Iarnrod Eireann Happy Train Traffic Nearly 40% Down

Sponge Bob

yer man! wrote: »

station at 8 o'clock in the morning, where the train would take 5-7mins. Train is the fastest option.

Treu, and there will be no bypass either.

Plus Irishrail said they'll be allowing people to bring bicycles on board for free from oranmore and athenry which would be a huge advantage for many students like myself.

Can we have a standing room only carriage for these students and their bicycles so

yer man!

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Treu, and there will be no bypass either.

Can we have a standing room only carriage for these students and their bicycles so

Well they said people will have to stand away from the seats with there bikes for the duration of their journey, meh doesn't bother me anyway, i think it would be handy.

yer man!

Assuming that the Galway port development goes ahead within the next few years, do you think WRC may make a profit as a freight line if it was organized properly and was efficient. They have plans to double track the new port to connect into the main Galway - Dublin line. If this port was to go ahead it would benefit transatlantic freighters to dock in Galway and use the rail and/or road network. The Galway harbour company really do want to encourage the use of rail freight as it is cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Many companies around Galway and surrounding counties currently load up containers and are driven to Dublin port for export. There are no rail freight services available in Galway as of now.

corktina

how many is many? to operate a trainservice of this nature you would need at least one trainload a day and even then waiting for loading and unloading would cause delays to the exports which might not be acceptable to many complaies.
What Freight would you invisage going via the WRC? Surely it would be cheaper to use the port at Limerick or Cork or waterford (etc) rather than rail containers from Galway

rainbowdash

Aren't we also getting a European transhipment hub down in Kerry on the Shannon estuary that will be rail connected?:rolleyes:

I'd be more worried about maintaining the few bits of port connected railheads that are left than developing more.

If Irish Rail can't get freight moving through their own port, Rosslare, I don't fancy the prospects for everywhere else.

Sponge Bob

rainbowdash wrote: »

Aren't we also getting a European transhipment hub down in Kerry on the Shannon estuary that will be rail connected?:rolleyes:

Really ?? I take it that you are referring to the atlantic way initiative which even has a CEO appointed. It appears to be the Atlantic Technology Corridor in redux ...and minus a Bertie speech.

Oh WAIT!

antoobrien

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

This right here should of be WRC Phase 1.

While the line looks nice on a map, it isn't worth a curse as a commuter line because it's too far away from gmit & the businesses it's supposed to be serving and as usual the plans ignore the fact that we have a lot of people commuting across the Corrib to get to work. At 700m from the rail line gmit is borderline - the business park I work in runs buses to the local dart station people will stand around for 15 minutes rather than walk 500m (despite the fact that walking is usually quicker).

The proposed Ballyloughane stop (nearest the city) is a 15 minute walk from GMIT and not particularly accessible by foot to the local houses as the rail line is a (small) distance short of the houses and all the traffic (foot/cycle/vehcile) basically has to go 'round the corner' (meaning at least 400 yards) to get to it. Sounds short but people in Dublin won't walk 500 yards to a dart.

The reason the dart works is because the businesses are readily available i.e. 10 minute or less walking distance from the stations, this line is far from this.
for this reason I can't see many people using that to get to the likes of Thermo King or the factories in the Mervue industrial estate for example, and so this plan is unrealistic and fanciful.

Wild Bill

QUOTE=Sponge Bob;71180757]The original Times article was carried last thursday

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0310/1224291779125.html

However the shortfall is nothing like the Nenagh - Limerick shortfall

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0326/rail.html

Down 75% . :eek:

[/QUOTE]


So, Bob, you reckon the Ennis-Athenry should be scrapped but not as scrapped as Nenagh-Limerick?

KevR

antoobrien wrote: »

While the line looks nice on a map, it isn't worth a curse as a commuter line because it's too far away from gmit & the businesses it's supposed to be serving and as usual the plans ignore the fact that we have a lot of people commuting across the Corrib to get to work. At 700m from the rail line gmit is borderline - the business park I work in runs buses to the local dart station people will stand around for 15 minutes rather than walk 500m (despite the fact that walking is usually quicker).

The proposed Ballyloughane stop (nearest the city) is a 15 minute walk from GMIT and not particularly accessible by foot to the local houses as the rail line is a (small) distance short of the houses and all the traffic (foot/cycle/vehcile) basically has to go 'round the corner' (meaning at least 400 yards) to get to it. Sounds short but people in Dublin won't walk 500 yards to a dart.

The reason the dart works is because the businesses are readily available i.e. 10 minute or less walking distance from the stations, this line is far from this.
for this reason I can't see many people using that to get to the likes of Thermo King or the factories in the Mervue industrial estate for example, and so this plan is unrealistic and fanciful.

I do wish Oranmore station was more central to the town and business park. My only hope is that because there is a lot of space around the planned station (which is a bit outside the town), this space could be used for high density development in future. Galway County Council need to point blank stop any further development to the South of Oranmore for the next few decades and make sure development is focused around the railway station.

I don't see any reason not to build a station to serve Renmore/GMIT. The line is already there and Limerick/Commuter trains are already passing through with spare capacity. I can't imagine that it would take 15 mins to walk from the station to GMIT, I would say more like 10 mins. Galway-Limerick trains are a lot slower than the bus so stopping in Renmore and adding a couple of extra mins to the journey is not going to see the train shedding inter-city passengers. I think a stop in Renmore would actually make Galway-Limerick trains a little more viable.

Aard

Just as you say about Oranmore, having a station for Renmore/GMIT would stimulate that area too. The trains are passing anyway; I can't imagine adding two minutes extra to the journey for the stop would be all that bad, considering the potential benefit.

Wild Bill

[/QUOTE]

Folks
The €100 million (and how much in annual subsidies) for the crazed Ennis - Galway line could have (certainly if managed by anyone other than Irish Rail) built the stations and tracking above - out to Athenry.

People like Platform 11 have made that point for the past 10 years (or whatever).

The WRC corridor has the advantage of being emotively supported by a weird coalition of rustics, "Save the West" type politicians and clerics, train-spotters and demented Greenies. As well as the trendy D4 Irish Times types.

Against this collection of braindeads, what chance has suburban rail in Galway got?

Galway is a rapidly expanding city and is thus anathema to all of the above. Us Dubs are, like, soooooo familiar with that syndrome. :cool:

antoobrien

KevR wrote: »

I don't see any reason not to build a station to serve Renmore/GMIT. The line is already there and Limerick/Commuter trains are already passing through with spare capacity. I can't imagine that it would take 15 mins to walk from the station to GMIT, I would say more like 10 mins. Galway-Limerick trains are a lot slower than the bus so stopping in Renmore and adding a couple of extra mins to the journey is not going to see the train shedding inter-city passengers. I think a stop in Renmore would actually make Galway-Limerick trains a little more viable.

I invite you to go down there and walk it then.

I'll give a very good reason why it's too far - people won't walk this distance. Why do I think this? I see it every day in Dublin - hell two of my housemates won't walk 10 minutes to a Dart that brings them within 15 minutes walk of either workplace. One drives and the other gets a bus that takes a minimum 20 minutes more (worse in traffic) because it's cheaper.

KevR

antoobrien wrote: »

I invite you to go down there and walk it then.

I'll give a very good reason why it's too far - people won't walk this distance. Why do I think this? I see it every day in Dublin - hell two of my housemates won't walk 10 minutes to a Dart that brings them within 15 minutes walk of either workplace. One drives and the other gets a bus that takes a minimum 20 minutes more (worse in traffic) because it's cheaper.

If I lived in Athenry for example and was going to college in GMIT, I would have no problems whatsoever walking from a train station located there. Parking in GMIT is supposedly a nightmare and it is highly likely that you will have been stuck in some horrendous traffic before even making it to the GMIT campus.
(I would only take the train if it was affordable though)

I walked to college (25 mins) everyday for 5 years. I had a car and I could have driven into NUIG everyday in under 5 mins but I never bothered because you could spend anything from 20 to 40 mins driving around looking for a parking space. If at all possible, people generally avoided driving to NUIG because driving was so much hassle. I have heard that GMIT has similar parking problems but I have never experienced it myself.