Irish rail fleet and infrastructure plans

Deedsie

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

€1bn announced between 2020-2024 to "maintain" existing infrastructure. Most will be used on:
* Bridge Renewals.
* Level Crossing Upgrades.
* DART Points Renewals and OHLE.
* Track renewal and ballast (in this order) Cork, Belfast, DART and Galway routes.
* Signalling renewals on Cork, Port-Athlone, Cherryville-Waterford and Malahide-Dundalk.

Limited funds for lightly used lines i.e Limerick branches and Rosslare

https://assets.gov.ie/41983/0dacd748329049bba8ce37b4f97d755a.pdf

Anything for the Nenagh line?

easypazz

Deedsie wrote: »

Anything for the Nenagh line?

double tracking.

MrAbyss

Deedsie wrote: »

Anything for the Nenagh line?

dogs and bicycles

Deedsie

MrAbyss wrote: »

dogs and bicycles

Wish they would get on with it if thats the plan. Waste of space unless its upgraded or turned into a greenway.

Markcheese

Deedsie wrote: »

Wish they would get on with it if thats the plan. Waste of space unless its upgraded or turned into a greenway.

You know you're going to start a riot don't you...

Deedsie

Markcheese wrote: »

You know you're going to start a riot don't you...

Close to rioting myself. Most irritating thing (commuter wise)to have a train line that passes through your town that is absolutely worthless and have people say it should be shut down because the locals wont use it.

People would happily use it if it was in anyway convenient. Runs at awful times, is too slow and too infrequent. I could forgive the last one if they at least got the timings right and increased the speed.

If they cant, close it up. A greenway into Limerick a km from my house would be a lovely alternative to the money being wasted currently.

Just make a decision upgrade or close down. Pointless waste of money otherwise

thewexman93

Just to comment on the earlier discussion about platforms etc

Did Irish Rail make a mistake by filling in all of the bay platforms at Pearse? Could this not have been used as the terminus for the Rosslare trains? With a dart every 10 minutes I'm not sure how necessary it is for Rosslare trains to travel beyond Pearse.

Also a 3rd track is badly needed somewhere between Lansdowne and Dun Laoghaire to allow Intercity trains to overtake Darts. In fact if they aren't going to do this, then they may aswell terminate the Rosslare trains at Bray platform 3, because at the moment journey time bray to Connolly is the same for both dart and Intercity.

In terms of another platform at Connolly, narrowing the North end of platform 4/5, and narrowing and moving the Northern half of platform 6/7 further east, may allow a narrow bay platform 8 for the Maynooth line to be constructed near the old turntable

Decuc500

10 minute DART timetable taking it's toll. I've noticed more 4 carriage darts now in rush hour as it seems the fleet is operating at full capacity and any time a train breaks down (which seems to be all the time now) there aren't any spare carriages to replace it.

I'd say it will only get worse with the whole fleet being constantly used and no sign of any new dart carriages being ordered. Worst rush hour situation I can ever remember and I've been using the dart for a long time.

Markcheese

I assume that closing or mothballing the nenagh line is politically unacceptable,but upgrading it is stupidly expensive so limbo ...

Deedsie

Markcheese wrote: »

I assume that closing or mothballing the nenagh line is politically unacceptable,but upgrading it is stupidly expensive so limbo ...

Exactly. Limbo. Waste of money, waste of a resource. Moronic and infuriating

Colonel Claptrap

Decuc500 wrote: »

10 minute DART timetable taking it's toll. I've noticed more 4 carriage darts now in rush hour as it seems the fleet is operating at full capacity and any time a train breaks down (which seems to be all the time now) there aren't any spare carriages to replace it.

I'd say it will only get worse with the whole fleet being constantly used and no sign of any new dart carriages being ordered. Worst rush hour situation I can ever remember and I've been using the dart for a long time.

They should put 4 carriage DARTs on the Howth line rather than the Malahide line.

There's almost always a crush heading northbound on the Malahide line. In comparison, I regularly see northbound Howth sets with empty seats leaving Pearse during evening rush hour.

ohographite

Markcheese wrote: »

I assume that closing or mothballing the nenagh line is politically unacceptable,but upgrading it is stupidly expensive so limbo ...

I assume upgrading it would be expensive too, but I think upgrading it would be more sensible than closing it or keeping the line as it is.

whisky_galore

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

€1bn announced between 2020-2024 to "maintain" existing infrastructure. Most will be used on:
* Bridge Renewals.
* Level Crossing Upgrades.
* DART Points Renewals and OHLE.
* Track renewal and ballast (in this order) Cork, Belfast, DART and Galway routes.
* Signalling renewals on Cork, Port-Athlone, Cherryville-Waterford and Malahide-Dundalk.

Limited funds for lightly used lines i.e Limerick branches and Rosslare

https://assets.gov.ie/41983/0dacd748329049bba8ce37b4f97d755a.pdf

Widely flagged by media outlets as some sort of great transport investment windfall instead of what it is, just enough to carry on for the time being.

whisky_galore

Deedsie wrote: »

If they cant, close it up. A greenway into Limerick a km from my house would be a lovely alternative to the money being wasted currently.

I wish that conversation about rail isn't always a binary "oh shur nobody uses it, make a Greenway out of it."
God forbid putting pressure on your local politicians or IE to pull the finger out, improve services and actually upgrade it.

end of the road

whisky_galore wrote: »

I wish that conversation about rail isn't always a binary "oh shur nobody uses it, make a Greenway out of it."
God forbid putting pressure on your local politicians or IE to pull the finger out, improve services and actually upgrade it.

absolutely.
however the decline and closure mindset has been engrained within politicians and much of the public. so we do have an uphill battle.

Working class heroes

end of the road wrote: »

absolutely.
however the decline and closure mindset has been engrained within politicians and much of the public. so we do have an uphill battle.

More lines/routes have opened this century than closed. Could be argued that none have closed.

ongarboy

Getting my docklands train home this afternoon, it was a 7 carriage inter city style train. This is the first time I've noticed a train with more than 4 carriages on the M3 parkway route. Has this been a recent expansion or have certain services had these for a while? I took the 15:55 departure which I normally don't use. If the busier later services also have this, this will alleviate overcrowding big time!

L1011

I suspect that 7 car set sat down earlier and got swapped for the 4 car they was to do Docklands. It did the 1725 also. I'll be amazed to see it tomorrow.

goingnowhere

L1011 wrote: »

I suspect that 7 car set sat down earlier and got swapped for the 4 car they was to do Docklands. It did the 1725 also. I'll be amazed to see it tomorrow.

With the closure of Limerick Ennis sie flooding there is a spare set now somewhere

Though this looks like random good fortune

Jamie2k9

Think I spotted 29 on Sligo-Dublin service earlier might explain displacement of sets.

L1011

Back to 4 this evening so the respite was brief.

The further cars were so empty that it showed that even 6 car service would be sufficient here for now - but it might encourage more people to use it and re-fill quickly, which is not a negative of course

Jamie2k9

Galway City Council and Irish Rail are to apply to European Urban Regeneration Fund for a passing loop at Oranmore.

https://galwaybayfm.ie/galway-bay-fm-news-desk/city-council-to-apply-for-eu-funding-for-second-rail-track-from-galway-to-athenry/

end of the road

brilliant news, hopefully they will be successful, all though i can't see why they wouldn't be.

Ireland trains

In relation to a new dart fleet, the May issue of Modern railways has an inverview with Matt Byrne, Bombardier's UK president who mentioned that 'bombardier will be bidding a bi-mode variant of the Aventra which would work on AC overhead and another power source' while in the April issue modern railways mentioned that there has been 'significant interest from manufacturers in Europe and Asia' to the initial tender.
Will also be interesting to see will the current crisis delay the order which was aimed to take place in Q3 of this year.

Jamie2k9

end of the road wrote: »

brilliant news, hopefully they will be successful, all though i can't see why they wouldn't be.

Both were also looking to apply to our own Regional Development fund so I am assuming they didn't in the end.

In relation to a new dart fleet, the May issue of Modern railways has an inverview with Matt Byrne, Bombardier's UK president who mentioned that 'bombardier will be bidding a bi-mode variant of the Aventra which would work on AC overhead and another power source' while in the April issue modern railways mentioned that there has been 'significant interest from manufacturers in Europe and Asia' to the initial tender.
Will also be interesting to see will the current crisis delay the order which was aimed to take place in Q3 of this year.

Heard there is 4-6 operators interested in IE order or its narrowed down to that.

end of the road

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Both were also looking to apply to our own Regional Development fund so I am assuming they didn't in the end.

i would guess even if they did they would probably be unsuccessful sadly?
my honest view is they should go for double tracking altogether but a loop certainly is a major start.

dowlingm

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Galway City Council and Irish Rail are to apply to European Urban Regeneration Fund for a passing loop at Oranmore.

https://galwaybayfm.ie/galway-bay-fm-news-desk/city-council-to-apply-for-eu-funding-for-second-rail-track-from-galway-to-athenry/

should have been part of day 1 build, but better late than never. Maybe Clare Co. Co. could apply for one for Sixmilebridge too?

Pixel Eater

Now that the greenway has been approved across the Broadmeadow Estuary from Malahide; would it make any sense to create an extra track on this section for a passing loop while they're at it? With the DART extention there will be a lot of ectra traffic.

GT89

Pixel Eater wrote: »

Now that the greenway has been approved across the Broadmeadow Estuary from Malahide; would it make any sense to create an extra track on this section for a passing loop while they're at it? With the DART extention there will be a lot of ectra traffic.

That would be a logical idea meaning it won't be done

loyatemu

Pixel Eater wrote: »

Now that the greenway has been approved across the Broadmeadow Estuary from Malahide; would it make any sense to create an extra track on this section for a passing loop while they're at it? With the DART extention there will be a lot of ectra traffic.

the engineering required for an extra track on the causeway is probably significantly heavier and more complex than for the greenway. There's probably somewhere cheaper they could build a loop.