Fingers crossed……
And so say all of us. Thanks for the update.
Brace yourselves for the barrage of online disgust due to mis-informed leaks and half truths. Local newspaper and facebook groups full of communities cut in two, concerned residents, my area got treated better than that area.
Councillors shouldn't be getting pre-informed, it is a National road so nothing to do with them. They have no right to get information before the general public. Cork Luas has been delayed because councillors were allowed stick their ore in. They shouldn't be allowed to preempt what their constituents will think, let people make up their own minds.
TII should be making a general release of the update and in doing so, promote the benefits of the project. They need to control the narrative from the beginning (get their team on national radio shows, etc.), not letting hysterical councillors get a head start on them. Push the positives, major investment, lives saved, etc.
You are dead right. However FF and FG are so desperate for any sort of positive spin you can expect nothing less from them.
Details of upcoming update on project website https://corklimerick.ie/project-update-on-27th-november-2023-16-11-2023/
Thanks for that @Limerick74
I get the crawling heebie jeebies anytime i read a phrase like “The transport solution is not limited to consideration of a single mode of transport but is based upon a holistic, multi modal view to improving connectivity between the cities of Cork and Limerick, and ultimately Galway” but given the excellent management of this project and the related communications to-date let’s hope that this is just a sop to ryan and his acolytes and that the road solution continues to make real progress.
For what it’s worth, the webinars were excellent last time around and I’d recommend that anybody who is interested in this project should put one of these in their diary.
Why would you be opposed to a multi modal view?
Talk about putting words in my mouth !!! I’m not in any way opposed to it. I just get an ominous feeling when I hear that language.
Already hearing it will be early '30's before it's complete. 10 years away maybe
Well seeing as it's been well known for ages that it won't start before 2027 and will take 3 years to build, that's not exactly news.
The completion date has been 2031 for 2-3 years now.
No the project team on this really do appear to be investigating multi-modal options. The road is going ahead (as it should) just that they're also providing for walking, cycling and maybe even rail upgrades as part of the corridor improvements.
Dare I say it: this is how we should always do it!
And bus Park and Rides at junctions as far as I remember
Is it possible to build a railway from Charleville to Patrickswell and use the Foynes line for Cork trains instead of through Limerick Junction?
I'm sure they're looking at it. It's only 28km.
This makes sense and they should be looking at this around the whole motorway network.
if you look at whats happening in Germany, because of massive issues in getting planning approval and just plain old environmental concerns, a lot of the new build high speed rail ends up being built alongside the Autobahn.
Now, these are autobahns that are there from the 1930s or 40s so you cant point a finger at them and say they should have thought ahead.
You CAN point a finger though at the second richest country in Europe with billions of Euro sitting in the bank that they dont know what to do with, if they didnt at least consider tagging on a couple of metres to the side for a rail line wherever it makes sense when planning an intercity motorway.
Will that work here though. High speed rail needs much straighter lines than the way we design roads lately. Which often seems like threading the eye of a needle to reduce the impact of land take.
That was considered (Option RS2a) and not recommended. Option RS1 was recommended.
See here:
We were one of the poorest countries in Europe until the late 1990s. We were bankrupt only 15 years ago. And we have a national debt of €226bn. The 'billions in the bank' is a very recent phenomena and has already been earmarked for infrastructure spending.
I really despise when people (mostly uninitiated in economics) throw around that 200+ bn figure as if "wow!, look how much we owe!"...In 2022 our debt to GNI (stripping out GDP distortions was 83% and on a firm downward trajectory). Our debt to GDP is just 40% of GDP. The UK's debt to GDP is north of 100%.
Just sayin. We aren't in a bad position.
Fair point, lad.
Having said all that back in 2006/7 we were at the same sort of figures by 2012 we were around 200% of GDP. I would not like to see the government become more and more dependent on MNC money. I think we as a country need to be responsible. A economic shock could be around the corner.
The rail upgrades they are looking at I presume are part of the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme. This programme has started with Alstom winning a major contract with Iarnrod Eireann. The mallow to Kent station section involves major signalling upgrades, three new stations (blarney, monard & blackpool), a major park and ride facility at blarney, a new through running platform at Kent (passengers coming from east cork going to Dublin for example will no longer have to change trains at Kent and vice versa) and a depot with battery charging facilities for electric trains at blarney.
The upgrades will increase suburban train frequency between mallow and cork to every 10 minutes and intercity every 30 mins in the peak.
As I said above the programme has already started with completion expected in 3 to 4 years time.
The through running is for commuter rail. Inter city passengers will still have to change train.
Online update moved forward to 11am. Hopefully there’s something of substance in it and it’s not just smoke and mirrors
Its up there now.
Looks like Croom junction will be split between croom and anhid.
RTE
The actual update.
