Upgrade N24 to M24 when EU funds become available

Xenophile

Is the N24 the most neglected National route ? Joining Limerick and Waterford to the Europort. Must be a priority in future National plan!

It makes no sense whatsover to build a motorway from Limerick city down to Mallow to take traffic to Waterford city, just look at the map! via the towns of Tipperary, Cahir, Clonmel and Carrick on Suir is the only sensible route.

Why is the wrong route is being proposed, reason, the lack of political representation from South Tipperary for many many years at the cabinet table.

Just look at the extra distance by developing the proposed Western corridor, the extra fuel consumption for heavy goods vehicles going onwards towards the Rosslare Europort.:D

zootroid

I would have thought a motorway between Limerick and Cork (M20) would be more important than a motorway between Limerick and Waterford.

To be honest I can't see it happening. They might improve sections of it, but that will be about it. I don't think the traffic volumes could justify it. Afterall the M9 Dublin to Waterford motorway is barely justified.

Xenophile

The volume of goods being transported between Limerick and Cork is very light as is car traffic.

A route that serves....... Galway.............Limerick........Waterford........Rosslare Europort is the rationale for constructing the M24.:D

ted1

Train link for the port would the best option, with a container terminus in limerick. It removes trucks from the roads, its cheaper than a motorway, more enviormental friendly and provide jobs.

corktina

what nonsense M24 instead of M20? The N20 is highly dangerous in several places and bypasses and cut offs would still be needed so wheres the saving? Id say the N20 is at least twice as busy as the N24 if not three times!

Also, the N20 doesnt just serve the cities, it serves a huge hinterland in North Cork and west to Kerry even not to mention the traffic that comes up from west cork via macroom heading for Limerick and the North west

NITransport

If it anything an M25 would be more important than a M24. But I'm sure volumes on the N25 couldn't justify a full motorway upgrade. Worry about getting an M20 before anything else...

NITransport

If it anything an M25 would be more important than a M24. But I'm sure volumes on the N25 couldn't justify a full motorway upgrade. Worry about getting an M20 before anything else...

corktina

ted1 wrote: »

Train link for the port would the best option, with a container terminus in limerick. It removes trucks from the roads, its cheaper than a motorway, more enviormental friendly and provide jobs.

So...we load a container on a truck in (say) Tralee and take it to Limerick where it is loaded on a train whoch then waits there until all,what,40 containers arrive and are loaded, then the train toodles off to Waterford on a single track with hardly any passing loops any more and then your container might sit there for an hour to be unloaded and then reloaded on another truck or a ship.... taking into account the staff and equipment to do the loading and unloading, wouldn't it be quicker and cheaper to leave the container on the truck and go direct Tralee to Waterford?

Meanwhile in your world, the vast proportion of the traffic is still struggling along the old N24 ...

Xenophile

The EU proposes to spend money on Rail, lets get some to get this line back on track.:)


3. Irish Rail Proposal
On March 26, 2010, Irish Rail wrote to the National Transport Authority with a
proposal to suspend passenger services on the Rosslare-Waterford rail line. Included
in the proposal was the proposed provision by Bus Éireann of an alternative bus
service to be provided as an amendment to its Public Service Contract with the NTA..
In support of this proposal, Irish Rail put forward the following rationale:
• The current ratio of costs to revenue is one of the worst in the entire Irish Rail
network and it is highly likely that a replacement bus service would provide
better value for money;
• The report of ‘The Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure
Programme’ (July 2009) recommended withdrawal of services from the route.
• A significant level of safety related expenditure is required for this line over
the next five years. The economic justification for this is very difficult to
sustain.
• The line is no longer of any strategic importance for either Rosslare Europort
and the rail freight industry;
• Under the current economic environment there is a severe shortage of
funding, both capital and current, to support rail services. In line with this
there has been a very significant reduction in Iarnród Éireann’s annual
subvention payments.
• A review of demographic trends and planning policies for the south Wexford
catchment highlights that the economies of rail service are highly unlikely to
improve in the medium to longer term.
The NTA raised queries on the proposal including the level of proposed bus fares,
the commercial potential of the rail route, and the plans for asset management of the
line if services were terminated.

corktina

No, lets get some to keep and develop the potentially viable InterCity lines before they succomb to the Motorways altogether.They need a lot spent on them on upgraded the Infrastructure and rolling stock to compete.

dubhthach

The most you can expect on the N24 is 2+2 (Type 3) and only after the M20 is finished.

corktina

Not in my lifetime then?

dubhthach

corktina wrote: »

Not in my lifetime then?

Don't know bout you but I plan on been around till I'm 100 so another 70 years or so

corktina

touch and go then whether you'll see it:D

ted1

Corktina the train model works in most other countries. A central distribution hub. Obviously the line would be upgraded.

corktina

rail freight only works if you have a long haul involved and a customer at one end and another at the other (or a port/factory/mine etc) The longest haul you could get in Ireland is not long enough and certainly Limerick to Waterford is not.

Industry nowadays works on a "just in time" principle. You order the stuff when you need it and it gets sent pronto. You will struggle to do this when you have to wait for a whole train to be loaded when all the time a truck could be on its way to destination. Of course you also have to have commodities to send too. We don't have too many bulk hauls that would be suitable and all our major cities have their own ports anyway.

Sorry ted, it won't work, I only wish it would! Nothing I'd like to see more than a procession of freight trains rolling past!

Xenophile

We will soon be again growing sugar beet in Ireland and hopefully processing it here as well, rail is an ideal way to transport the crop. It grows excepionaly well in the South in the counties of Carlow, Wexford ,Tipperary and Waterford in particular.:D

EU funds!!!! By the time they've finished bailing out the banks you'll be lucky to get the "Proposed" signs, let alone the roads.

Amtmann

This thread is a bit all over the place, and the topic has been covered here before. OP, use the thread finder to locate similar pre-existing threads.