Cork developments

In theory , the road from Marino point could be widened , but not necessarily cheaply or easily , and most of the residents would object , it effectively makes Marino point useless as a port facility, unless bulk rail transport facilities are developed,

New road should be built to run alongside the existing railway line.

Some work possibly needed to navigate around Fota train station but otherwise it is straightforward

The plan was to create a new link to Cobh from Carrigtohill (Rossmore to Rossleague) with a new road, new bridge and new road. It would have joined the Ticknock road somewhere north of the Tay road. Then they could tie west to Marlogue. But the County Council and NTA are playing games on it. County Council wants it done from central funding because it's a National route, NTA are saying that the Co Co needs to do it because it's a development facilitator, not a strategic national connection.

The Co Co could probably have got funding for the Fota Road and road by Marino if they were arsed, by dressing it up as a sustainable transport scheme: both are reasonably uncomfortable for cycling/walking/bus right now. But they didn't do it. And nobody is progressing the Marino rail spur. All very frustrating: missed opportunities all round.

So what's the realistic solution here? I can't see any of the access issues being resolved with so many vested interests/conflicts. How on earth were they ever expecting ABP to approve the move? What's was their actual plan?

Will Gouldings just have to choose a different location to move to? Basically another 2-3 years (or more) of a delay.

Neighbours do ..

N25 already disects Harpers island

Move the junction on to the Little Island side of the small estuary there and join to Marino Point following the line if train track.

Not a massive engineering feat by any means

Takes out Belvelly from the equation completely

The plan was to link between Carrigtohill and Rossleague.

That's right, it would be a major project both on the island and to Carrigtohill but avoids the SPA, which is why it was being mooted. I saw this in a route selection document somewhere and was surprised by it. The Co Co website has been updated recently and all of the old docs are gone now unfortunately so I can't seem to find anything at all sorry. I hope I wasn't imagining it!

Harpers/Foaty/Marino is a big problem because of the SPA.

Looking at the SPA, I think I can see the logic: the area just North of Marino is heavily populated with shelduck foraging/roosting. Harpers/Slatty water is the same you can't easily route through there. But the triangular area between Belvelly Bridge and where it suddenly widens out at Pottery Road is fine. And the bit at Brick Island just east is OK for birds. And the bit at Rossleague is so thin that they might have thought it manageable. The alternative is to go through the wildlife park but I'd say they just avoided the public backlash there!

Here's the SPA document link below. You can see why it's a possible route, and why the Harpers side isn't really ideal. It's all about the birds these days!

https://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/Cork%20Harbour%20SPA%20(004030)%20Conservation%20objectives%20supporting%20document%20-%20[Version%201].pdf

No the SPA isn't impossible to build in, it's not a "total exclusion" thing, and the railway line route isn't somehow exempt unfortunately. Scroll down further in the doc and the maps show where the birds are roosting and foraging, and you can see then why hugging the railway won't work. Maybe if you could build the road on some kind of stilts or if you could tunnel, then it would be possible. Otherwise it's a game of "minimal disruption to the birds" rather than "no disruption" if you get me.

I was thinking that as well if there was room there.

The closest way to get to another road network is across to little island ,bridge and causeway unlikely to be cheap ,

The leftmost green line of yours is basically what was proposed back in 2008. Shortest bridge I guess. The other two plans are a bit far east… its a long diversion to go Cork - Cobh via Carrigtwohill or further east.

Lets extend the M28 across the channel to Cobh. That would be brilliant.

Even imagine a rail link from Ringaskiddy across to the Cobh line, instantly enabling freight which could then go up through the new through-platform at Kent and up to Dublin from there. Through the PPT and up to Belfast (if the curves were sorted). That would be amazing. I know it will never happen, just like an M28 to Cobh its utter pie-in-the-sky. But the frustrating thing is that the edge of Ringaskiddy port is only 1.5km from the Cobh line!

Booze & Co produced a feasibility study for Port of Cork in 2008-2010 looking at rail freight connections for the port. Three distribution centre based options featured

1. Marino point using Cobh-Kent line
2. Ringaskiddy with a connection to the Cobh-Kent line
3. Ringaskiddy with a direct rail connection to Kent

The report is very much of its time, some sensible stuff and lots of blue skies and crayons.

https://epawebapp.epa.ie/licences/lic_eDMS/090151b2805ca4e9.pdf