WRC - Olivia Mitchell vs. Booze Buses O'Cuiv

Transport21 Fan

I never thought I would ever find myself agreeing with Olivia Mitchell on a rail issue. But she is on the ball this time.


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Negative rail report is rubbished
http://www.unison.ie/tuam_herald/stories.php3?ca=34&si=1794319&issue_id=15372
Tuam Herald

CLAIMS in a consultants’ report that the Western Rail Corridor would not be economically viable and would only attract 600 passengers per day have been rubbished by Minister Eamon O Cuiv and by activists supporting the proposed rail service.

Speaking after attending the National Rural Development Forum in Athenry on Monday, Minister O Cuiv said he was sceptical about the figures contained in the consultants’ report and even if they were right they were based on current population figures and not taking into account for population growth.

Hitting out at the figures which the consultants came up with in the report presented to both the Government and Iarnrod Eireann, the Minister added that he and other members of the Government had no hesitation in disagreeing with the findings.

Homes being built

He says that even before some of the stations along the line are reopened the building of homes in anticipation of the service is already happening.

“For example look at the number of homes which are being built or planned to be built in the Ballyglunin area around where the railway station is. That is only one station which is proposed for reopening.”

Meanwhile Fr. Micheál Mac Gréil, patron of the West on Track group and secretary of the Western Inter-County Railway Committee has lashed the figures in the consultants’ report.

“Did they ever even consider that any of the one and a half million pilgrims who travel to Knock Shrine every year might use the service?

“These figures of 600 are nonsense, we totally reject them and the Government are right to reject them too,” said Fr. MacGréil.

While the Ennis to Galway line is set to be re-opened first, the Tuam to Athenry section, which includes Ballyglunin station, is expected to have a rail service again by 2011.

After the Tuam to Galway service is restored it is planned to re-open the line to Claremorris.

According to Minister O Cuiv sections of other lines which are currently operating and are proposed for further expansion before the Tuam-Athenry line are already carrying several hundred people daily.

He says 300 to 400 passengers are already using the Ennis-Limerick line even though there are only two stations open on it at present.

“What will those numbers be like when this service into Galway opens up fully with stops at many stations along the route including Gort, Ardrahan, Craughwell and the Oranmore station which will also be re-opening.

“I don’t think that anyone in the West believes the 600 figure stated in the report and it vastly underestimates the potential of the Western Rail Corridor,” he added.

After the Rural Development Forum meeting in Athenry on Monday he again said that having the service operating from Athenry through Ballyglunin to Tuam by 2011 is a realistic target.

The plan is to have an upgraded line with much faster train service than in the past. It is proposed that it will have continuous welded tracks and an anticipated six services per day each way.

Restoration of Ballyglunin Railway Station is currently being carried out under a Rural Social Scheme (RSS).

Fr. Micheál MacGréil also says that consultants often highlight the commercial aspect of a project such as the Western Rail Corridor and are blinkered to the other needs and benefits of such a service.

“Roads that are not always commercial proposals are still economically sound.

Frontloading development

“Those involved in the Western Rail Corridor are front loading infrastructural development which will lead to strong commercial and industrial activity in the area as well as providing passenger services,” concluded Fr. MacGréil.

Meanwhile during a visit to Galway yesterday (Tuesday) Fine Gael Transport spokesperson Deputy Olivia Mitchell promised more rail commuter services to the city if her party are in the next Government.

“There is currently only one dedicated commuter rail service from Athlone, via Athenry to Galway city each morning,” said Deputy Mitchell.

But while she added that there is an urgent need for increased commuter rail services into the city from Athlone and from Ennis and Gort she did not mention the need for a similar service from the Tuam and Claremorris area.

Tom Gilmore

Schuhart

Eamon O Cuiv wrote:

300 to 400 passengers are already using the Ennis-Limerick line even though there are only two stations open on it at present.

I'd like him to indicate how much it costs to move those 400 people, with a comparison to how much it costs to move 400 people by DART and how much it would cost to move those 400 people by bus along the same route. Using diesel railcars to move small numbers of people is hardly doing much for our Kyoto commitments.

I'd also like to see West On Track state how many passengers they would feel use the route, and what level of actual traffic constitutes a failure. Implicitly, they seem to admit that 600 would be ludicrous.

dowlingm

ministers only agree and implement consultants reports when they give the right report!

Transport21 Fan

dowlingm wrote:

ministers only agree and implement consultants reports when they give the right report!

O'Cuiv is determined on getting the WRC all the way to Sligo. He really does back the project 100% - I used to think he was just playing politics, but he is for real.

I was at a meeting here in Sligo last night and found out that the Burma Road Clean Up phase 2 is coming. It'll involve replacing the level crossing gates with fully operational gates. Not cosmetic ones, but the real deal. That is gates which can open for trains, even though the track is buried under a foot deep of tarmac in most cases. I am not sure where the money for this is coming from.

I found out about this as some residents groups wanted to put up cosmetic gates to hide the unsightly boulders which the CoCo puts in to stop the Travellers from moving onto the tracks. Told not to worry as IE would be putting the proper level crossing gates in this summer.

I was also told that the Mayo "commuter rail service" has been a disaster. Some days no more than 5 people on the train not going to Dublin. There is not and never will be a market for regional rail travel in Ireland. It's all PaleRail and Commuter and the car is king and always will be everywhere else. Irish people see the train as a "Dublin thing" or a commuter trains and that is never going to change. The 2003 Strategic Rail Review was bang on the money.