Double track Galway to Athenry?

cooperguy

Does anybody know what the latest is on adding the second rail line from Eyre Square to Athenry. I had thought planning was fairly well progressed but when I googled it I can't see any recent articles on it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058295526/double-track-galway-to-athenry

The passing loop in Oranmore is funded, approved and should be starting construction soon if it hasn't already, due for opening 2025/2026.

The double track on the remaining sections to Athenry will be done after that and might be funded and approved by 2030 to open 2034.

Might be a bit quicker than that but not by a whole lot...... unless there's a colossal amount of additional investment ploughed into rail (long overdue imho)

Geuze

Prep works for the 1km passing loop has started.

Somebody said to me the passing loop will allow / will mean 4 trains per hour from the city to Athenry.

Could that be true?

Geuze

I read in the GA that H. Naughton TD states that planning permission will be applied for in the autumn of 2023.

spacetweek

So has planning permission been applied for by now?

GerardKeating

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121445941#Comment_121445941

No, just for the new platform at Oranmore.

Geuze

Why planning permission is even required to add another platform to an existing station is beyond me.

sgthighway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121464331#Comment_121464331

The platform is for the opposite side. They will also have to build a tunnel or bridge for people to cross so its big.

What’s the long term plan here regarding service? These types of big engineering projects don’t come along frequently outside Dublin so it shouldn’t be wasted, if we build the rail line infrastructure the service format should be reviewed. We can all dream of the gluas but this opportunity shouldn’t be overlooked.

Feels like there is a real opportunity to do something such as add a station to renmore, roscam or a proper park and ride between athenry and oranmore off the motorway.

For the purpose of short distance high frequency travel it feels that Iarnrod Eireann trains are over engineered and therefore too costly to buy and run, we need carriages like the dart as in more seats(which aren’t designed for long journeys because they are not needed) less tables, lighter and more efficient. Quicker boarding as less faffing around.

Laviski

i believe the plan is to double track all the way out to athenry and open to correction but think there was a conversation to have a stop in Murrough (behind galway crystal, GMIT/ATU own some land there). As to when that happens who knows..... probably a safe bet would be 2050.

orangerhyme

Galway's population should expand along that corridor.

Have a few stations between Ceannt and Oranmore, then loads of 6 to 8 storey apartment blocks.

Geuze

Here is my initial proposal, more to follow:

• double track to Athenry
• remove all LC, I think there are 6, that number excl Church street, Athenry
• leave provision for electrification
• new stations at Renmore (Ballyloughane road?), Roscam (at the existing LC?)
• mix of IC and regional services
• IC train to Dublin stops only at Athenry

Longer-term proposals = tram-train

The idea here is to sweat the existing assets

run a mix of fast trams + regional trains + IC trains

new tram line to branch off mainline at Murrough through Merlin Park campus, to Parkmore

There seem to be loads of space in Merlin Park campus for hundreds of apts

new tram line to branch off mainline into Oranmore village

zell12

Trains are so packed - people are siting on the floors, according to our local TD in Dáil

There are 17 trains from Athenry to Galway. Some of those originate in Limerick and some originate from the Dublin direction. That is, on the face of it, quite a success because it is not so many years ago that people were saying it had been foolish to open the Limerick to Galway line. It has also been verified to me that the trains from Limerick are full when they get to Athenry and that the section of the line that was meant to carry no passengers was, according to Iarnród Éireann, the most rapidly growing line in terms of patronage in 2022

What will be done to make sure that extra carriages can be deployed on the Limerick to Galway line? On that line people are literally sitting on the floor in the train. This is the line that was not going to carry any passengers. The thing we need is longer platforms, a simple ask. I need to know how many of these extra carriages we will get, when we will get an increase on the services outlined here and what will be done to increase the ability of the Galway to Limerick line to have more capacity to measure up against existing demand, not to mind future demand.

Then tells us the solution

longer trains where there is the capacity, lengthening the platforms to take longer trains, which is a relatively simply job, and then putting in the passing loops we need so that we can get a much greater frequency on these single-line tracks. What we need is a train not every 40 minutes but down to every quarter of an hour in each direction in the long term

seekers

https://connachttribune.ie/packed-trains-leave-many-passengers-sitting-on-floor/

Geuze

41 extra ICR coaches (not 41 trains) have been ordered and delivered.

"This represents an investment of €150 million, and the delivery of the carriages began in September 2022. These new railcars will begin entering service on the Commuter and Intercity network from December 2023, and continuing into early 2024."

After those 41 coaches, I can't see any extra stock for years.

Maybe more services can be provided from existing stock?

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120565648#Comment_120565648

A year after this post, and a planning application still hasn't been submitted.

spacetweek

But did the passing loop at Oranmore ever start construction?

GerardKeating

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122427214#Comment_122427214

AS of April 2024, they are "about to lodge the planning application" but nothing shows on the Galway County planning site yet.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122427214#Comment_122427214

No.

The planning application hasn't even been submitted yet.

Geuze

I now read that a reason for the delay in making the planning application is land acquisition.

Hildegarde Naughton metions Sep 2024 for the submission of the planning application.