Cork Area Commuter Rail (CACR)

Might be nice if they put two platforms there (Eastbound and Westbound) and had all of the Cobh/Midleton Trains come through, as it's a couple of hundred metres closer to the city centre.

To be honest my biggest desire is that Kent station would get some kind of shopping facilities to help generate more revenue for IÉ and make "getting the train home" a really nice daily commute.

I think it is wishful thinking to say the N/M20 scheme "looks like" including double tracking into Colbert. How many trains between Limerick and Cork/Waterford would you need to justify double tracking?

A half hourly shuttle wouldn't justify the cost of double tracking and there isn't commuter potential on the line. A passing loop will do the job at a fractionofthe price. I doubt we'll see a half hourly service between Dublin and Cork anytime soon, the rolling stock requirements would be big. Money would be better spent on improving the line via Nenagh where at least there are commuters.

The Cork Suburban services will take most of the Mallow passengers, freeing some capacity on the Cork end, the quad tracking into Heuston might see more services from Portlaoise to Dublin on the other end. An hourly service plus a couple of peak time express services between Dublin and Cork would be enough, that could achieve an attractive journey time with the planned speed improvements.

I think you’ll be proven wrong regarding Limerick to Limerick Junction. I think of all the proposed mainline rail projects, it’s the most likely to happen.

The line is already double track to Killonan Junction and there is already a passing loop at Dromkeen.

It is very tightly scheduled at Killonan as it is to offer the connections at Limerick Junction.

In the greater scheme of things it’s not a mega project to double Killonan to Dromkeen and Dromkeen to Limerick Junction.

How long would a passing loop have to be? The half hourly shuttle wouldnt be the only service, there's also direct trains to Dublin and Cork, most likely hourly. Might aswel double track the whole route. There'll be 4 trains per hour per direction at least. Not doable on single track, where current journeys are 25 mins.

I know, i wasn't saying it isn't viable as it clearly is, what i was saying was that i can't see it being done for "reasons"

it is very clear it should be done.

Why is a Railway Order planning permission even needed?

If a single track is being replaced with twin tracks, without any land acquisition or new structures, then IMHO, no planning permission should be needed.

I wish we didn't need to delay this project with planning permission but this project almost certainly does need some level of planning permission. Without seeing the planning particulars there are two areas I can for-see that move this project from simple engineering works, that don't need planning permission, into something that would require planning permission. The first is the existing bridge over the Owenacurra River in Midleton isn't capable of being twin tracked. This will likely require a new bridge or widening of the existing bridge, building a structure, particular a new bridge requires planning permission. The other is dealing with the small number of level crossings along the route. Building a new road over the railway (a new structure) or closing the public right of way requires planning permission.

I strongly suspect that the EIA screening of the project will show that there is a *potential* of likely significant environmental impact (a low bar) so much so that they will be required to do an Environmental Impact Assessment Report, which will require Irish Rail to identify all environmental impacts in areas like noise/vibration, air pollution, hydrology, human health etc.

We'll see what ABP's decision is on the pre-application consultation is on 14th June.

Some good news - the line is to be closed July 2 to July 17 to allow improvement works. Once this is complete, the line will have its off-peak frequency on weekdays doubled to every 30 minutes, or every 15 on the combined section between Cork Kent & Glounthaune.

Also mentioned in the article:

Ah that answers a question I’ve had since I walk on the road along the river a lot and so i saw two piles of what look like ballast sitting on the right side of the line at what was tivoli station.

"much cheaper" - do you understand that this mentality is why we have a shite rail and public transport service in Ireland?

I disagree. Budgets are limited and you always need to look for cost-effective and affordable options. If I had €100m to spend on capacity improvements I would do 10km on Limerick to Lim Jcn and 15km or so between Athlone an Portarlington, plus extending 4 tracks from Cherry Orchard to Inchicore. The trouble is we do literally almost nothing to improve capacity as it is.

I'm not sure whether doubling on the Midleton line would be my priority by the way. It's probably done because there is special earmarked EU money at stake.