Irish rail fleet and infrastructure plans

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123771963#Comment_123771963

Or Dublin Metro (1975)

spacetweek

It’s also worth asking why Oranmore train station, only opened in 2011, was built single track and single platform in the first place. All new or replacement train stations should be double track as standard.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782283#Comment_123782283

Cost and the availability of funds at the time.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782412#Comment_123782412

OK, fair enough.

Yet in 2025, with plenty of money available, the proposed Moyross railway station has one track and one platform!!

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782482#Comment_123782482

The loops are planned for other locations along the line - you don’t need one that close to Limerick.

BestWestern

From a map on a different thread. Do any of these stations merit reopening, even as a P&R

Killonan isn't far from the M7 at Ballysimon and not everyone wants to have to travel into town to take a train

road_high

probably room for 1 commuter type station somewhere along the halfway point in one of the villages

dowlingm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782675#Comment_123782675

there is a station planned for Ballysimon under LSMATS and that should be absolutely it. Limerick Council haven’t created any sort of infrastructure or other basis for having public transport oriented development in that corridor, so whatever thimbleful caught a train from the standard Irish housing estate plague dropped on the station village, you’re still looking at more private car movements on the N24.

Closing crossings, lifting line speed above 70 and expanding double track should be the goal here for expediting trains to Dublin/Cork/Thurles. I’d also like some easing for the winding nature of the existing line but I suppose I should quit while I’m ahead.

Poxyshamrock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782520#Comment_123782520

Yeah but at the same time, would it not make more sense to do as much together, ie, new station, passing loop, two platforms. A loop here would still improve capacity on the line if departures at Ennis and Limerick were timed to meet at Moyross. I understand loops are to be installed at other points along the line but is there a plan to do this in the short term? Land will need to be acquired at sixmilebridge to add an additional platform and that will take more time.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123789781#Comment_123789781

It would be in the wrong location from a scheduling perspective, and thereby somewhat pointless. The loops need to be further along the line towards Ennis.

The planning application for Moyross has been lodged now so I think it’s somewhat moot.

The loop at Sixmilebridge doesn’t necessarily need to be at the station - it could be outside it and thereby within the existing permanent way. That avoids the cost of building a footbridge etc.

It will all depend on funding from the DoT and which pot it’s coming from.

OisinCooke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123790246#Comment_123790246

A good point to be fair and would save cost, but I think the loop should aim to be at Sixmilebridge.

That being said, the line runs in a perfectly straight line here for about 5km starting before Sixmilebridge and ending beyond it, near Newmarket on Fergus. A dynamic passing loop here would be a solution to having a loop not in the station, and would mean trains could likely just keep running through the loop when passing one another and avoid having to stop and lose time.

Of course a dynamic loop combined with a second platform at the station would be the ideal solution here and would mean a lot more operational flexibility.

There is also the question of potential services to Shannon town and maybe airport. A spur would likely peel off at Cratloe, and there has been talk of bringing back a station at Cratloe on the LSMATS plans. Trains here would not be able to avail of the loop at Sixmilebridge so another loop would be needed somewhere between Cratloe and Limerick.

Moyross as it happens would be more or less the halfway point for a loop but as things stand, a second track and platform would involve the CPO of numerous houses that back onto the line making it a very costly venture. Could a loop at Cratloe itself work timings wise for this? All very pie in the sky of course but just wondering.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123790726#Comment_123790726

The loop needs to be at Sixmilebridge, but saving on cost, could be like those at Wexford and Carrick-on-Shannon, which are just outside the station.

OisinCooke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123791109#Comment_123791109

Wholeheartedly agree, my suggestion for a loop at Cratloe was in addition to Sixmilebridge, hence why I was wondering was it overkill, if even necessary at all, but with Ennis, Galway and Shannon services using that section of track, I’d think some other loop will be needed if a Shannon branch is ever built…

A Wexford or Carrick style loop is definitely better than nothing but is in my opinion a bit of a cop out, it adds a couple of minutes to the journey at best, which is if everything works out perfectly (which we know it so often doesn’t…).

Definitely better than nothing at all and also way less expensive which is a huge plus, but I’d like if they went the extra mile and added the second platform, with a large long dynamic passing loop. We’ll see though…

dowlingm

Hard to see more than one loop funded on a 24 mile stretch of track, at least while no Shannon link is in play

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123792466#Comment_123792466

There are likely to be two loops breaking the current section into three.