M6/4 Motorway Galway to Dublin (for discussing completed sections)

SeanW

Colm R wrote: »

I travelled the N52 from Kells to Tullamore last night and hence travelled in the M6 for the first time since redesignation. Now while I was delighted to get a break for a few minutes, and do a bit of overtaking, I found it odd.

Is it legal that traffic wishing to continue on the N52, be directed onto the M6?

I would have thought that the old N6 would have been deignated the N52.

Genesis Important Ambassador wrote: »

Seems perfectly resonable as it's the primary route.
Learners are not expected to be driving long distances.

(Pedantic) question - does this mean that the co-signed part of the N52 has been redesignated M52? Or can you really have a cosigned Motorway with National road or even tertiary Route?

SeanW

SeanW wrote: »

(Pedantic) question - does this mean that the co-signed part of the N52 has been redesignated M52? Or can you really have a cosigned Motorway with National road or even tertiary Route?

I think that the N52 just has a break in it's route, simple as.

KevR

Genesis Important Ambassador wrote: »

It looks like this is going to be the official version of the tie-in
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=59295412&postcount=137

That is a big relief!

The people involved must have read this thread and took our advice haha.

Irish and Proud

SeanW wrote: »

(Pedantic) question - does this mean that the co-signed part of the N52 has been redesignated M52? Or can you really have a cosigned Motorway with National road or even tertiary Route?

...co-signing (or multi-plexing) formats could be as follow:

M6 (N52)

and

M6 West
(N52 South)

Regards!

nordydan

Irish and Proud wrote: »

...co-signing (or multi-plexing) formats could be as follow:

M6 (N52)

and

M6 West
(N52 South)

Regards!

It also multiplexes on the Mullingar bypass with the N4 (and is cosigned). And staggers across a R road somewhere in Meath. It a bollocks of a route alright.

KevR

KevR wrote: »

That is a big relief!

The people involved must have read this thread and took our advice haha.

It's good that they have decided to do it my way

I still see it causing peak time delays, particularity at the daneshill roundabout as this will now be handling all the through traffic as well as local traffic.

KevR

Go Bus now have non-stop services between Galway and Dublin City & onward connections to Dublin Airport.

Average journey time is 2hrs 45mins which is roughly the same as the train. When the 2 new sections of the M6 open it should be even faster and beat the train's time.

14 services each way daily.

€10 for a single Galway-Dublin City, €15 Galway-Dublin Aiport single.

They have onboard toilets and free onboard WiFi.

With good advertising they should be able to win over a lot of train customers.

I always used City Link or Go Bus for Dublin Airport and used the train for the City. Can see myself switching to the bus now - it's cheaper and travel time is roughly the same (but will beat the train in the near future).

http://www.gobus.ie/index.php

http://www.gobus.ie/media_lib/files/GoBus-Press-Release-march-5th.pdf

veryangryman

Sucks that Nestors dont use Athlone no more, but i guess Citylink still do an almost round the clock service anyway, so all good. :pac:

Can be handy when you book a cheap flight that goes at circa 6am from Dub

marmurr1916

veryangryman wrote: »

Sucks that Nestors dont use Athlone no more, but i guess Citylink still do an almost round the clock service anyway, so all good. :pac:

Can be handy when you book a cheap flight that goes at circa 6am from Dub

If only there was an airport in the midlands....

marmurr1916

KevR wrote: »

Go Bus now have non-stop services between Galway and Dublin City & onward connections to Dublin Airport.

Average journey time is 2hrs 45mins which is roughly the same as the train. When the 2 new sections of the M6 open it should be even faster and beat the train's time.

14 services each way daily.

€10 for a single Galway-Dublin City, €15 Galway-Dublin Aiport single.

They have onboard toilets and free onboard WiFi.

With good advertising they should be able to win over a lot of train customers.

I always used City Link or Go Bus for Dublin Airport and used the train for the City. Can see myself switching to the bus now - it's cheaper and travel time is roughly the same (but will beat the train in the near future).

http://www.gobus.ie/index.php

http://www.gobus.ie/media_lib/files/GoBus-Press-Release-march-5th.pdf

I've said a few times before that the opening of these motorways, combined with non-stop bus services, is going to pose a serious challenge to the railways.

Unless rail journey times are significantly improved, IE is going to be in serious trouble within two years.

Edit: Bus Eireann have 16 services daily between Galway and Dublin, Gobus have 14, Citylink have 15 on weekdays, 16 on Sundays (19 to Dublin Airport).

That's 45 bus services between Galway and Dublin from Monday to Saturday and 49 on Sundays.

IE have 7 weekday services, 6 on Saturdays and Sundays. Average journey time is about 2 hours, 45 minutes.

If Citylink and Bus Eireann both introduce more non-stop services when the M6 is finished then IE is screwed!

dubhthach

marmurr1916 wrote: »

I've said a few times before that the opening of these motorways, combined with non-stop bus services, is going to pose a serious challenge to the railways.

Unless rail journey times are significantly improved, IE is going to be in serious trouble within two years.

Edit: Bus Eireann have 16 services daily between Galway and Dublin, Gobus have 14, Citylink have 15 on weekdays, 16 on Sundays (19 to Dublin Airport).

That's 45 bus services between Galway and Dublin from Monday to Saturday and 49 on Sundays.

IE have 7 weekday services, 6 on Saturdays and Sundays. Average journey time is about 2 hours, 45 minutes.

If Citylink and Bus Eireann both introduce more non-stop services when the M6 is finished then IE is screwed!

21st century road alignments trumping 19th century railway alignments when it comes to travel time, who would have thought it!

veryangryman

marmurr1916 wrote: »

If only there was an airport in the midlands....

In the interim 3 years odd, one still has to make the god-awful journey up the M6/M4/M50

marmurr1916

veryangryman wrote: »

In the interim 3 years odd, one still has to make the god-awful journey up the M6/M4/M50

Verily, the Lord said unto the Midlandites, I shall smite thee and thine airport and there shall be wailing and weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

marmurr1916

dubhthach wrote: »

21st century road alignments trumping 19th century railway alignments when it comes to travel time, who would have thought it!

It's maybe time that IE moved into the 20th century when it comes to train travel speeds.

There's no good reason why investment in track improvements shouldn't enable their trains to travel at the much higher speeds that they're actually capable of travelling at. They'll need to achieve average speeds of ca. 120 km/h on the main intercity routes to compete with non-stop bus services once the motorways are completed.

Chris_533976

Rail speed between Galway and Dublin isnt TOO bad.

150kmh between Dublin and about Portarlingon (where it drops to 25), then about 120kmh on average the rest of the way to Galway.

Trouble is great swathes of it are single track, so you have to wait 30 minutes sometimes in Tullamore for the train coming the other way.

dubhthach

marmurr1916 wrote: »

It's maybe time that IE moved into the 20th century when it comes to train travel speeds.

There's no good reason why investment in track improvements shouldn't enable their trains to travel at the much higher speeds that they're actually capable of travelling at. They'll need to achieve average speeds of ca. 120 km/h on the main intercity routes to compete with non-stop bus services once the motorways are completed.

The problem is that even though they have laid new tracks (on concrete sleepers) there has been no major realignment of tracks to take out bad curves/gradients since the system was built in mid 19th century.

A good example of this can be seen with WRC, when it eventually goes into service the trains will run considerably slower then standard road traffic all because no work was done to either straighten the track or reduce any severe gradients on it.

Given the current economic climate I can't see where the money to do such work will come from. To be honest the money spent on WRC could have been better spent on the mainline routes, for example double tracking Galway to Athenry. If they Galway route had more double track I think the current travel times would reduce, I can recall sitting on a train in a station for 5-10minutes waiting until the track ahead was clear. Thus is the curse of single track lines in this country.

Chris_533976

I can remember waiting 30 minutes. It was last Sunday Painful wait in Tullamore for the train coming the other way. An announcement was made, but only after we were sitting there for 20 of the 30 minutes.

KevR

Last time I took a train from Dublin-Galway, a bit outside Dublin you could see a motorway (not sure which one) a short distance away and the cars on it were leaving us for dust.

I agree that the sections of single track don't help train travel times at all.

But Irish Rail will have to do something about it or else they will lose passengers to the motorway.

Irish and Proud

KevR wrote: »

Last time I took a train from Dublin-Galway, a bit outside Dublin you could see a motorway (not sure which one) a short distance away and the cars on it were leaving us for dust.

...it's probably the M7 in Kildare and/or Laois.

Regards! :cool:

serfboard

dubhthach wrote: »

21st century road alignments trumping 19th century railway alignments when it comes to travel time, who would have thought it!

KevR wrote: »

Last time I took a train from Dublin-Galway, a bit outside Dublin you could see a motorway (not sure which one) a short distance away and the cars on it were leaving us for dust.

Was on the Eurostar going to Brussels last year and that train was leaving the fastest cars on the motorway for dust. But that's what you get when you have 21st century trains vs 21st century roads.

Interesting that when the Government was being formed, of the three 'Green' portfolios, the Greens got Energy and Environment, but not Transport. I think this is because Fianna Fail wanted to finish the roads (first?) and didn't think the Greens would do it. I do believe that, had the money lasted, after the MIUs and ARC, then the majority of transport money would have gone into trains. Alas!

Agree 100% about bus kicking the trains ass, specially on Galway-Dublin, when the M6 (and other MIUs) are complete.

Chris_533976

KevR wrote: »

Last time I took a train from Dublin-Galway, a bit outside Dublin you could see a motorway (not sure which one) a short distance away and the cars on it were leaving us for dust.

The cars were speeding

My GPS says that stretch of track (near the M7) regularly gets speeds of 150kmh on the train. Its the fastest stretch between Dublin and Galway anyway. Then it drops to stupid speeds for the terrible alignment of Portarlington.

Carawaystick

Chris_533976 wrote: »

Rail speed between Galway and Dublin isnt TOO bad.

150kmh between Dublin and about Portarlingon (where it drops to 25), then about 120kmh on average the rest of the way to Galway.

Trouble is great swathes of it are single track, so you have to wait 30 minutes sometimes in Tullamore for the train coming the other way.

25 mins for 21 kms from Athenry to Galway is a wee bit slower than 120kmh
16:50 to 17:15

L1011

Isn't some (but not enough to make it 120km/h) of the scheduled Athenry-Galway time recovery time?

doolox

When I were a lad my Dad bought a Fiat 124 special without realising how fast it was, he normally drove Fords........
We had business in Dublin and did the journey from 6.30 am to 9.00 am back in the 1970's when men were men and speed limits were theoretical.
Most people took 4 hours to do it that time but, not realising the performance of automobilo Italiano he surprised and amazed himself..........
Going thru midland towns at high speed was a gas......
You would be pushed to do Dublin-Galway in 2.5 hours today even with the motorway.

Carawaystick

doolox wrote: »

When I were a lad my Dad bought a Fiat 124 special without realising how fast it was, he normally drove Fords........
We had business in Dublin and did the journey from 6.30 am to 9.00 am back in the 1970's when men were men and speed limits were theoretical.
Most people took 4 hours to do it that time but, not realising the performance of automobilo Italiano he surprised and amazed himself..........
Going thru midland towns at high speed was a gas......
You would be pushed to do Dublin-Galway in 2.5 hours today even with the motorway.

It's 120km from Dublin to Athlone, with a 120kmh limit and about 90km from Athlone to Galway with one town, one village and one 6km 80kmh limit windy stretch. That's easily possible.

Chris_533976

MYOB wrote: »

Isn't some (but not enough to make it 120km/h) of the scheduled Athenry-Galway time recovery time?

Athlone to Galway a few weeks ago was generally 110 or 120. The train left Dublin bang on time and arrived in Galway bang on time. However, we sat in Tullamore for 30 minutes waiting for the train to come the other way.

Just shows what IE build into the timetable. We should have been in Galway 30 minutes earlier.

Carawaystick

MYOB wrote: »

Isn't some (but not enough to make it 120km/h) of the scheduled Athenry-Galway time recovery time?

No. Unless IÉ publicly admit their timetables are not wholly based on the truth.....

Carawaystick

Carawaystick wrote: »

No. Unless IÉ publicly admit their timetables are not wholly based on the truth.....

This remides me of a British Rail service into London, it had a shocking 70% failure rate to arrive within five minutes of it's scheduled arrival time.
The following year the timetable had the journey taking ten minutes longer.
The service was much improved afterwards. :rolleyes::D

D.L.R.

Irish Rail don't even mention dualling the Galway line in the LONG term. Should've been done with the WRC money. Fuppets.

Chris_533976

Yeah in a dreamworld the entire of Galway to Dublin should be dual track and 200kmh running throughout. THAT would beat the motorway