Limerick improvement projects

Cookiemunster

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

The line is two way from the station out past the Rosbrien Level crossing. It splits just after, one line goes to the cement factory (goes past Kilteragh and the shopping centre) and one to Foynes. The Foynes line would be the one that goes past the back of Raheen Industrial Estate.

The line doesn't go to the station. It stops at the old Guinness depot on Careys Road.

OfTheMarsWongs

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The line doesn't go to the station. It stops at the old Guinness depot on Careys Road.

Apologies, just doubled checked the lines go from the station but any trains going to Foynes or Cement Factory from the station would have to go past the junction at the back of the wagon works and then go backwards/forwards down the line towards Rosbrien.

I had assumed since the cement trains were often at the back of the graveyard that it was a direct line. Looks like a bit of reversing was involved to get from there to the Mungret.

zulutango

Would it not be more realistic to develop these lines as cycle ways?

cgcsb

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Innsbruck is a major tourist destination, Limerick isn't. It has a 25K larger population and over a million tourists a year.

There aren't many tourists in summer time, and even in the winter you don't see many commuting on the s bahn at rush hour.

Innsbruck is just an example, there are a plethora of Limerick sized cities across Europe with modern infrastructure.

jmch81

OfTheMarsWongs wrote: »

Apologies, just doubled checked the lines go from the station but any trains going to Foynes or Cement Factory from the station would have to go past the junction at the back of the wagon works and then go backwards/forwards down the line towards Rosbrien.

I had assumed since the cement trains were often at the back of the graveyard that it was a direct line. Looks like a bit of reversing was involved to get from there to the Mungret.

There used to be a rail line which crossed Carey's Road on a bridge. I checked the OSI for historic map and one shows up. It used run where the CIE club building is beside the Guinness depot site. Which would resolve the reversing issue.

Vanquished

Yeah that used to carry the former Limerick to Charleville line in to the station.

flyingsnail

zulutango wrote: »

Would it not be more realistic to develop these lines as cycle ways?

Given that there is a realistic chance that these line would be reopened for freight usage in the future I would be very slow to give the alignments to something else. The Foynes line has already been highlighted as important infrastructure under the Europe Ten-T plans.

crusha101

There is an artists impression of the hanging gardens available on the limerick leader. Unfortunately I cannot provide a link as new members do not have permission. Would be great id someone could post it , although we only get a limited view it is still quite impressive.

MrJones2013

crusha101 wrote: »

There is an artists impression of the hanging gardens available on the limerick leader. Unfortunately I cannot provide a link as new members do not have permission. Would be great id someone could post it , although we only get a limited view it is still quite impressive.

http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/206479/First-look-at-plans-for-Limerick.html

MrJones2013

The article says 'the site could provide the city centre with much needed clean office space'. The riverpoint building is pretty new and modern, is this fully occupied does anyone know?

crusha101

No its not fully occupied , many of the floors are bare shells, if you go onto daft.ie and search for limerick commercial office space you will come across a few empty floors in riverpoint up for rent.

MrJones2013

I was thinking as much. Don't get me wrong I am looking forward to things getting going on the Hanging Gardens site, it just withers me when they make claims like 'the site could provide the city centre with much needed clean office space' when there is a clean new building only around the corner.

Poxyshamrock

I worry about the hanging gardens site. Look how long it took to occupy the Thomas Street building. Look at what retailers are being enticed in to our modern glass fronted units.

I really don't think it's a case of build it and they will come.

MrJones2013

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

I worry about the hanging gardens site. Look how long it took to occupy the Thomas Street building. Look at what retailers are being enticed in to our modern glass fronted units.

I really don't think it's a case of build it and they will come.

Very true, I think that the local council should be doing more to entice certain companies in to the city centre. Look at the Northern Trust development out on the Tipperary road. Surely if they had a city centre campus it would be a positive? The 3 call centre in Castletroy also? These are businesses which could operate successfully in the city centre in my opinion. I know that traffic and parking would become an issue but surely an increase in numbers employed in the city centre would be beneficial for existing and potential city centre businesses.

Further down the line it might even have an effect on improving public transport and maybe even result in an increase in the numbers living in the city centre itself.

Special Circumstances

So.... a giant heat sink. Some "emperors new clothes" buzz about this.

Pete_Cavan

I stumbled across this thread and just wanted to add to two recent topics discussed. Regarding Limerick as a possible future second city, Limerick looks to me like the city outside of Dublin with the most potential for growth. Limerick already has its bypass and has motorways heading out in three directions (okay, generous to count the bit of the M20 thats there but the rest will be built at some point, plus there should be an M21 in the not too distant future). Galway is looking for more than half a billion euro to build a bypass and Corks South Ring Road is jammers and needs a North Ring Road. Limerick also has rail lines coming into the city from three directions.

Regarding a Luas for the city, wouldn't it be better to develop a DART style heavy rail system which can also be used by intercity trains coming into the city? The bones are already there, it needs to be pulled together into a network. It would be expensive, no doubt, but you are building on whats there rather than starting from scratch. When you look at the money being proposed to be spent on roads in a small city like Galway, with several tunnels and large bridges, if the same ambition was applied to Limerick's rail network you could achieve a lot.

Vanquished

On first glance I quite like the vertical glazing on the office block. It's more adventurous than the original project design. The new 5 storey corner building looks like a solid enough solution too. You'd have to see the detailed drawings before making a proper judgement though.


Original 2006 plan

zulutango

So, it looks like the council has also acquired Thomond Office Supplies building on the corner? That's pretty good news.

MrJones2013

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Regarding a Luas for the city, wouldn't it be better to develop a DART style heavy rail system which can also be used by intercity trains coming into the city? The bones are already there, it needs to be pulled together into a network. It would be expensive, no doubt, but you are building on whats there rather than starting from scratch. When you look at the money being proposed to be spent on roads in a small city like Galway, with several tunnels and large bridges, if the same ambition was applied to Limerick's rail network you could achieve a lot.

The DART style heavy rail system would be the better option to get something off the ground but AFAIK most of the current lines only have a single line so they would need to lay a second line which would probably be an issue when it comes to bridges etc. Also the existing lines do not serve UL which would be also be an issue I'd imagine given the volume of people that would use it if it did.

Vanquished

zulutango wrote: »

So, it looks like the council has also acquired Thomond Office Supplies building on the corner? That's pretty good news.

They bought that building last year. A wise move as that corner badly needed to be redeveloped. I hope they upgrade the footpaths around that block too as part of the project.

MrJones2013

I just passed the Parkway Valley/Horizon Mall there, they should have no problem having that finish by August!!!!

crusha101

Dealz gone into bedford row , i don't see how this move makes any sense ? why let a pound shop into whats is possibly the cities finest vacant store. Limerick the city of pound-shops , kebab shops and phone repair shops.

zulutango

crusha101 wrote: »

Dealz gone into bedford row , i don't see how this move makes any sense ? why let a pound shop into whats is possibly the cities finest vacant store. Limerick the city of pound-shops , kebab shops and phone repair shops.

Who's going to stop them?

Dealz going in there is a reflection of the fact that there is a good market for Dealz in Limerick, whether we like it or not.

crusha101

Sorry I don't under stand what you mean by " who is going to shop them?"

I completely agree and I know that there is nothing the council could do as the area is zoned as retail but I would of hoped to see a more up market client move in and offer more to the city.

crusha101

Sorry I don't under stand what you mean by " who is going to shop them?"

I completely agree and I know that there is nothing the council could do as the area is zoned as retail but I would of hoped to see a more up market client move in and offer more to the city.

zulutango

I said stop not shop

crusha101

zulutango wrote: »

I said stop not shop

Apologies , im not the sharpest in the morning.

johnnyryan89

crusha101 wrote: »

Sorry I don't under stand what you mean by " who is going to shop them?"

I completely agree and I know that there is nothing the council could do as the area is zoned as retail but I would of hoped to see a more up market client move in and offer more to the city.

Why would they do that when you can locate somewhere like Childers Road or the Crescent which are only out the road and have ample parking

Should have left the Savoy cinema there, would have provided plenty of footfall for that area especially in the evenings and probably could have attracted shops to locate around the area given that people would be in town later then 6pm.

panda100

johnnyryan89 wrote:

Should have left the Savoy cinema there, would have provided plenty of footfall for that area especially in the evenings and probably could have attracted shops to locate around the area given that people would be in town later then 6pm.

+1 I used to love going to the cinema in the Savoy. It was so handy compared to having to drive all the way out to the odeon or crescent. It's pretty poor that we don't have any cinema in town most other Irish cities do.

Poxyshamrock

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

Why would they do that when you can locate somewhere like Childers Road or the Crescent which are only out the road and have ample parking

There's ample parking in the city centre as well in case you didn't know. Not to mention the 8 or so bus routes that all converge on the centre.