Limerick - Nenagh - Ballybrophy railway

the fact is the anual subvention and track upgrades are over all cheaper across the long term, due to the need to cut the use of road transport and increase the usage of rail, and avoid crippling carbon fines which are coming our way and will be felt by us all and they will be crippling, no doubt about it.

if there is demand for more bus services along the corridor the existing operators will provide them and there is no reason they and the rail line can't co-exist, they will ultimately as usage across both methods increase.

your constant want to replace rail with more coaches that would already be provided if people want them, and the use of coaches to get out of providing rail where it is needed, just is not workable in the modern era where ireland is facing crippling carbon fines.

we are going to have to invest more in the existing network and engage in some reopenings where possible whether people want it or not, as just chucking more road transport at the problem and simply burying heads in the sand is no longer tennable.

both road and rail services on corridors is the only option available, crippling carbon fines is not an option.

The line has been completely been relaid with CWR now following a lot of pressure from local people, press and politicians, so that argument is moot, and there is now demand from local people for more services. The railway won’t be closing.

LMATS envisages the rail service developing over time to a more realistic level.

And with due respect, you are far more likely to attract people out of their cars onto a rail service than a coach service, so the challenge now is to develop the service on the railway line.

You're right about it's not going to just disappear , because money has been spent on relaying the track ..

Rail that isn't mass transit isnt better for the environment than road .. it's probably much worse ..

More than future speed increases and manned crossing closures, I think they should be focusing on increasing journey generators , extra stations in limerick , and linking those stations with public transport / bike lanes to get to places in city once you' re there , it'd be a pisser to pass near plassy on the train have to get off in Colbert and have to trek back through the city to get to through the eastern side of town again ...

Although to work well coaches too need infrastructure .. decent stops in the right areas , bus lanes where appropriate..

Anecdotally passenger numbers have increased already. Not massively or anything but the NTCRP campaigns and the advertising of the track renewal project locally has been good advertising for the service.

Need either more gate keepers hired to facilitate additional services added to the timetable or the automation and demanning of the remaining gate keeper crossings to allow for extra services and to reduce annual running costs on the line.

Speeds won't be higher than a coach on the motorway ..

The advantage- as I see it -is the existing dedicated transport corridor in urban areas .. but if you can't get off in urban areas then what's the point ...

According to a member of staff who works on the line, 22000 class trains will be rolled out on the nenagh line permanently in the coming months. If this is true, presumably these will be Portlaoise (TCD) based or the 2800s are leaving Limerick? Sad to see them go. Would be nice to see them refurbished with new seating and DMD displays, sockets, new paint scheme etc.

I heard this about the WRC too (including Limerick to Ennis) but was wondering how they would split the 22000s as easily as they do with the 2800s (both the first train to Galway and the first train to Ballybrophy from Limerick split). It would require 2 x 3car ICRS which seems excessive for these routes.

Maybe it's just me, but I prefer the 2800s to 22000s. I guess it's more efficient to in terms of diesel and maintenance to roll out 22000s to the line. No doubt it will improve passenger numbers slightly, these people will be fooled though thinking its an upgrade. In saying that though, since I left Thurles last year for the Midlands, passenger numbers have grown along this line. Couple of times since November there was very few seats available Ballybrophy to Limerick

I think that people will be waiting a while for ICRs to arrive on the Nenagh branch. Someone somewhere has got the wrong end of the stick.

There are no spare ICR sets right now, given that they are testing the new intermediate cars, which means sets out of traffic.

Have direct services to Dublin ever been considered on this line?

there actually was a direct dublin service a few years ago but it stopped at every single station all the way to dublin i believe, meaning it took a ridiculous time and had little users not surprisingly and was discontinued quite quickly.

One thing that frustrates a lot of potential passengers on the Nenagh branch line (based on local survey results) is that Portlaoise is a stop on the morning timetable towards Dublin but not on the evening return journey towards Limerick. There are a lot of people on the Eastern end of the branch that work and drive to Portlaoise daily. Nenagh and Roscrea particularly.

There is also a morning stop at Newbridge which could give Nenagh branch passengers access to phoenix park tunnel services (I know the current timetable wouldnt suit this) but there is no evening stop at Newbridge on the evening timetable that branch passengers could intercept off PPT services on their return journey.

I really hope this is something that is looked at if they ever review the timetables. Prob wont but it would make the line more user friendly for passengers/commuters coming from the Nenagh branch line.