Irish Railways -- would they do better if privatised?

n97 mini

Edit: title should be: Irish railways -- would we do better if they were privatised?

Having recently travelled extensively by rail in this country, most recently the Waterford - Limerick Junction line, I can't help but conclude Irish Rail not only have no interest in running our railways in the long term, but are only interested in improving the bottom line. In my mind we would be immensely better off if the permanent way was state owned but maintained under contract, with separate companies/company running the rail service.

Waterford station itself is a sad shadow of its former self. When I started using it in my youth (25 years ago), several platforms were in use which reflected the options open to travellers. Now it's one platform (5) with the rest of the station fenced off (there were 8 platforms at one point), with frequent enough service to Dublin, but the Rosslare route is gone (in my mind timetabled to death) and it's very obvious to me the Limerick Junction service will not be around for much longer. The track layout at Limerick Junction is rubbish but instead of improving it, Irish Rail have lifted most of it in recent years.

The stations en route were once fabulous but they're now boarded up and fenced off. In fact I was gobsmacked at how shít they look. But it's not just that line. Take a more frequently used route like Dublin Cork. Many transfer stations like Portarlington also look shít: fenced off stations with eye sore ramps for crossing from one platform to the other. I'm very surprised that some a lot of these structures aren't protected and that IE is able to get away with what I can only call the vandalism of historic stations.

Coming closer to Dublin I only recently found out that they've been dismantling what's left of the network here too
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=99802401&postcount=34

I really think it's time as citizens of this country that we cry "stop!" and put an end to this state-sponsored vandalism of our railway network. I think prying it out of the hands of IE is the only way to stop further destruction. Let the state own it, but put the maintenance and running out to tender.

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

They already have been out for privatization. Nobody bidded for it. Irish rail keep it by default.

Jamie2k9

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

They already have been out for privatization. Nobody bidded for it. Irish rail keep it by default.

They haven't, network is open to new operators but no current routes have been tendered.

In general I see both positives and negatives from such a move.

Dismantling CIE should be a priority.

Limerick J is not that bad, it's going to get a second platform, not really sure what other problems there is. Yes they could create a curve from Waterford but that's it.

They have no money for Waterford and they plan to move the station however that is going to be a very complicated process and take many years.

Not sure what ramps you refer to at Portarlington, yes the ones at Kildare and Nass are not ideal but will do for now. Portarlington needs to be changed to try if possible to remove the bend.

MGWR

It's not just privatising the operation; deregulating to a significant degree has to occur, and there has to be divestment of state ownership of the alignment. (The EU loves to regulate, though.)

daveharnett

n97 mini wrote: »

Irish Rail ... are only interested in improving the bottom line.

Your solution to this is privatization?

Railways' scope and usage has been in inevitable decline for a century. The villains in this story are the car, the motorway, and the Irish people's love of country living. No amount of fiddling with who-owns-what is going to give us the population density needed to sustain a great rail system.

L1011

Rail use in countries that give a toss is growing highly.

n97 mini

daveharnett wrote: »

Your solution to this is privatization?

No, my solution is confiscate the network and put it fully in state ownership to prevent further dismantling. Put operation and maintenance out to tender. Ala Luas.

Markcheese

"IR are only interested in the bottom line" , so you think it'd be a good idea to privatise the service.... ?
what do you think a private company would be intersested in...
Would the stations be still state owned and run ? Or just state owned..?

n97 mini

Markcheese wrote: »

"IR are only interested in the bottom line" , so you think it'd be a good idea to privatise the service.... ?
what do you think a private company would be intersested in...
Would the stations be still state owned and run ? Or just state owned..?

I think it'd be a good idea to take it back from IE... !

LXFlyer

People need to bear in mind that IE are no longer responsible for dictating the service levels - the NTA call the shots on that now.

IE will do the scheduling but the basic service levels are dictated by the NTA and the funding that they provide.

n97 mini

Does the NTA dictate which stations to board up, tracks to lift and platforms to be fenced off?

LXFlyer

n97 mini wrote: »

Does the NTA dictate which stations to board up, tracks to lift and platforms to be fenced off?

Well they provide the money for care and maintenance so yes they have an overall say on how it gets spent.

Itssoeasy

lxflyer wrote: »

Well they provide the money for care and maintenance so yes they have an overall say on how it gets spent.

What care and maintenance ?

LXFlyer

Itssoeasy wrote: »

What care and maintenance ?

The NTA control how all of the PSO funding is spent - that's the bottom line now.

n97 mini

lxflyer wrote: »

Well they provide the money for care and maintenance so yes they have an overall say on how it gets spent.

But who decides to board up a station, the NTA or IE?

BonkeyDonker

n97 mini wrote: »

But who decides to board up a station, the NTA or IE?

The local people who prefer to drive I would suggest.

Del.Monte

BonkeyDonker wrote: »

The local people who prefer to drive I would suggest.

Chicken and egg. If the service is deliberately timed to be useless what do you expect people to do? Not everyone drives, not everyone wants to drive all the time (if there's a useful alternative), not everyone should drive - Mr.Magoo/George Hook being a good example, and anyway the inexorable growth of private motoring is utterly unsustainable on so many fronts that it would need a whole forum dedicated to the discussion.