Zebra3 wrote: » http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-rail-earmarks-four-routes-for-axe-as-it-warns-pay-rise-will-push-it-towards-insolvency-36079194.html Staggering the subvention figure for Limerick to Ballybrophy.
€761.60 on the Limerick to Ballybrophy line
Estimated Fare : €118.40 to €142.40
Deedsie wrote: » The Nenagh line will close and that is what Irish rail have wanted for a long time. The train is almost unusable for people, times are terrible, train is stupidly slow. Dont blame the public for not using it, blame Irish rail.
bk wrote: » In fairness it isn't really Irish Rails fault either. Rail is expensive to build, maintain and run. It is fantastic where you have high population densities near the stations and high congestion in a city center (DART, Luas, Metro, etc.) to justify the high cost. But it just can't compete in largely rural areas with very low, spread out, population densities, competing against much fast cars and coaches on roads and in particular motorways. Much of our non commuter rail network is a vestige of the 1800's when it was by far the fastest way to travel, as travelling by road could take days. Today the world is very different and it just can't compete with most people having cars and motorways.
bk wrote: Rail is expensive to build, maintain and run. It is fantastic where you have high population densities near the stations and high congestion in a city center (DART, Luas, Metro, etc.) to justify the high cost But it just can't compete in largely rural areas with very low, spread out, population densities, competing against much fast cars and coaches on roads and in particular motorways.
techdiver wrote: » Whilst I agree with the sentiment, we are also in a massive push to get people out of their cars especially in Dublin. I use the Mullingar to Connolly service every morning instead of driving. Their is no other viable alternative that will comes close in door to door journey times. Bus Eireann has no decent non stop service and takes the guts of 2 hours, yes 2 hours to travel 50 miles from Mullingar to Dublin.
techdiver wrote: » Now the Sligo line isn't mentioned in the article, but I would like to see the figures for subvention on that line. It seems the train only really picks up significant passenger numbers from Mullingar onwards.
hytrogen wrote: » As regards the Rosslare Europort line someone is definitely fiddling the books on that, considering that they've see an increase in export traffic across the Celtic sea..
bk wrote: » I was speaking of the regional networks. The Dublin commuter network makes sense of course. A net loss of €18 per passenger journey. Not the best, but not the worst either.
techdiver wrote: » Cheers for that. I would assume the majority of the line loss would be West of Mullingar/Longford. Do they brake down the revenue for the dedicated Longford - Connolly/Pearse service separate from the Sligo intercity service or is it bundled as a single line metric?
bk wrote: Not really, everyone just trucks their freight. Far faster and cheaper. Rail freight represents just 1% of all freight in Ireland.
bk wrote: BTW Nenagh has a population of less then 8,000, that is hardly staggering. You'd barely fill a few buses with that.
D.L.R. wrote: » Utter dysfunction. Hard to know whether its down to IR or the state. Both seem completely inept when it comes to running a railway system. Just bring in the bloody Germans to run it for us. We can't do it.
bk wrote: » I'd suspect the Germans would close down half the network! It really is just a case of economic, geography and demographics.
PropJoe10 wrote: » Closing the rail link to Wexford/Rosslare would be an absolute disgrace. This is meant to be a developed country. Time for the government to overhaul Irish Rail completely, bring down fares and actually motivate people to take the train.
bk wrote: » Middle Man, this is simply demographics. We all decided that we wanted to live in a 3/4 bedroom detached house with a garden out front and as a result spread all across the countryside in very low density. Such living patterns are completely unsustainable for rail, hell even bus services struggle to service it all. In Germany they have very strict planning permission. In rural areas you can only build within 1 km of a town or village, basically walking easy distance. As a result they have much higher density of people living near stations making it more suited to rail. If the Germans were too come here, they would laugh at us, shut down half the rail network and level half of the rural homes and build nice apartment blocks within walking distance of the stations in towns. The WRC is just another example of this insanity. It cost 100 million to reopen and it only carries enough people a day to fill two double decker buses, laughable!
roadmaster wrote: » Do we want to have IR publicly funded that delivers a public service at a reasonable cost and keeps lines open that would not stay open if private.
Middle Man wrote: » If you were to level all the dispersed houses (which might be an idea), surely the under-utilised railways could be made use of - railways through Wexford, Nenagh, Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir for example. Can't you imagine how big all those towns would be in terms of population! In fact, add Tuam to that list and the railway thereto could be justifiably reopened!
LeinsterDub wrote: » ÍE has always been publicly funded it's never been intended to make a profit. What it was not intended to do was not leak cash like a sieve it must deliver value for money. When you get to the stage where hiring taxies would be significantly cheaper you know something has seriously gone wrong.
bk wrote: » And now you know why rail in rural areas is doomed. So many of us live from our towns and villages that you need a car anyway to even get a bottle of milk. Sure if you have a car already, why would you bother to drive it to a train station and take the train when you can drive door to door to your destination anyway much quicker. Rural rail stands no chance against the car giving our living patterns. Note I'm saying the rural rail network, obviously commuter rail into Dublin is a different story.
roadmaster wrote: » i know IE is publicly funded ,Even if you eliminate the waste you still will have to give alot extra funding to certain routes to keep them open. So do we keep these routes open from a social aspect or do we say sorry its costing way to much money to run this route we are closing it.
Mehapoy wrote: » Why don't they open these lines up to a private operator, let them lease the rolling stock from Irish rail, give them the same subvention as on the cork\dublin line and see if they can make it viable, either as a commuter, tourist etc. Basis, see what the private sector can do with it free from the shackles or Irish rail management and unions.
