The Strategic Rail Review will consider how the rail network on the island can improve sustainable connectivity between major cities, enhance regional accessibility including to the North West and support balanced regional development.
Will this be a future scandal?
Surely one way to redeem the project is to build stations, and make it a passenger railway?
Unfortunately I think most of these estimates are pure fantasy. Cork to Galway in 2 hours is beyond optimistic.
Would certainly make it a lot easier to do. Possibly split from the Maynooth line somewhere in front of Carton House or at Kilmacredock.
In very simple terms that would be throwing good money after bad and would at the very least double the cost of the project, possibly a lot more. That line makes no sense as a freight line, and even less sense as a passenger line. The reopening of that line for freight is a great example of all that is wrong with infrastructure management in this country. Hopefully the projects listed in the AISRR fantasy document will be subject to full and proper cost benefit analysis before any funding is allocated so that the chaff can be ditched and only projects with tangible social and economic benefits are allowed to proceed. That’s assuming that it doesn't just rot on a shelf which is it’s most likely fate.
It looks like we haven't learned lessons from mistakes with previous infrstructure projects.
When I heard about this re-opening, I did wonder exactly what freight will be carried.
Your posts have confirmed my doubts.
I worry that spending money like this will undermine the support for genuine projects.
Isn't Foynes a designated EU TEN-T port? Probably required to have a functioning line available for rail freight under that directive, regardless of any actual traffic...
That is exactly what it's about. It's not any scandal or mistaken infrastructure project.
As has been stated in the relevant thread a number of times, derogations and exemptions from the requirements of TEN-T are available. These include “where investment cannot be justified”.
TEN-T cannot be used to justify the relaying of the track from Limerick to Foynes, or any of the other unplanned and unapproved work and unfunded expenditure that will needed in order to reopen the line.
Do you think that 74m may be being spent on re-building the line to Foynes, and it could end up that no freight trains will run on it, at all?
Foynes line Is not some white elephant. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that there IS ACTUALLY A PLAN for the port. They are hardly building BOTH a motorway AND a rail line for the LOLs.
What are people here expecting? ....should we only build infrastructure after it's needed rather than before?
https://www.sfpc.ie/about/
I suspected as much, but didn't know for sure
Do you think the prices are set high to keep Irish Rail as the sole operator or are the costs of maintaining the infra just that high?
Are you saying direct trains? Don't get me wrong, I'd love it and agree it's technically possible, just that it seems "too good to be true"
I'm afraid I don't know. At a guess, IÉ engineering teams are up the walls and don't have enough capacity to push the projects on
Its often been claimed that CIÉ cross-charge the transport operators too much for shared services (IT, property, legal etc) so it is possible the same attitude exists there
CIÉ Group has made profits in years when Irish Rail and the bus companies have lost money; and its not entirely down to CIÉ Tours (generally profitable) and property rented to third parties.
Would it be fair to say that the proposed improvements for the north/north west likely won't ever happen (probably unless there's a UI)?
Don't be presenting facts. It ruins the narrative of those spouting the white elephant theories.
Letterkenny line could get EU cross border funding
Letterkenny to Derry might because of EU funds.
The NI Dept of Infrastructure is broke, and has no prospect of not being broke, England is notngoing to pay for new infrastructure in Ireland, full stop, it just wont happen and hasnt happened for decades. They can't even afford survey work for future projects the only projects even being considered are small road junction upgrades to comply with minimum safety standards. The big exception is the new Belfast Central station. New build infrastructure e.g. the narrow water bridge or the derry to border dual carriageway are partly or entirely funded by the Republic.
So it really comes down to what money the Republic is willing to cough up. I would suggest at most, the new Newry to Belfast line would be the maximum, and if it were up to me, I would only upgrade Dublin to Newry as long as northern residents are paying tax to hmr instead of revenue, in the interests of fairness.
You'll note from the report that the Bangor and Larne commuter lines are not earmarked for any upgrade, despite them being better candidates for electrification than most intercity routes, perhaps an acknowledgement that there'll be no funding from England and little justification for Ireland paying.
Great, a masterplan for the port to 2041.
Can anybody tell me the name of the materials that will be carried on the freight trains to and from Foynes port in 2026?
Containers, oil, solid fuels?
Dry bulk products like fertilisers?
Commuter lines were not in scope for the review, north or south.
Except
Dublin to Navan, Dublin Airport to Clongriffin, Limerick to Foynes, Limerick to Shannon, Letterkenny to Derry etc.
does the cost figure include new rolling stock?
Yes, 1.3bn I think. Seems a tad low.
Right now, it is not technically possible. In the proposal maps, they show a new chord at Limerick Junction that would provide a direct link between Cork and Waterford. It has to be assumed that the projected times were based on that direct link being in place. It would be one of the cheaper interventions, and a direct link is the only way that Cork-Waterford could be made competitive with car travel, given the much greater distance.
Dublin to navan is the only one that could be argued as "commuter"
Dublin and Shannon airports are in scope as it's connecting airports to national rail network. Same for Limerick foynes.
Letterkenny to Derry is not commuter based either, it's all about connectivity to rail network. Letterkenny to Derry link is about connectivity on to Belfast and Dublin (via Derry - Omagh - Portadown line).
The AIRR explicitly says that commuter services are not in scope of the review, I don't know why you would try r
I would say a Belfast line extension to Cavan will mostly benefit the south, even if it doesn't go all the way to Mullingar (the logic of which would be questionable unless the Athlone-Mullingar line was restored) and the capex of that could be funded by the Irish Government.
Off topic but here goes anyway: If direct rail from Newry to Belfast is built, it should be in conjunction with a motorway replacement of the A1. Two could be in parallel.
We won't ever see such a line built in any case. It's the whackiest part of the strategy. The rest of it is at least grounded in logic, if not a bit fanciful given our track record.
The NI Department of Infrastructure had a project to upgrade the A1, but have since shleved it. In 2019 they were asking consultants to do surveys in small batches because they couldn't even pay GI contractors for a full set of surveys.
The A1 is never getting replaced with motorway, the NI DoI plan is to build 4 new junctions along the worst stretches so they can close a load of accesses and existing bad junctions, but even then I don't think all of them would be closed.
