[PR] €16.8 million redevelopment of Limerick’s Colbert Station announced

Mrs OBumble

Ref: http://www.transportforireland.ie/e16-8-million-redevelopment-limericks-colbert-station-announced/

Plans will modernise both Colbert Station and Limerick’s City centre with €3.75million pedestrian plaza

Public Transport Minister, Alan Kelly, has today announced a major €16.8 million euro redevelopment of Colbert bus and train station in Limerick. The plans, prepared by Iarnrod Éireann in collaboration with Bus Éireann, Limerick City & County Council and the National Transport Authority, will see a major programme of works carried out on the site in the coming years. There will be construction of a new pedestrian plaza and public drop-off point that will serve as a civic area for the city replacing the current car-park and disused fuel station on site. The train station’s existing toilet block will be demolished to make way for a new bus station, with the current bus station being converted into the access area for a new 235-space car park.

Announcing the news, Minister Kelly said:

“This will give both the station and the City of Limerick a huge boost. The station is in need of investment and the creation of a pedestrian plaza at the front of the station facing the city-centre will provide a new civic space for the people of Limerick while dramatically improving the aesthetics of the area. I can see it becoming a real focal point of the city in time. The plaza is the centrepiece of the works and will open up the station to the entire city,

The plans will greatly improve the public transport experience for the thousands of people who use the station on a daily basis. The station will now be modernised with a seamless interchange between bus and rail services with shared ticketing office, waiting areas and retail spaces. The capacity of the station for both bus and rail will be increased and this will become the key public transport hub serving all Limerick city.”

Colbert station sees approximately 2,500 rail passengers a day serving four rail routes while the Bus Eireann services approximately 1million passengers a year with 125 busses departing each day. The proposals, which will be submitted for planning in the coming months, is consistent with the Limerick 2030 – Economic and Spatial Plan. Subject to planning approval, the project will be completed on a phased basis with funding allocated over a number of years. The plaza, which will form phase one of the development will be completed within two to three years from receipt of planning. The project will also see a significant refurbishment of the interior of the station with new finishes throughout and provision of a new ticketing office and retail units. It is intended that the project will be funded through the Regional Cities programme of the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport.

For more information see the 2014 Colbert Station Redevelopment – Proposed Design report.

- See more at: http://www.transportforireland.ie/e16-8-million-redevelopment-limericks-colbert-station-announced/#sthash.5xgD9NRm.dpuf

So the government is prepared for railway closures, and ...

corktina

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ref: http://www.transportforireland.ie/e16-8-million-redevelopment-limericks-colbert-station-announced/



So the government is prepared for railway closures, and ...

..and IE are converting part of Colbert into a Bus Park and another bit into a car park.

LXFlyer

Well to be fair it is a bus station too.

The facilities there badly need an overhaul.

munchkin_utd

no mention of whether this is also a facility to be used by private bus companies.
With 21 bus bays it's not lacking in capacity anyhow.

dowlingm

Some trackage being lost by the bus bays in the development. The direct curve to Patrickswell definitely not coming back now given the south side work

MGWR

Colbert station sees approximately 2,500 rail passengers a day serving four rail routes while the Bus Eireann services approximately 1 million passengers a year with 125 busses departing each day

Love the un-parallel language used. 2500 passengers daily = 912,500 per year. 1 million per year = 2,740 per day on average. Conflict of interest blatantly on display, with state running both buses and trains; well overdue to divest rail to the private sector at least, and work out sharing rights between bus and rail facilities if the state wants to keep at running the buses.

I wonder how those rail passenger numbers would shape up if there were still rail service to Tralee. Never mind a viable rail service into Shannon Airport. (What's the economic value of the bikeway/walkway again?)

corktina

MGWR wrote: »

Love the un-parallel language used. 2500 passengers daily = 912,500 per year. 1 million per year = 2,740 per day on average. Conflict of interest blatantly on display, with state running both buses and trains; well overdue to divest rail to the private sector at least, and work out sharing rights between bus and rail facilities if the state wants to keep at running the buses.

I wonder how those rail passenger numbers would shape up if there were still rail service to Tralee. Never mind a viable rail service into Shannon Airport. (What's the economic value of the bikeway/walkway again?)

that's easy to work out. How many passengers currently travel from Tralee to Limerick by bus? If the answer is thousands, fair enough , the rail line existing would make a difference...if the answer (as I suspect) is a couple of dozen, then you have your answer.
As for Shannon, to have an airport rail link you need a frequent fast service to meet every arrival and to decant passengers an hour or so before every departure, plus you'd need early and late trains to cater for the workforce and you'd need to duplicate this from both the north and the south in Shannon's case. How many trains an hour does that work out at and how many passengers would each need to break even?

munchkin_utd

corktina wrote: »

<snip>
As for Shannon, to have an airport rail link you need a frequent fast service to meet every arrival and to decant passengers an hour or so before every departure, plus you'd need early and late trains to cater for the workforce and you'd need to duplicate this from both the north and the south in Shannon's case. How many trains an hour does that work out at and how many passengers would each need to break even?

Shannon airport is almost laugably quiet which is its main problem in justifiying a rail service.
Seriously, theres only 21 flights a day.
Dublin airport reaches that number of departures by 6.30 in the morning in the first hour and a quarter of services!

shannon airport doesnt need a train. It actually needs more planes.

Conway635

Am I the only one who finds it strange that our national transport authority does not know the correct spelling of the word BUSES ?

That's Buses NOT busses.

C635

munchkin_utd

Conway635 wrote: »

Am I the only one who finds it strange that our national transport authority does not know the correct spelling of the word BUSES ?

That's Buses NOT busses.

C635

according to the oxford dictionary its right, in the USA

NOUN (plural buses; US also busses)

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bus?q=bus

Judgement Day

Would it not be better to bite the bullet now and go for full conversion of the railway station into a bus terminal, and close the remaining rail links to this branchline backwater.

highlydebased

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Shannon airport is almost laugably quiet which is its main problem in justifiying a rail service.
Seriously, theres only 21 flights a day.
Dublin airport reaches that number of departures by 6.30 in the morning in the first hour and a quarter of services!

shannon airport doesnt need a train. It actually needs more planes.

What it needs is a decent bus service- I don't think it's even possible to get from Limerick to Shannon in time for a 6am flight by bus.

LXFlyer

Well I'm not sure there are any 06:00 flights, but the first bus leaves Limerick at 05:00, and arrives at Shannon at 05:45, which would miss the Ryanair flights to Liverpool and Stansted, but would be ok for flights from 06:45 onwards.

corktina

munchkin_utd wrote: »

according to the oxford dictionary its right, in the USA

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bus?q=bus

well we all know the Yanks can't spel.

corktina

lxflyer wrote: »

Well I'm not sure there are any 06:00 flights, but the first bus leaves Limerick at 05:00, and arrives at Shannon at 05:45, which would miss the Ryanair flights to Liverpool and Stansted, but would be ok for flights from 06:45 onwards.

ah but what about southbound?

The problem as I see it is Shannon serves a largely rural hinterland and would be difficult to provide properly for as regards public transport. Certainly a rail link is a non-starter.

LXFlyer

corktina wrote: »

ah but what about southbound?

The problem as I see it is Shannon serves a largely rural hinterland and would be difficult to provide properly for as regards public transport. Certainly a rail link is a non-starter.

Agreed - that's more of an issue, as the first service from Ennis arrives at 07:55 and from Galway at 08:50.

highlydebased

lxflyer wrote: »

Agreed - that's more of an issue, as the first service from Ennis arrives at 07:55 and from Galway at 08:50.

Also problematic is buses to meet the last flights in at night- last service to Galway is at 2050 I think, no options for someone who arrives on a flight landing at 2230!

dowlingm

That the railway/bus station is somewhat at a remove from the commercial centre where many of the commuter services drop off is not great. A friend of mine currently is a Limerick councillor (and hopefully after the election too) mused that it might be a good place to land the UL City Campus, but that only works if people actually commute there rather than jamming the station car park with commuter cars, and if developers deep in hock further into town weren't already counting on easy money from leasing to a public entity. I observed that were some student accommodation and general commercial floorspace integrated into the development it would bring some evening/weekend footfall.

Problem is the Irish fear of heights such that the development might have to go 10 floors of basement to generate enough floor space that people didn't freak out at "the massive height of dat ting".

Certainly I would hope that plenty of platform track would be left in situ so you didn't end up with a situation like Galway where I'd argue they need 1-2 more platforms to accommodate future needs and special trains.

LXFlyer

dowlingm wrote: »

That the railway/bus station is somewhat at a remove from the commercial centre where many of the commuter services drop off is not great. A friend of mine currently is a Limerick councillor (and hopefully after the election too) mused that it might be a good place to land the UL City Campus, but that only works if people actually commute there rather than jamming the station car park with commuter cars, and if developers deep in hock further into town weren't already counting on easy money from leasing to a public entity. I observed that were some student accommodation and general commercial floorspace integrated into the development it would bring some evening/weekend footfall.

Problem is the Irish fear of heights such that the development might have to go 10 floors of basement to generate enough floor space that people didn't freak out at "the massive height of dat ting".

Certainly I would hope that plenty of platform track would be left in situ so you didn't end up with a situation like Galway where I'd argue they need 1-2 more platforms to accommodate future needs and special trains.

Looking at the plans there are no changes to the platforms in the station.


The track that will be affected by the new bus station is part of the old goods yard.

Poxyshamrock

If UL/MIC/LIT is to go anywhere in the city centre it'll no doubt be at the opera centre site.

Pete_Cavan

Resurrecting an old thread here but it seems better than starting a new thread on the same subject without the background, Mods can move this if necessary...

A PPQ was issued on etenders two weeks ago for Colbert Station Redevelopment;

https://irl.eu-supply.com/ctm/Supplier/PublicPurchase/187337/1/0

Detailed description:
-Improvement works to extend the main entrance, concourse and public facilities
-New accessible ticket offices, retail units and toilets
-Increase in bus bays from 12 to 21 with new extended canopy
-Increased capacity in the carpark - 328 total passenger car spaces

Type of contract:
Works

Response deadline (Irish time):
21/05/2021 12:00:00

Estimated value excluding VAT: €15m

Surprisingly, the documents are available to download without registering. The drawings are what I would consider engineering in nature, rather than architectural and so not the easiest to read. Overall the project looks good and will see a huge improvement in the quality of facilities at Colbert.

Of the bus bays, only two show a 3x3m wheelchair zone. That seems a bit shortsighted as surely all buses will be expected to be able to take wheelchair users in future? Also, the roof of the existing concourse seems to be staying as is which would be a disappointment as whats there at present is a bit agricultural.

Cookiemunster

Are they going with the original plan of swapping the bus station and the car park around or are the just upgrading what's currently there?

Pete_Cavan

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Are they going with the original plan of swapping the bus station and the car park around or are the just upgrading what's currently there?

Yes it is essentially what is shown on page 7 of this document;

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/2014_Colbert_Station_Redevelopment_-_Proposed_Design1.pdf

As I said, the drawings can be downloaded from the etenders notice without registering if you want to have a look.

andrewfaulk

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Yes it is essentially what is shown on page 7 of this document;

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/2014_Colbert_Station_Redevelopment_-_Proposed_Design1.pdf

As I said, the drawings can be downloaded from the etenders notice without registering if you want to have a look.

Wonder will this mean the end of the gantry crane

Cookiemunster

andrewfaulk wrote: »

Wonder will this mean the end of the gantry crane

AFAIK it hasn't been used in years, so I'd assume so.

con1982

The gantry crane is staying for now. It's up to the Land Development Agency to decide on its future.

The bus station is scheduled to start Q1 2022 with a construction period of 18 months.