white and) gold at the end of their rainbows :rolleyes:

westtip · 17-10-2012 11:45pm

Anything for a photo op.

westtip · 18-10-2012 12:01am

Hungerford wrote: »

The Western Arc Rail campaign appears to be a new crowd on the rebuild the western railways scene but they do appear to be gaining some political backing from Sinn Féin in the North as the link indicates:

Sinn Fein and the DUP are meaningless- they have no power in the north - all the power in the north is held by George osborne. The fundings for this crazy idea would never be given by Westminster, the puppet administration in the north is doing everything it can to hold onto Westminster cash, there will be none of that for a scheme like this. This one is a non runner - both politically and economically. The Brits won't pay for it, we have no cash - Sinn Fein are backing a loser.

Cyberbeagle · 18-10-2012 12:08am

westtip wrote: »

Sinn Fein and the DUP are meaningless- they have no power in the north - all the power in the north is held by George osborne. The fundings for this crazy idea would never be given by Westminster, the puppet administration in the north is doing everything it can to hold onto Westminster cash, there will be none of that for a scheme like this. This one is a non runner - both politically and economically. The Brits won't pay for it, we have no cash - Sinn Fein are backing a loser.

Not true. George gives over a pot and it's up to Stormont how they divvy it out.

Interesting that Martina makes this call, as it's not her party that holds that department. It's the UUP. Therefore if Danny Kennedy thought this was the best idea in the world, if the DUP and Sinn Fein didn't, it probably wouldn't get the money. Not when the A5 is still up in the air

dowlingm · 18-10-2012 3:27am

Instead of building into Donegal SF (who did have that department for a while as I recall) should worry about making sure Translink receive a steady stream of funding to ensure projects like the later stages of the Derry rehabilitation and capacity upgrade and the rehab of the Belfast-Derry line to restore full line speed are completed. To be fair Translink do seem to be steadily delivering but it always seems to be a struggle to get the Assembly to commit over the long term.

westtip · 18-10-2012 8:34am

Cyberbeagle wrote: »

Not true. George gives over a pot and it's up to Stormont how they divvy it out.

Maybe so but the pot is getting smaller, therefore madcap schemes like this one will be labelled as such. The only thing that matters for NI transport infrastrucure is a decent road network integrated with the ROI network, the mention of the A5 is a case in point; SF would be doing all the border counties a favour if they concentrated on what people actually want, what will improve both economies and how supply chains can be improved on this small island - one project I personally recommend both SF and DUP to look is a joint NI/ROI strategy on building a decent east - west route from Dundalk/Newry to Sligo, by route I mean road, this would open up the hinterland of Belfast to west Ulster and Connacht and open up commercial relationships for the entire north and north west of Ireland.

Cyberbeagle · 18-10-2012 12:15pm

westtip wrote: »

the mention of the A5 is a case in point; SF would be doing all the border counties a favour if they concentrated on what people actually want, what will improve both economies and how supply chains can be improved on this small island - one project I personally recommend both SF and DUP to look is a joint NI/ROI strategy on building a decent east - west route from Dundalk/Newry to Sligo, by route I mean road, this would open up the hinterland of Belfast to west Ulster and Connacht and open up commercial relationships for the entire north and north west of Ireland.

The people don't actually want the A5!! There's a lot of opposition. Yes, they want it upgraded, but not the proposed road. That said they will use it, of course.

I remember travelling down the motorway to Waterford and wondering where all the traffic was...

westtip · 20-10-2012 12:07pm

Cyberbeagle wrote: »

I remember travelling down the motorway to Waterford and wondering where all the traffic was...

True of many of our motorways more than 50 miles from Dublin - totally over specced, yet a joy to drive on now. I was driving on the M4 from Mullingar to
Dublin at about 8 in the evening recently mid week - totally empty in real terms almost as far as Kilcock, it reminded me of those pics of the M1 when it was first opened north of London in the 50s or 60s. Still they are built now, but a pity the whole thing hadn't been planned better.

sligotrain · 20-10-2012 1:09pm

Sorry to break the cosy consensus here but Martina Anderson does have a valid point. The line from Belfast to Derry should be extended down to Letterkenny, Donegal Town and connect to the rest of the Rail system at Sligo. Fermanagh and Tyrone should be reconnected and a shift of freight traffic off our roads where possible onto rail should happen as well.

Getting Sligo connected with Derry and Donegal is the start. Get the Burma Road relaid and yes, connect up the Western Rail Corridor to that too. It's about time there was some long term strategic thinking for our railways rather than the "tear em up" mentality that always proves to be futile in the long term.

Noel Dempseys Den · 20-10-2012 1:20pm

sligotrain wrote: »

Sorry to break the cosy consensus here but Martina Anderson does have a valid point. The line from Belfast to Derry should be extended down to Letterkenny, Donegal Town and connect to the rest of the Rail system at Sligo. Fermanagh and Tyrone should be reconnected and a shift of freight traffic off our roads where possible onto rail should happen as well.

Getting Sligo connected with Derry and Donegal is the start. Get the Burma Road relaid and yes, connect up the Western Rail Corridor to that too. It's about time there was some long term strategic thinking for our railways rather than the "tear em up" mentality that always proves to be futile in the long term.

I'd like to see that happening, but realistically, the money isn't there. The Sinn Fein mentality is that one fine day Britain will leave a nice fat cheque book on the mantlepiece when they leave the North.

If most of the regular members of this forum are looking forward to the ripping up of the WRC north of Ennis, Limerick-Ballybrophy and Junction-Waterford, then I imagine that your suggestion of Burma Road and connecting around to Derry will be jumped on in a fairly vicious way shortly.

corktina · 20-10-2012 1:45pm

sligotrain wrote: »

Sorry to break the cosy consensus here but Martina Anderson does have a valid point. The line from Belfast to Derry should be extended down to Letterkenny, Donegal Town and connect to the rest of the Rail system at Sligo. Fermanagh and Tyrone should be reconnected and a shift of freight traffic off our roads where possible onto rail should happen as well.

Getting Sligo connected with Derry and Donegal is the start. Get the Burma Road relaid and yes, connect up the Western Rail Corridor to that too. It's about time there was some long term strategic thinking for our railways rather than the "tear em up" mentality that always proves to be futile in the long term.

have a look at the passenger figures fro the €106 million line connecting Galway to Limerick, our 3rd and 4th Cities,,,,an average of 8 passengers per train..do you imagine any of those lines you propose would carry more? Hardly. Where do you imagine this freight is coming from? If there is NONE between Cork and Dublin, how much would a rural branchline in the west generate?

We've done this all before in other threads.

Sponge Bob · 20-10-2012 2:08pm

Sigh. Another distraction from express bus networks and decent roads. These things erupt periodically down the western half of the country and make us look daft.

dowlingm · 20-10-2012 5:27pm

Noel Dempseys Den wrote: »

If most of the regular members of this forum are looking forward to the ripping up of the WRC north of Ennis, Limerick-Ballybrophy and Junction-Waterford, then I imagine that your suggestion of Burma Road and connecting around to Derry will be jumped on in a fairly vicious way shortly.

Trollin' trollin' trollin', rawhide!

end of the road · 20-10-2012 6:37pm

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Another distraction from express bus networks

which are slow and pointless, if you want to travel by road just buy a car, you can definitely go wherever and whenever you like, much better then a bus with a jax.

Sponge Bob wrote: »

and decent roads.

which we have got, when we were building them we should have upped all rail speeds to at least 100 mph (whatever that is in kph) would be a lot faster then express busses could ever be, lets face it we're never going to have roads with no speed limits like i believe their are in germany?

Sponge Bob · 20-10-2012 6:57pm

They are faster than the existing trains.

They are also faster than the alignments proposed for restoration in various rail projects in the west.

end of the road · 20-10-2012 7:07pm

Sponge Bob wrote: »

They are faster than the existing trains.

They are also faster than the alignments proposed for restoration in various rail projects in the west.

well a bike would probably be faster then the WRC, i was talking in general though, not speciffically about the west.

Sponge Bob · 20-10-2012 9:49pm

end of the road wrote: »

i was talking in general though, not speciffically about the west.

Well this thread IS about the west so stop talking generally then!

dermo88 · 21-10-2012 9:33am

Noel Dempseys Den
If most of the regular members of this forum are looking forward to the ripping up of the WRC north of Ennis, Limerick-Ballybrophy and Junction-Waterford, then I imagine that your suggestion of Burma Road and connecting around to Derry will be jumped on in a fairly vicious way shortly.

How well you know.

The west of Ireland. Reality, look East.

westtip · 21-10-2012 10:38pm

sligotrain wrote: »

Sorry to break the cosy consensus here but Martina Anderson does have a valid point. The line from Belfast to Derry should be extended down to Letterkenny, Donegal Town and connect to the rest of the Rail system at Sligo. Fermanagh and Tyrone should be reconnected and a shift of freight traffic off our roads where possible onto rail should happen as well.

Getting Sligo connected with Derry and Donegal is the start. Get the Burma Road relaid and yes, connect up the Western Rail Corridor to that too. It's about time there was some long term strategic thinking for our railways rather than the "tear em up" mentality that always proves to be futile in the long term.

Here we go again failrail fantasy thread time. All we need now is a post with a map and crayon drawings linking small towns like Sligo and letterkenny with a TGV.

D.L.R. · 23-10-2012 9:43am

but if we spend all that money on the northwest rail corridor, how can we afford the bullet train from connemara to the aran islands??!? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Western Arc Rail campaign

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