Reviving the youghal railway line

Rhys Essien

Only in Ireland would it cost ~€13 million for 1 mile of track with new stations and bridges included.Bargain.:(

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Rhys Essien wrote: »

Only in Ireland would it cost ~€13 million for 1 mile of track with new stations and bridges included.Bargain.:(

1 mile of track???plus the other 7 they sent to Sligo in 1988 :mad:

goldie fish

Riva10 wrote: »

The poor condition of roads in County Cork is much more important than spending much needed resources on a piece of railway line.
How many millions were spent on reviving The Midleton Cork railway, only to see trains on a daily basis travelling with 2 and 3 people on board and that includes the driver. Forget the Youghal railway and fix our roads.

If there was an alternative to the roads, lets say a railway line, the roads would not need to be repaired as often.

In an ideal world most of the heavy freight should travel by rail too.

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goldie fish wrote: »

If there was an alternative to the roads, lets say a railway line, the roads would not need to be repaired as often.

In an ideal world most of the heavy freight should travel by rail too.

100% agree with you

mordeith

goldie fish wrote: »

If there was an alternative to the roads, lets say a railway line, the roads would not need to be repaired as often.

Or if they were put down properly in the first place. The standard of the road laying is appalling in lots of case.

rovoagho

Rhys Essien wrote: »

I clicked Yes on the poll but what I would like to see operate would be a summer service between Midleton and Youghal with a Steam train or an old classic diesel train,that could hook up with the regular train in Midleton.They have similar in other countries.

I dont think an all year round service would be profitable.If I remember correctly,the cost of reopening the line from Glounthaune to Midleton was €90 million for a distance of ~7 miles,so for another 15 miles to Youghal would be at least another €190 million.Not a hope of getting funding I would think.

Also,as was said above,the train runs through the IDA estate in Carrigtwohill and still no station there.It sums up this country perfectly.What a joke.

While I'd love to see steam down here, most of the steam trips in Ireland are run by clubs, presumably because they barely pay for themselves.

And if it can't be run profitably all year round, I don't think it will even be considered. A summer service just wouldn't pay for the line rebuild, ever.

mordeith wrote: »

Or if they were put down properly in the first place. The standard of the road laying is appalling in lots of case.

Absolutely true, and this becomes immediately apparent when you cross the bridge into Waterford. Cork County Council were appalling at building roads, and the contractors they use now are just as bad.

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rovoagho wrote: »

While I'd love to see steam down here, most of the steam trips in Ireland are run by clubs, presumably because they barely pay for themselves.

And if it can't be run profitably all year round, I don't think it will even be considered. A summer service just wouldn't pay for the line rebuild, ever.



Absolutely true, and this becomes immediately apparent when you cross the bridge into Waterford. Cork County Council were appalling at building roads, and the contractors they use now are just as bad.

The roads are very bad now even during the boom they werent fantastic but still better than today,the government want us to use public transport which could be part of a plan to force people out out of cars and onto trains/buses,i wonder do youghal people themselves want the line back?i'm guessing a majority would favour it regardless.

Outkast_IRE

Riva10 wrote: »

Not meaning to belabour a point but in all honesty but is spending millions on a railway line and service justified by an early morning rush with empty carriages during the day until students and workers return home in the evening. A more efficient bus service would serve the same purpose and at a much smaller outlay.

As I have mentioned opening a proper station in the IDA park in Carrigtwohill would open this railway line up to thousands more people every day.

Theres a lot of people that commute from the city and midleton to that industrial estate every day.

The midlleton station will be justified if they they are smart with planning their developments around it and hopefully other stations on the route in the future.

And as I said if they could find a taker for that site that was meant to be Amgen you could have another thousand people looking to make use of it.

Generally with such projects you need to plan for the future. If anything that railway line could be busier if Bus eireann and irish rail worked together to use it as a feeder point to and from the city with a reasonable combined ticket price.

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Outkast_IRE wrote: »

As I have mentioned opening a proper station in the IDA park in Carrigtwohill would open this railway line up to thousands more people every day.

Theres a lot of people that commute from the city and midleton to that industrial estate every day.

The midlleton station will be justified if they they are smart with planning their developments around it and hopefully other stations on the route in the future.

And as I said if they could find a taker for that site that was meant to be Amgen you could have another thousand people looking to make use of it.

Generally with such projects you need to plan for the future. If anything that railway line could be busier if Bus eireann and irish rail worked together to use it as a feeder point to and from the city with a reasonable combined ticket price.

In short,amgen pulling out of that site f**ked it all up???

Outkast_IRE

V.W.L 11 wrote: »

In short,amgen pulling out of that site f**ked it all up???

No I didn't say that nor anything like it, but it was part of the plan to have a station there and the site was meant to have about 1100 working there.

The carrigtwohill station was shelved when funds tightened up, and it was a short sighted move. The current station location in carrigtwohill is too far from the IDA park to be of use to workers.

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Outkast_IRE wrote: »

No I didn't say that nor anything like it, but it was part of the plan to have a station there and the site was meant to have about 1100 working there.

The carrigtwohill station was shelved when funds tightened up, and it was a short sighted move. The current station location in carrigtwohill is too far from the IDA park to be of use to workers.

lets hope they do something with that site and incorporate a station and line into it,they don't get paid mega bucks for nothing (we'd hope)

Markcheese

Re another carrigtohil station,The cork Midleton line isn't very long ,unless you live smack in the city-centre or on the west side of Midleton town (near the station) ,you're going to drive to get to the station , and once in the car you might as well keep going the extra 10 mins to carrigtohil, it'd be quicker and cheaper ....
There's no multimodal park and ride at dunkettal ,so that you could get off the fermoy or north cork express coachs and get the train to Midleton carrigtohil, or get an industrial estate shuttle to your job in little island...

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Markcheese wrote: »

Re another carrigtohil station,The cork Midleton line isn't very long ,unless you live smack in the city-centre or on the west side of Midleton town (near the station) ,you're going to drive to get to the station , and once in the car you might as well keep going the extra 10 mins to carrigtohil, it'd be quicker and cheaper ....
There's no multimodal park and ride at dunkettal ,so that you could get off the fermoy or north cork express coachs and get the train to Midleton carrigtohil, or get an industrial estate shuttle to your job in little island...

maybe it'll all happen in celtic tiger 2

Riva10

V.W.L 11 wrote: »

Well the buck stops with the powers that be,fine gael & labour,remind your local cllr's when they come knocking for your vote in may,or run in the election yourself seeing as you feel so strongly about it!!!

I notice that you did not comment on the extra votes to be gained by talking the talk to open the line.
As to running in the elections. I am sure that you will agree that it takes a person with a very special mentality to run for election. I am glad to say that I do not fit the bill.

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Riva10 wrote: »

I notice that you did not comment on the extra votes to be gained by talking the talk to open the line.
As to running in the elections. I am sure that you will agree that it takes a person with a very special mentality to run for election. I am glad to say that I do not fit the bill.

the vast majority of my replies are in short text,i don't like writing essays.and as for running elections it takes a good liar,even pat rabbitte said "isn't that what you do at election time,lie"

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parts of the line are located next to or in the backyard of people's property I discovered today whilst in youghal,would it still be permissible to reopen a line that close to house in this day and age?

whisky_galore

V.W.L 11 wrote: »

parts of the line are located next to or in the backyard of people's property I discovered today whilst in youghal,would it still be permissible to reopen a line that close to house in this day and age?

Someone extended their garden onto the Youghal line just after Cobh Jct, the railway came through, he got some sort of screen to close off the line from his house. As for his garden....tough t*tty....it's still CIE property.:p

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whisky_galore wrote: »

Someone extended their garden onto the Youghal line just after Cobh Jct, the railway came through, he got some sort of screen to close off the line from his house. As for his garden....tough t*tty....it's still CIE property.:p

Well the line is still legally open,so tough sh1t for him/her if/when it reopens :-)

SC Kevin

Ive been living in Youghal the past number of years (originally from Midleton) and i would love for the railway line to be re-opened as would most people who live here!

As others have said, the main time it would be used would most likely be the summer time when a lot of people from the city come down to the beach and stay in the holiday homes, like they did years ago. But it would also be very handy for traveling to work and cheaper!

When i worked in the city, it cost me 100 euro per week in petrol driving up and down everyday! (1.9 mondeo ) which is limiting my job hunting to closer towns like Midleton or Dungarvan.

I dont think it will happen thou, not for a very long time cause, and ive said this to many people down here, Youghal in on the long finger of a lot of politicians who simply dont care, which is a shame cause it would be nice to see the place buzzing during the summer time, employment would go up, which means more people spending money locally!

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SC Kevin wrote: »

Ive been living in Youghal the past number of years (originally from Midleton) and i would love for the railway line to be re-opened as would most people who live here!

As others have said, the main time it would be used would most likely be the summer time when a lot of people from the city come down to the beach and stay in the holiday homes, like they did years ago. But it would also be very handy for traveling to work and cheaper!

When i worked in the city, it cost me 100 euro per week in petrol driving up and down everyday! (1.9 mondeo ) which is limiting my job hunting to closer towns like Midleton or Dungarvan.

I dont think it will happen thou, not for a very long time cause, and ive said this to many people down here, Youghal in on the long finger of a lot of politicians who simply dont care, which is a shame cause it would be nice to see the place buzzing during the summer time, employment would go up, which means more people spending money locally!

I really do hope David Stanton the TD is genuine in his pursuit to get the line reopened and not just a publicity stunt. 1.9 mondeo????thirsty piece of kit,had a mondeo myself so I know how you feel all in all though I reckon it could be a success if reinstated,not just in the summer time.

but I agree the vast majority of business would come from being in the summer months.i pass the line regularly and to say its overgrown is putting it politely :rolleyes: but apart from a 7 mile stretch the track is more or less still intact,have you used the midleton train since it returned???good service but dirty carriages :mad:

Markcheese

I'm pretty sure both cork CoCo and iranrod eireann have pretty much got a formula on population/employment /education statistics from the census that decides how viable major commuter rail projects would be...(was at a meeting years ago about rail-tram-brt link for ballincolig-carrigaline and formula and figure got trotted out) And I doubt Midleton- youghal would cut it ...
Plus there isn't the money there for a
long while ahead..don't hold your breath...
How frequent are cork-youghal expressway coaches ?

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Markcheese wrote: »

I'm pretty sure both cork CoCo and iranrod eireann have pretty much got a formula on population/employment /education statistics from the census that decides how viable major commuter rail projects would be...(was at a meeting years ago about rail-tram-brt link for ballincolig-carrigaline and formula and figure got trotted out) And I doubt Midleton- youghal would cut it ...
Plus there isn't the money there for a
long while ahead..don't hold your breath...
How frequent are cork-youghal expressway coaches ?

The money is there but the fat cat politicians,bankers etc are getting it all,that line is historical,was in mogeely recently and even the station house is still intact there as well as the track,ask David Stanton and Barbara Murray there current opinions???i'd be interested,all joking aside

Markcheese

If you think it's such a good idea to reopen it as a rail line , get a bunch of like minded people together and do it yourself .
It'd probably only cost 3 or 4 hundred million..
A walking track/cycle way would be more likely ,and yes it does look pretty in mogeely...

Lambofdave

There has been land set aside in Mogeely for a new station and carparks as per the county development plan
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mogeely/@51.9305049,-8.0538988,235m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4843653922351585:0xa00c7a9973211d0

It would take years before the railway line would reopen for trains, but it would be great if they opened the 7km to mogeely from midleton as a walking track short term

whisky_galore

What they might be wary of, if it did open as a walking/cycle track, there might be objections if and when a railway is proposed.
You know how vocal some of these local groups can be.

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Markcheese wrote: »

If you think it's such a good idea to reopen it as a rail line , get a bunch of like minded people together and do it yourself .
It'd probably only cost 3 or 4 hundred million..
A walking track/cycle way would be more likely ,and yes it does look pretty in mogeely...

Have no idea what the potential cost would be;but i doubt it would be close to half a billion to renoved it from midleton to youghal,one thing i do know is somewhere on that stretch 7 miles of the track up taken up and sent to sligo,but if the intention of IE isn't there i'd like them to answer why the line is still legally open,granted no train has travelled on it since july 1988 but the intentions to reopen surely remain,sure td's and cllr's want to reopen it and they are the ones in control of the public purse :-)

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Lambofdave wrote: »

There has been land set aside in Mogeely for a new station and carparks as per the county development plan
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mogeely/@51.9305049,-8.0538988,235m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4843653922351585:0xa00c7a9973211d0

It would take years before the railway line would reopen for trains, but it would be great if they opened the 7km to mogeely from midleton as a walking track short term

Have you a link for the county development plan for the line from midleton to youghal???the link you have provided now looks interesting,clearly the intentions are there because thats no small piece of land.any idea what would happen with the killeagh station???it appears to be pricate property now as there's a house built directly adjacent to it???whether the house was there when the station was last in use i do not know but the name of it is railway lodge.

Red Nissan

V.W.L 11 wrote: »

Its covered in vegetation,plus a few miles of it was removed in July 1988,is the line still complete barring that??as in was any of the old line built on???

The track and substrata is now well substandard and cannot be used. The whole thing needs to be pulled up, relayed and new sleepers and track laid on the new substrata.

Youghal is no longer and attraction from say, Cork, the lack of industry was the final nail that killed the line.

Weekend excursions were not profitable year round but added in extra cash in the summer time but it was essentially supported by heavy industry and goods traffic from Youghal to the Port Of Cork for export.

Sadly, Youghal was the weak link. passenger service was the first to fail and then the industry.

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Red Nissan wrote: »

The track and substrata is now well substandard and cannot be used. The whole thing needs to be pulled up, relayed and new sleepers and track laid on the new substrata.

Youghal is no longer and attraction from say, Cork, the lack of industry was the final nail that killed the line.

Weekend excursions were not profitable year round but added in extra cash in the summer time but it was essentially supported by heavy industry and goods traffic from Youghal to the Port Of Cork for export.

Sadly, Youghal was the weak link. passenger service was the first to fail and then the industry.

Just to compare your point on its current condition,was the midleton section of tge line like that???was it pulled up and relayed from scratch?oh i see what you mean that it was the weak link but with private transport costs significantly rising it could make financial sense were it restored,the c.s.o would need to do a survey in east cork of it possibly?

Red Nissan

V.W.L 11 wrote: »

Just to compare your point on its current condition,was the midleton section of tge line like that???was it pulled up and relayed from scratch?

Yes it was. totally dug out and refilled and overlaid ready for track laying.