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.
And even that seems to have gone completely quiet
Confirmed ~4 weeks ago that its in the current capital budget; but the financial situation is so poor up there (and in GB, for that matter) that that means nothing.
I seen that but doubt it'll actually happen especially eith labour taking a literal flamethrower to infrastructure in England
The odd way the Barnett Formula works - with big English infra often being claimed to be national infra to stop them having to give the devolved governments money - might actually help there though. Perversely.
also in the original report it was proposed as a single track non-electric line. It's a ludicrous idea included purely to give everyone some hypothetical sweeties.
Agree, what actual transport need it fulfills is beyond me. People who want to go from Cavan or Mullingar to Belfast I guess. 🤔 apparently it's a similar route to some old pre automobile narrow track routes back when Belfast was the biggest city.
An extension from Navan to Cavan would even be more practical because people actually make such journeys. The armagh to portadown section probably has merit.
Its definitely coming soon as I know contractors on project
This article from 24th May has information on all four commuter rail projects in Cork (Kent platforms, re-signalling, double tracking, six new stations). In relation to the double tracking, it says that IE, “expects a contract for this work to be awarded next month, and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.” It’s now August so something must have turned sour.
https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2024/0524/1450928-rail-stations-cork/
The Rail Order is in the Black Hole, otherwise known as An Bord Pleanala, so delays are totally predictable.
No, the railway order was actually approved last Nov:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41263978.html IE then announced that they were moving to tender, and that article from May indicated that contract signing was imminent.
Assuming that it's the Glounthaune to Midleton double tracking project you are referring to, ABP granted the RO in November 2023 (No great credit to them; it took far too long even if part of the delay was a cockup in the documents originally submitted by IE). The project is now in a far worse black hole - awaiting a commencement order (Statutory Instrument) to be signed by none other than that clown Eamon Ryan. You would have thought that between them, Ryan/NTA/DOT would have had this in draft form ready to finalise and sign when ABP granted the RO. Instead 9 months have elapsed. Last update from IE was "Invitation to tender for construction works will issue in January 2024, with a construction start planned for summer 2024" There is no trace of the tender invitation on etenders.gov.ie, no news of a contract being awarded and no indication that construction is anywhere near iminent. So you can make what you will of the the likelyhood of the project being completed by mid/late 2026.
Regarding the RO for the eight stations, last update on this was that IE intends applying for this by the end of 2025 - SO allowing for that being late plus ABP plus the gap between the RO being granted and construction commencing plus construction it's difficult to see any of these new stations being open this decade. And that's assuming that there are no futher intervening variables.
These are relatively straightforward, relatively non-contentious small scale, low budget projects. Given the interminable amount of time that these are taking what hope is there for the grand plans contained in the AISRR.
Preparatory works for the doubling are slated in to start from September looking at the engineering works schedule on the Irish Rail website.
Thanks for this.
Is this internal IE work or external contractors ?
Have you any info on the main contract ?
My post was pretty clear I thought in terms of the information and where I got it from.
It seems that announcements are not always made when orders are signed, tenders granted, and so on. Maybe that’s why you don’t see anything on etenders?
My understanding is that a Stuatory Instrument is required to commence the RO. There doesn’t appear to be an SI relating to this RO.
https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/statutory.html
Noted. Sorry to bother you.
Even though the plan presents nothing for rail other than the Land of Make Believe. It still shows 'a bit of oul track' and no yards etc.
I was about to reply with a counter point but I'm just after seeing your Boards comment history full of utterly horrible references to our politicans and insulting right wing theories. I'll certainly be ignoring your comments from now on.
You're not alone in coming to that conclusion.
Prove me wrong with all the Foynes railfreight flows instead of playing Internet Detective.
Given that the AIRR is, shall we say, 'not all going to be delivered', let's say it can provide a road map of the next few decades of rail development.
Of the proposed projects which do you consider most likely to see the light of day (that aren't currently in progress)
This is intended to be different from 'which is most important', maybe a few quick wins are possible and there's nothing most politicians like more than a good ribbon cutting.
Mullingar-Athlone as it’s relatively easy and Maynooth-Hazelhatch interconnecter because it’s so crucial.
Navan after them.
I think doubling sections of the Galway line will come before any of that.
Aside from Dublin-Cork and Dublin-Belfast, is Galway the busiest intercity line in the country?
Then these two medium-size new projects:
That’s the easy stuff, then there’s the bigger ones:
The order of electrification is a different problem, but the engineer in me leans toward using the Waterford line as a pilot line for this, given that it’s relatively short, and doesn’t branch, so the impact of problems here on other services would be limited.
There's tenders currently out for Phases 1&2 for Dublin - Cork Elecrtification, the Navan Line and Portarlington-Galway Capacity Improvements.
Wow, is the Dublin-Cork tender for a consultant to design electrification of the entire route? That's quite a job, it would possibly be the longest electrification project in Europe right now.
Caustic but accurate article by David McWilliams in the IT this morning, skewering the self-congratulatory attitude of Official Ireland about real delivery of transport infrastructure.
"If this is the case, and it seems apparent wherever the State spends public money, then it’s time to call in the big boys, the people who can do this. Difficult as it is to admit, this is the moment when it’s time to take the keys from the parent because they are no longer responsible and give them to a mature provider, get value for money and get these projects done on time and within budget."
All the guff about on time and on budget when, for example, the Metro for Swords has been on the drawing board since 2002 and earlier is shown up for what it is. Getting anything from the All-island Strategy delivered will be impossible unless Official Ireland finally moves away from rail projects being colouredy lines on reams of paper redesigned every few years or so, to real life project management and implementation.
McWilliams' piece sounds a bit like guff to me.
Some years ago, Irish Ral took a failed signalling project in-house and delivered a series of mini-CTC signalling projects quite successfully. There are probably other examples whan compaiies are left to do work on their own network (they know how things work), whereas at present we have a flying circus of NTA, TII, DoT, IE, numerous consultants, etc all spending endless time and energy on discussion, planning, evaluation and so on. And we are about to add a Department of Infrastructure to this clown show.
Keep it simple!
