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Railfreight

  • 10-07-2012 6:27pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 74 ✭✭


    Reports are that Ballina Waterford Port container trains may cease within weeks. A regretable development just when I was beginning to think that railfreight was making a resurgence. Between falling passenger numbers and this, IE are certainly facing challenges. Its getting to the stage when as a nation we are going to have to either opt into a standard european attitude of support towards railways by way of offering incentives to industry to use them or face the prospect of no freight, and settling for an inter-regional as distinct from inter-city, and a commuter railway in the vicinity of our large cities. The inter-city prospects are bleak in the face of faster or non-stop bus and car options on new motorways.


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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,258 ✭✭✭✭Losty Dublin


    Who are your reports from? A man I was talking to yesterday said the complete opposite, don't ya know :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 937 ✭✭✭Rud


    I have also heard about this.I heard that IWT will be getting all the business in Dublin port but i hope it's all rumours and doesn't come to fruition.If it does it will just leave the pulp timber freight on the Waterord line.Maybe part of the problem with the container trains is the amount of time it actually takes to get from Balina to Waterford especially with the loco runaround at Kildare and the single line from Kildare to Waterford


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,580 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    Rud wrote: »
    Maybe part of the problem with the container trains is the amount of time it actually takes to get from Balina to Waterford especially with the loco runaround at Kildare and the single line from Kildare to Waterford
    Largely irrelevant, all that really matters is whether it gets to the port in time for the sorting / handling and putting on the ship.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,073 ✭✭✭gobnaitolunacy


    Noted a spanking new sign at entrance of North Esk 'Aras Lasta/Freight Depot' lately.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,258 ✭✭✭✭Losty Dublin


    Noted a spanking new sign at entrance of North Esk 'Aras Lasta/Freight Depot' lately.

    There has been a Cork liner on the cards for some time now. Didn't hear word of it being reconnected to the mainline as of yet.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32 Magpie1951


    Lads I thought half the containers moved from Ballina to Waterford on DFDS liner were by Coca Cola to a distribution centre in Waterford rather than going on for export? This wouldn't add up if the reason for canceling was a change to Dublin port especially after the long battle with IE to install plugs in Ballina yard so they could have refridgerated containers!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,373 ✭✭✭✭foggy_lad


    Magpie1951 wrote: »
    Lads I thought half the containers moved from Ballina to Waterford on DFDS liner were by Coca Cola to a distribution centre in Waterford rather than going on for export? This wouldn't add up if the reason for canceling was a change to Dublin port especially after the long battle with IE to install plugs in Ballina yard so they could have refridgerated containers!
    They wanted something as simple as power sockets in Ballina but IE won't provide them? That's Mad Ted!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32 Magpie1951


    foggy_lad wrote: »
    They wanted something as simple as power sockets in Ballina but IE won't provide them? That's Mad Ted!

    Yep for some reason 45 euro power sockets seemed like a mammoth task but after two years of careful negotiation with IE's top experts in their railfreight and infastructure division this hhuuuuggggeeee engineering problem was solved;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,258 ✭✭✭✭Losty Dublin


    There is no power supply on board a liner train, Magpie, so if if is critical on a shunting yard, why isn't it critical in traffic?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32 Magpie1951


    There is no power supply on board a liner train, Magpie, so if if is critical on a shunting yard, why isn't it critical in traffic?
    It was critical for when the containers were sitting in the yard waiting for a liner to arrive or be unloaded before dispatch.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    There was a note on IRN recently about the Eucon siding in North Wall NOT currently used for freight being renewed.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,258 ✭✭✭✭Losty Dublin


    Magpie1951 wrote: »
    It was critical for when the containers were sitting in the yard waiting for a liner to arrive or be unloaded before dispatch.

    But they'd still be on a liner for several hours without chilling. If it's that important then surely it would be done throughout the whole trip.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 743 ✭✭✭Sligo Quay


    yachtsman wrote: »
    Reports are that Ballina Waterford Port container trains may cease within weeks. A regretable development just when I was beginning to think that railfreight was making a resurgence. Between falling passenger numbers and this, IE are certainly facing challenges. Its getting to the stage when as a nation we are going to have to either opt into a standard european attitude of support towards railways by way of offering incentives to industry to use them or face the prospect of no freight, and settling for an inter-regional as distinct from inter-city, and a commuter railway in the vicinity of our large cities. The inter-city prospects are bleak in the face of faster or non-stop bus and car options on new motorways.
    Its just Dublin Port is increasing in business at the expense of Waterford, I saw the DFDS 2weeks ago with only 2boxes on it in Kildare and the iwt from Dublin Port passing it by with 18full wagons, the customer in Ballina doesn't care what port is used as long as it gets its cargo, rumours now doing the rounds Eucon may re enter the railfreight market, they are based in Dublin Port, people on the ground or in the know don't waste their time discussing these issues on message boards, too busy living in the real world and getting on with it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,381 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    i take it the loco run around at killdare is to do with the junction in that trains coming from ballina can't turn for waterford and trains coming from waterford can't turn for ballina?

    I'm very highly educated. I know words, i have the best words, nobody has better words then me.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,580 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    Yes.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,381 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    their most lightly isn't a justification cost wise to install points to allow trains to run straight through without a loco run around?

    I'm very highly educated. I know words, i have the best words, nobody has better words then me.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 433 ✭✭kc56


    their most lightly isn't a justification cost wise to install points to allow trains to run straight through without a loco run around?

    Not just points but a direct curve like Lavistown or Limerick Junction would be required and that would cost several million. Not likely for a few freight trains.

    Direct running to Dublin port is easier and is in place.

    Loco run-arounds at Kildare take 20 -30 mins and finding slots that long can be difficult. They already use up to 4 a day (2xcontainer, 2x wood). Even now some passenger services are slightly delayed or have to use the loop instead of the direct line.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 74 ✭✭yachtsman


    Unfortunately your man was wrong Losty. Waterford Ballina container trains are finished for the timebeing. They were resurrected once before so lets not be over pessimistic. I understand the customer had no issues with travel times. It has more to do with alteration to shipping arrangements in the Port. The critical issue now is that IE do not plonk a few stoppers at the end of the platforms at Plunkett and start chopping connections into Bellview.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    Sligo Quay - not sure why your shot about people on/not on messageboards was necessary, after all you're here yourself, bit of a clown statement bro.

    In relation to the discussion above, a direct curve from Portarlington side around towards Athy would be the best option but the motorways make it a tight proposition. The turnaround at Kildare also facilitates loco swapping so eliminating it might have some crewing implications.

    My preference would be to extend the 3-tracking in Kildare all the way to Cherryville Junction as that would benefit other services in creating timetable flexibility other than freight and Waterford-LTC movements, such as an ex-Waterford passenger or freight being able to pull onto the mainline and into Kildare Station instead of waiting for a Cork express to pass.

    EDIT: any word on Coillte? Possible we might see additional timber in the freight slots?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 743 ✭✭✭Sligo Quay


    dowlingm wrote: »
    Sligo Quay - not sure why your shot about people on/not on messageboards was necessary, after all you're here yourself, bit of a clown statement bro.
    I simply making the point, whats really happening on the ground within circles you won't read it on messages boards, I know trust me, yes I am here, but I don't post all I know, Im not going to blow my cover;) its not the first you'v had a go at me here on boards.ie
    Anyway back on discussion, I hear within circles, yes the dfds has been suspended, food tanks for coca cola is now being handled by iwt, its amazing who you meet in the pubs around Dublin Port, its an education, certainly not clowns, I try and ride both horses, can be differcult when you get slagged off by clowns;):rolleyes::eek:


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,580 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    clowns
    Knock it off.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 433 ✭✭kc56


    dowlingm wrote: »

    My preference would be to extend the 3-tracking in Kildare all the way to Cherryville Junction as that would benefit other services in creating timetable flexibility other than freight and Waterford-LTC movements, such as an ex-Waterford passenger or freight being able to pull onto the mainline and into Kildare Station instead of waiting for a Cork express to pass.

    Not sure how that would work. A passenger train from Waterford still has to cross both the down and up lines to reach the up platform in Kildare so it would still have to wait for the passing Cork train. Unless, of course, Kildare station was re-designed with extra platforms.
    Freight trains normally stop on the up track so same applies. Can't see how a 3rd track from Cherryville to Kildare would help.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    But they'd still be on a liner for several hours without chilling. If it's that important then surely it would be done throughout the whole trip.
    I'd say they could use 201 HEP except some of the 201s used for freight are there for a rest from that :D

    kc56 - true but it wouldn't be stuck at Cherryville waiting - it could head in for Kildare at reduced speed and then change tracks in the station approaches. Doesn't eliminate all the issues - nothing short of a flying junction would and that ain't happening - but it *might* do enough to give some added flex to timetabling to get punctuality up and timetable padding reduced.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 433 ✭✭kc56


    If money was to be spent at Kildare, which it won't, I'd much rather see a 3rd platform to avoid the musical tracks that the commuter trains have to do as they turn back at Kildare. Kildare has 3 tracks but only 2 platforms. A 3rd platform, on a the mainline, would enable more commuter trains to terminate there and also avoid intercities having to enter the loop to stop at the up platform. Unfortunately there's not a lot of room for such a development and major disruption during construction would be hard to avoid.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    What are the chances of new freight flows happening in the next few years or is it all hope is lost sort of thing with belview potentially finished , sligo empty,tivoli, limerick etc.... Do the fright operators actively have to contact IE or are IE looking for more business?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    Im only new to this board and i'd say this has been debated a million times but with the suspension of services of DFDS liners I think its timely that this debate crops up again and with only 3 freight flows left in a country that once had many, what or how long left does rail freight have in modern Ireland?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,729 ✭✭✭Millem


    A future? Perhaps yes, but this would be conditional on government and Irish rail stimulus of the industry. Rail doesn't serve every mass industrial location in the country, and in most cases it is simply easier to transport by road rather than rail.

    Geography doesn't really help Ireland - we're too small, and with most loads the proposed benefits of rail freight (less manpower, taking trucks off the road etc) are negated by the flexibility of roads. The lack of mass heavy industry here doesn't help - we're fast becoming a knowledge economy rather than a heavy industry one.

    Without stimulus or intervention the rail freight situation will likely enter a slow decline and may cease altogether in the medium - long term


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    davidlacey wrote: »
    Im only new to this board
    pro tip: before creating a new thread see if there's one on the same topic. Just a suggestion.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    IE seem to find it more profitable to outsource the hassle of getting clients to freight forwarders, since they assume most of the risk in chartering trains, although there is still a cost to IE in retaining the capability to operate.

    The one flow that seems to be on the table is a possible exploitation of the ore field at Pallasgreen, the question is though where would it ship to. Local interests would say Foynes but that's a big ask. Cork would clog up the mainline with 50mph trains and there seems to be resistance to reinstating a spur to Tivoli for some reason. The one that makes sense to me is Waterford but "rationalisation" won't help there, plus there would be a question about whether Cahir and other overbridges would be able to take a regular visit from trains that heavy.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    i have to say considering i'm youngish, i would not remember many of the freight flows, however i'm not that young to remember cement, shale, beer, ammonia workings, and i look back with nostalgia. I believe the railway has good links to the ports but it looks as though the only port that is really up to much is Dublin and not much else is happening in Waterford or Cork. Alot of questions around this subject seem to be more hypothetical rather than actual fact as the information in regards to IE in workings on freight can only be seen by their actions rather than words but would love to see some good news on the freight side of things not just for the sake of its future but as a rail enthusiast too


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    is there any word from IE on any possibilities or is it all sought from word of mouth


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    taken from irrs journal 2002

    In October, IÉ stated their intention to withdraw from freight carryings that were uneconomic. These included bagged cement, bagged fertiliser, timber and ‘general containers’. However, at the time, no formal decision was made and the Board of IÉ directed that the Company engage in discussions with the Department of Public Enterprise to explore the possibility of securing EU or Exchequer funding for unprofitable freight businesses. The IÉ Board decided that the Freight Division would vacate the Spencer Dock area of North Wall, Dublin, on 1 February in accordance with CIÉs agreement with the developer of the site. They also requested managers to advance existing proposals to develop an alternative location for the container business that would be displaced.

    It is understood that contracts for carrying trainloads of containers would still be sought and that the fate of bulk cement traffic depended on commercial negotiations. An IÉ spokesman was quoted in the newspapers as saying the ‘plan recommends an orderly withdrawal from all unprofitable bulk, palletised and container load business following consultation with the various firms concerned’. Notwithstanding the postponement of the formal decision on the plan by the Board, IÉ told staff who maintain wagons that they were going to be re-deployed to other duties. Staff were told that 225 of the freight department's 570 staff would be affected. IÉ forecasted a deficit of €8.5 million for 2001 for the freight division on revenues of €56 million. This withdrawal would leave IÉ with only a handful of freight trains operating including ammonia trains between Cork and Arklow, shale trains from Kilmastulla (Birdhill) to Limerick cement factory and oil trains from Dublin to Sligo. It was also speculated that beer (various Guinness produced products) would transfer to road haulage. Seasonal haulage of sugar beet from Wellingtonbridge to Mallow was expected to continue.

    In recent years, IÉ has ceased hauling sundries, scrap metal, grain, molasses, gypsum and tar (to Sligo Quay) and dramatically reduced haulage of bagged cement, bagged fertiliser and containers. Bulk cement is no longer carried to Cabra (Dublin) and Athenry. The Cabra terminal has lain derelict since its closure on 23 December 1999.

    The effect of all these withdrawals of traffic means that there are now no trains on the Foynes branch, Kingscourt branch, New Ross branch, between Ennis and Athenry, between Athenry and Claremorris and on Sligo Quay. In 2001, the Foynes branch saw the weed spraying train, a movement of scrap bagged- cement wagons for storage during the summer and an inspection car movement on 8 November. The Foynes branch was closed to all bar ‘Engineers trains’ in December, with the Electric Train Staff for the section held by the Limerick Permanent Way Inspector. Thus, it assumed the same status as the Youghal branch.

    The sole active freight only branch is between Drogheda and Platin cement works. Bulk cement continues to be hauled between Castlemungret (Limerick) and the roofing factory at Athy on the stub of the Wolfhill branch, but both ends of the journey are designated as being in sidings.

    By December, palletised fertiliser traffic had practically ceased, with the last traffic being cross-border and to Portlaoise. On Wednesday 19 December, 230 + 12 bogies of fertiliser arrived in Portlaoise at 10.15. The next day saw 10 laden fertiliser wagons in Adelaide yard in Belfast. On Thursday 20 December, 10 empty fertiliser bogies were worked to Shelton Abbey, (Arklow) to be loaded for Belfast. Fifty-four empty bogie-fertiliser wagons were observed in North Wall in early December.

    On 27 November, the Minister for Public Enterprise told the Dáil: ‘It is the Government point of view, without taking a formal decision, that it would be better to transport goods as far as possible by rail rather than road’. On 6 December, the Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, TD, told the Dáil that ‘The Minister (for Public Enterprise) has informed the company … that she does not support its pulling out of rail freight or substantially reducing its contribution in this area as, among other things, it would add more heavy traffic to the streets, as most of the freight work occurs at Dublin’s Spencer Dock site. …The site used by Iarnród Éireann at the docks is to be developed in February and it will have to relocate. This issue arises because it wants to use the site in Spencer Dock for other purposes’. It was also reported in the media that the IÉ plan to reduce rail freight ran counter to EU transport policy.


    its been on the cards for some time....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 743 ✭✭✭Sligo Quay


    I have a very interesting journal from a few years ago february 2006 with a feature freight that was, very interesting reading, I never realized tara mines trains went to Arklow port, so much freight lost, private sidings everywhere.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    Sligo Quay wrote: »
    I have a very interesting journal from a few years ago february 2006 with a feature freight that was, very interesting reading, I never realized tara mines trains went to Arklow port, so much freight lost, private sidings everywhere.

    What was the roll of the sidings in dundalk that now lay in alot of weeds it seemed like a big operation? Just after the old GNR depot on the left on the way to the station


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,292 ✭✭✭goingnowhere


    Sligo Quay wrote: »
    I have a very interesting journal from a few years ago february 2006 with a feature freight that was, very interesting reading, I never realized tara mines trains went to Arklow port, so much freight lost, private sidings everywhere.

    Tara Mines was playing a game to see if it could save money by using Arklow instead of Dublin Port (but had to use lower capacity wagons), they reverted to Dublin Port using their own fleet of wagons as before


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    there are limits to our collective knowledge. The reality is that the government does not regard railfreight as a priority. They give IE no subsidy to operate it. Without a subsidy it is difficult for IE to expand services which are at the whim of commercial operators over time.

    Getting shale back onto rail would be a start as would using Tara empties to ship Dublin rubbish to Indaver (assuming that could be got past EPA and the locals)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,381 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    maybe, maybe not, its hard to say

    I'm very highly educated. I know words, i have the best words, nobody has better words then me.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 78,580 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    dowlingm wrote: »
    Getting shale back onto rail would be a start as would using Tara empties to ship Dublin rubbish to Indaver (assuming that could be got past EPA and the locals)
    Burning refuse tainted with lead ore, hmmmm ... The trick might be to have mixed trains of loaded and empty wagons - loaded ore and empty refuse to Dublin and vice versa. You would have an issue with the multiple handling of the refuse.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 433 ✭✭kc56


    dowlingm wrote: »
    I'd say they could use 201 HEP except some of the 201s used for freight are there for a rest from that :D

    kc56 - true but it wouldn't be stuck at Cherryville waiting - it could head in for Kildare at reduced speed and then change tracks in the station approaches. Doesn't eliminate all the issues - nothing short of a flying junction would and that ain't happening - but it *might* do enough to give some added flex to timetabling to get punctuality up and timetable padding reduced.

    dowlingm - also the alignment is wrong. The 3rd track in Kildare is a loop to the North of the mainline and what would be needed is a track to the South of the mainline. Not easy to fix that one without major track and platform re-alignments.

    However, a 3rd track to the south of the mainline to Cherryville would cure one problem - the adverse super-elevation of the branch turn-out (the mainline is curved right with super-elevated tracks) which restricts the speed at which trains can enter/leave the Waterford branch (It's worse at Portarlington!). If the track could run in parallel with the main line then a higher speed turn-out could be used on straight track - the KRP has 70mph turnouts).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 743 ✭✭✭Sligo Quay


    davidlacey wrote: »
    What was the roll of the sidings in dundalk that now lay in alot of weeds it seemed like a big operation? Just after the old GNR depot on the left on the way to the station. I checked on google maps was it a container depot or something like that?
    I think it replaced the freight yard at Barrack st Dundalk, nice selection of pictures here http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20B/Barrack%20Street/Irish%20Railway%20Stations.html the new container depot saw very few containers, mostly handled beer kegs from the nearby brewery when the sidings at the brewery where buried under the new carpark, at lot of freight facilities around the country have been turned into pre paid carparks that don't actually get used in these lean times.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,463 ✭✭✭CIE


    Millem wrote: »
    A future? Perhaps yes, but this would be conditional on government and Irish rail stimulus of the industry. Rail doesn't serve every mass industrial location in the country, and in most cases it is simply easier to transport by road rather than rail.

    Geography doesn't really help Ireland - we're too small, and with most loads the proposed benefits of rail freight (less manpower, taking trucks off the road etc) are negated by the flexibility of roads. The lack of mass heavy industry here doesn't help - we're fast becoming a knowledge economy rather than a heavy industry one.

    Without stimulus or intervention the rail freight situation will likely enter a slow decline and may cease altogether in the medium - long term
    That's a very kind assessment. The more stark one is that the government has a conflict of interest and is strangling the rail business, which it controls in its entirety. There is only "flexibility of roads" because the government insists on building more of them and fewer railways; the more rails you build, the higher its flexibility rises. FWICS, if railway business was allowed to return to the private sector and the infrastructure was allowed to expand instead of continually retreat, railfreight would be highly competitive and diverse.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    good pics of barrack road, i never even knew it was that extensive, shocking how all of this has been lost to the road, if only i was around when rail freight was commonplace


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    "The long and winding road, that leaves from your door..." thats the trouble with Rail...it dosn't leave from your door whereas road does...

    you wont change that however much you might invest in Rail...it's as outmoded as the Canal and the Packhorse and will follow them into obscurity if it doesn't concentrate on what it does best...(Heavy Haul freight (almost none in this Country), Fast long distance passenger (precious little in this Country) and Suburban/Commuter (Mostly Dublin and little bit Cork )


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    i personally thinks its all doom and gloom once the last tara mines train makes its journey it will be cut of from the network and left to the weeds like every other former rail freight flow. that will leave no infrastructure which means no hope


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 878 ✭✭✭rainbowdash


    I reckon Irish Rail will go Railcar only and ditch all their locos, except a few for towing, maintenance etc.

    Then its goodnight to freight. After that intercity will be abolished.

    We will be left with DART, Dublin commuter, maybe Cork Commuter and Ennis - Athenry as nobody would want to see the west suffer.

    It looks like Gort - Tuam is getting a motorway, so within a generation Cork - Sligo will be motorway most or all the way.

    Thats the whole county linked by road and buses can be switched around based on supply and demand.

    Take OAP's, kids and student fares off the trains and how many passengers would there be?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    Take OAP's, kids and student fares off the trains and how many passengers would there be?

    Thats the point i think, the rail network simply wouldnt be there were it not for subsidy they get from the Welfare for free travel holders. Its an expensive way to do it, evidenced by the high fares for those who do pay.

    I hope any reductions are not as drastic as you envisage, but the writing is firmly on the wall for Rail unless some dynamic manaagers take control


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 743 ✭✭✭Sligo Quay


    corktina wrote: »
    "The long and winding road, that leaves from your door..." thats the trouble with Rail...it dosn't leave from your door whereas road does...
    )

    Hmmm well Esso fuel and homeheating oil actually left from ''your door'' Esso's own door on Alexandra rd and traveled all the way to the Esso storage fuel depot at Sligo Quay, no double handling, I could never understand IE getting out of this particular traffic, like Tara ore, it was ''door to door'' when its not door to door, well it kind of defeats the purpose


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 743 ✭✭✭Sligo Quay


    corktina wrote: »
    " invest in Rail...it's as outmoded as the Canal and the Packhorse
    Isn't that what a famous Stormont Minister said in the 1960s ''the railways are as obsolete as the horse & cart'' and as they say, the rest is history.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,733 ✭✭✭✭corktina


    Sligo Quay wrote: »
    Hmmm well Esso fuel and homeheating oil actually left from ''your door'' Esso's own door on Alexandra rd and traveled all the way to the Esso storage fuel depot at Sligo Quay, no double handling, I could never understand IE getting out of this particular traffic, like Tara ore, it was ''door to door'' when its not door to door, well it kind of defeats the purpose

    Thats not door to door....it has to be delivered to the end customer by truck....double handling....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 416 ✭✭davidlacey


    corktina wrote: »
    Sligo Quay wrote: »
    Hmmm well Esso fuel and homeheating oil actually left from ''your door'' Esso's own door on Alexandra rd and traveled all the way to the Esso storage fuel depot at Sligo Quay, no double handling, I could never understand IE getting out of this particular traffic, like Tara ore, it was ''door to door'' when its not door to door, well it kind of defeats the purpose

    Thats not door to door....it has to be delivered to the end customer by truck....double handling....

    Its still absoutely ridiculous the sligo quay closed during a time of boom in this country but IE were probably to pre occupied with increasing passenger numbers and trying to offload some of the dirty freight such as beer, oil, tar,molasses, cement, shale etc...


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