Phoenix Park tunnel: 4 trains per hour from 2016

Deleted User wrote: »

But there could be a dedicated express Athlone Mullingar Dublin service if the line was open.

Presumably you have pathed that and figured out how long it would take, given current timetable constraints?

If you had (I'm suspecting you haven't) you'd realise why trains take the route via Portarlington.

Deleted User wrote: »

No as you have correctly assumed, I haven't pathed the route. But with a decent amount of investment in improving the capacity of the line near Dublin, it would be a realistic proposition.
Just look at the improvements on the Kildare line when it was upgraded to 4 tracks.

It's all hypothetical anyway, no government in the near future is going to seriously infest in a 21st century rail network.

The chances of the Mullingar line seeing high speed rail are very limited due to:

- The space constraints (little or no possibility of four tracking between Connolly and Maynooth);

- The curvature of the line alongside the canal which restricts speed, single track between Maynooth and Mullingar (which wouldn't be the biggest constraint - and could be redoubled);

- The reality of having to share the line between Maynooth and Connolly with commuter trains. This limits scope for express trains assuming commuter traffic is only going to increase

Either way you're probably looking at a minimum journey time of 1 hour 45 minutes (allowing for a reversal at Athlone to get to/from the station).

That compares with 1 hour 15-20 minutes from Heuston to Athlone (depending upon station stops).

That's a difference of up to 30 minutes, which is pretty significant even allowing for getting from Heuston to the city centre.

Hence why they operate via Portarlington.

Del.Monte wrote: »

No reversal would be needed at Athlone as the Midland Station could be reopened. Rail services from the West were diverted via Portarlington because CIE are obsessed with reducing mileage. The company has always viewed the rail network, the fleet and the staff as liabilities rather than assets.

and it gave them an excuse to move the services they slightly like to their favourite terminus.

Carawaystick wrote: »

How many people would use the service?

do a proper independant feasibility studdy with no pre-determined outcome and let's find out.

Carawaystick wrote: »

Where would you cut funding in the rail network to fund these extra services, stations and new track?

and it's that mindset that will insure the network goes nowhere. in a normal country, a reopening if it was to happen would be seen as an adding to the network rather then an excuse to steal a line and service from an area because it's the wrong area

Carawaystick wrote: »

There's loads of places nearer Dublin with no rail service and no govt in the near future will invest in a network for those. So I doubt there'll be a govt who will build a new train line to parallel existing services

what existing services would be paralleled by reopening athlone mullingar, which is not a new train line.

Mearings wrote: »

Surly the fact that a cycle track has been created indicates that CIE or the government have no intention of reopening the line or the stations (including Athlone Midland).

Yes and no.

Greenways are a double-edged sword for railways.

On one hand it helps by keeping open the right-of-way and preventing stuff being built on the lines - there's loads of places where roads, pipes, gardens and even houses are built on old railways lines because there was nobody to stop them.

but if you ever go to reopen the line you lose all the good you get from having the greenway - and it would be a real smack in the face to the people who work so hard to get the greenways open.

In balance they're probably a good thing for railways - it'll be easier to slightly move some tarmac than demolish someone's house and fight squatters rights and rights-of-way that have developed over time.

Carawaystick wrote: »

Athlone to Dublin.

Athlone to Dublin Heuston.

Reopening Athlone-Mullingar would bring Athlone/Mayo/Galway to Dublin City Centre as opposed to Heuston. That would be new. Mainline service with a stop in Moate would be new, as would the options for regional travel between Athlone, Moate and Mullingar as an added bonus.

lxflyer wrote: »

The revised track layout is now in place at Grand Canal Dock and operational as of this morning.

As I was sitting on a Dart in GCD this morning that was delayed by 30 minutes while we waited for medical assistance for a passenger, I was thinking if they'd kept platform 2 as a through line they could have allowed some of the trains stuck behind us to overtake.

Operational flexibility - there are very few places where one Dart can pass another, why deliberately design the station is such a way as to preclude this flexibility?

loyatemu wrote: »

As I was sitting on a Dart in GCD this morning that was delayed by 30 minutes while we waited for medical assistance for a passenger,.

This is becoming more and more common in my experience of using the DART over the past few months to the extent now where I have stopped using the DART for the commute. It's at the stage where you need a first responder on each DART now.

It's either the train I'm on or the one infront and the whole system backs up cause of it. That and the bus strike along with the huge increase in anti social activity on the Luas during peak times is why I've now gone to car and am never going back to public transport again.

Carawaystick wrote: »

But those services could already go to the city centre once the ppt is open later this year, as per the title of the thread...

reopening the athlone mullingar line could allow that and more. i know it isn't going to happen but it should and it's worth discussing. no reason not to do it but the will isn't there.

In balance they're probably a good thing for railways - it'll be easier to slightly move some tarmac than demolish someone's house and fight squatters rights and rights-of-way that have developed over time.

dont agree, there is pressure on lines like waterford rossalare only recently closed and still serviceable to be converted to a greenway. Greenways mean an end to rail operation permanently, the experience in the UK is that converting back is nigh on impossible politically