Limerick-Foynes Rail Line

brianc89

Is there a longer term plan to open the Waterford to Rosslare section?

There would then be a line to bring freight from Rosslare to Foynes, which would help building up windpower, transporting LNG and moving freight off the motorways. It would also take huge pressure off Dublin Port which is definitely needed in the longterm

L1011

No. Also, Rosslare didn't do railfreight anyway, it isn't that type of port.

Geuze

As part of the re-opening, are all LC to be eliminated?

What will the max speed be? 160kph? 120 kph?

munchkin_utd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119899271#Comment_119899271

aside from the fact that offloading freight in one port, and shipping it by land a few 100km to another port to send it back out to sea, doesnt seem to be a sensible thing to do even if it were possible.

I did a bit of searching and there seems to be the possibility of Zinc and lead mining in a stretch of land from Kildare to Tipp with test drilling and decisions being made at the moment, so if that works out there might be one or more potential customers from those mines.

You'd wonder too would Tara then send their shipments through Foynes if it becomes a major Ore handing port.

A fair few "ifs" in there though, and who is to know whether the mines simply send their ORE to Dublin and ignore Foynes. Sure, Foynes had a rail line until relatively recently and it didnt seem to get much use so why should that change now ?

cgcsb

It would be great to see passenger services and a Limerick commuter rail service. 4 lines starting at Cobert and serving Foynes(with doradoyle spur), Limerick Junction, Ennis and Neenagh with a proper usable schedule and more stations in Limerick City. Do more to remove cars from the city centre as much as possible.

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119916328#Comment_119916328

Limerick needs proper bus service that goes to the places that people need to go to, not a rail service that doesn't. Most people live and work on the outskirts of the city. Very few live or work in the city center, so a service on 1800s single track rail alignments that don't serve places like UL, Castletroy or Plassey or the majority of the North side of the river and terminates at Colbert isn't going to be used. Having to change at Colbert and then walk 2-3 km is not going to take people out of their cars.

Build proper bus lanes, put park and rides along the major entry points into the city at the N18, N24, M7 and M20 and increase bus services and it will go a lot further to reduce traffic in the city center.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119877052#Comment_119877052

I said as much in the thread in the Train and Rail Systems forum. The N7 Naas Road was built to a high standard specifically because of the Ryder Cup in 2006. So this wouldn't surprise me at all; if you want to get something done in this country, just get a major sporting event involved somehow. But there are rumours about that zinc mine going around too.

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119916469#Comment_119916469

Can do both. It doesn't have to be single track either. Limerick Junction line is being doubled in any case

Beta Ray Bill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119916469#Comment_119916469

It's to small to get any kind of good scalable public transport like light rail or diverse bus service. There's less than 100,000 people living there.

That being said, a direct rail link to Shannon Airport would be very beneficial to the city.

It would however mean CPO'ing a heap of stuff above on the North East of Mallow St all the way river and then the same again out to the R445

Elevated Rail could potentially reduce the CPO'ing burden OR just cut west and hug the coast to the Airport

The only REAL way to make money on Rail is to move freight.

A rail freight hub at the airport would certainly make the process a bit more appealing.

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119916527#Comment_119916527

Have a look at google maps. It's not possible to double track the line from Moyross to the city. It has housing backing onto the line on both sides from Corbally in. There isn't room to double track the Foynes line between the M20 and Dooradoyle/Raheen either.

cgcsb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119916555#Comment_119916555

Just design obstacles, not a reason not to do it. There are more design obstacles to a high quality bus network

Cookiemunster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119916564#Comment_119916564

So you see CPOing hundreds of houses to make way for double tracking as design obstacles? That's is never going to happen.

cgcsb

There are lots of options but won't go into it now as it's off topic

Pete_Cavan

I can't see heavy rail passenger services to Adare or beyond being viable, the population is too low and it wouldn't bring people to where they want to go. It would be just running trains on the line for the sake of it. Presumably there would be regular freight trains to justify the reopening so limited scope for meaningful passenger services on the single track.

There are plans to redevelop a large area in the city called Home - Colbert Quarter | Limerick. I know they show the rail line in plans but having heavy rail, particularly freight, trundling through is not suitable for such an urban regeneration. A new heavy rail link should be provided along the southern side of the M7 and crossing the M20 to allow freight trains bypass the city centre to/from Foynes. Then you could create a light rail line from Raheen Business Park (possibly Patrickswell with a P&R) along the R526 serving residential areas and UHL, swinging round at the Crescent Shopping Centre and using the old heavy rail alignment into the city. It could extend out to UL/Castletroy, maybe even M7 J28 with a P&R.