A Bright Future for Rail Transport in Ireland

sligoliner

They can spin this anyway they want but this is because of having to spill the beans and the polticians and media will listen - people and passenger power does work if you shout hard enough and have the right facts. The game is well and truly up. They got cocky in November 2002 when they tried to shut down a huge part of the network, but all they did was organise their own demise. They tried to pull out of freight, build skyscrapers on Spencer Dock, close Limerick-Waterford and Limerick- Nenagh as well as rumours of an IE manager implementing special trains to get his daughter from his house to her school and look what happened... Freight is booming again after customers demanded it and railfreight experts came to Ireland from overseas said it was not only possible in Ireland, but very lucrative as well, Spencer Dock is now being talked about as a major rail hub and not a skyscraper, Limerick-Waterford is being relaid and new services added and Limerick-Nenagh is to be develop as a communter route and the IE manager who was rumoured to have set up a special train for his daughter has been ousted.

Well done Seamus Brennan for hiring Dick Fearn and well done Mr Fearn for having the guts to kick start the revolution while having the savy and experience to understand the great potential of Ireland's railways is solving so many of our problems from grid lock to spatial planing. The CIE turkeys are no more. A historic moment.


From today's indo . . . . .



All change for Iarnrod Eireann




A MAJOR shake-up of senior management at Irish Rail is on the way as part of a new drive to improve customer service.

Spearheaded by managing director Joe Meagher, the shake-up comes as the rail operator is investing €400m a year in development, with an estimated €2 billion to be injected into operations over the next five years.

The restructuring follows recommendations from a strategy report two years ago on The Way Forward at Iarnrod Eireann. (this doc is joke and it only suggest management change and nothing would have been done about it if left to their own devices - my brackets)

Last night an Iarnrod Eireann source said it was expected "new blood" would be brought in, possibly with rail executives from Britain and Europe filling new management posts.

Advertisements for the new jobs are expected to be placed in newspapers in the coming weeks.

Leading the way in the new set-up is Chief Operating Officer, Dick Fearn, formerly director of Network Rail (Midland Zone) in the UK, who was appointed in May.

The shake-up will see new general managers for the DART, Northern & Eastern and Southern & Western services.

The new positions will replace the current posts of Manager Intercity, Manager Suburban, Manager Network Catering, Marketing Manager and the Passenger Services Managers, North & East and South & West.

In addition a new post of General Manager Rosslare Europort is being created with full business and operations responsibility for the Co Wexford terminal.

All the General Managers, the Passenger Commercial Manager and the Operations and Performance Manager will report to Mr Fearn.

Frank Khan


www.platform11.org

sceptre

I'll bet you punched the air this morning:D

Epitaph

Originally posted by sceptre
I'll bet you punched the air this morning:D

Nah, I'd say he emptied his AK47 skyward instead

dmeehan

A Bright Future for Rail Transport in Ireland

still had to wait 34 mins for a dart at pearse on sunday night!:rolleyes:

MDR

good news chaps ...

bloggs

Hmmm me have the feeling that as soon as things start looking up for the consumer, the unions will jump in an demand everything is halted.

I wonder will we ever have EuroStar in Ireland (i mean sometime before NASA have developed Warp speed)

BKtje

still had to wait 34 mins for a dart at pearse on sunday night

It is a Sunday after all, well maybe its just me accepting **** service again but during the week im more than happy with the Dart. Longest i have to wait would be about 8 minutes.

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/topstories/1304129?view=Eircomnet

Iarnrod Eireann seeks €3.5bn for railway update
From:ireland.com
Saturday, 30th August, 2003

More than €3.5 billion must be spent between now and 2013 if the rail system is to meet the growing demand from passengers, particularly in the Dublin commuter belt, according to an Iarnród Éireann plan.

The company says that large -scale funding, the bulk of which would come from the Exchequer, will be needed to update Dublin commuter, intercity and provincial services.

The company is believed to have told the Department of Transport that, while major development of the railways has taken place in recent years, more investment is needed if the required standards of service and customer care is to be reached. It acknowledges that outdated facilities, delays and overcrowding are sources of ongoing criticism and describes the next decade as a crucial period for addressing these problems.

The ambitious development plan, submitted to the department, says that Irish Rail has limited internal resources and a significant level of external funding is required from the Exchequer and the EU. It says this could be supplemented by property sell-offs, public-private partnerships and leasing arrangements.

The report was compiled following the publication late last year of a Government-sponsored strategic rail review, which said investment of up to €8.5 billion was needed over 20 years in the rail network.

Iarnród Éireann is believed to argue that the company must gear up to deal with expansion in the Dublin commuter belt, which, it points out, now extends 100 kilometres from the city centre. It says the company's objective is to develop the railways so they can cope with increasing demand and become the number one choice for commuters and long-distance travellers, by speeding up journey times and adding more frequent services.

Iarnród Éireann estimates that €2 billion is needed for Dublin commuter services; €1.4 billion is needed for intercity services, with the remainder needed for provincial city services.

In Dublin and surrounding areas, the plan suggests suburban peak services need to grow by 100 per cent. It says new stations need to be built at Adamstown, Fonthill Road, Parkwest, Pelletstown, Porterstown, Leixlip, Baldoyle and Dunleer.

In relation to intercity services, it says all carriages more than 30 years old need to be removed. More frequent services are needed throughout the network, particularly on the Cork/Limerick and Belfast routes. It says an hourly service should be the target for these routes.

In relation to provincial services, it says there should be greater services to Mallow, Cobh and Ennis serving several new stations, including Blarney, Kilbarry, Tivoli and Ballynoe.

In a section on funding, the company says the following actions are needed to fund the plan: passenger volume growth; a commercial fares policy; adequate levels of subvention; and a reduction in the company's cost base.

While the plan favours property sales, its says the income to be gained from these sources is limited.

dmeehan

What do they mean by "a commercial fares policy"?

FinoBlad

34 mins for a dart at pearse on sunday night

the Real Time Suburban Information must be new on the irishrail website, might be handy

dmeehan

Originally posted by FinoBlad
the Real Time Suburban Information must be new on the irishrail website, might be handy

fancy!