Cross-border review of rail network officially launched

Doesn't make a difference on fare evasion if you have competent revenue protection (Luas does this decent enough) but it is miles worse for Anti Social Behaviour.

I posted the stats here before. Luas has double the amount of ASB reports as Irish Rail services with similar passenger numbers. And as mentioned, Irish Rail only enforces fare gates in more urban locations. And they absolutely have less RPOs and security on the tracks. The facts are that by restricting urban locations that they reduce ASB at source.

The discussion was had here about a year ago. Countries have put up gates again to stop it. It’s undeniable but some here still seem to deny reality. I’ve no issue with people arguing the trade offs of accessibility here and maybe even making a cost argument. Fine.

This doesn’t really have much to do with lack of access to stations. That’s a choice by Irish Rail.

In China, there are bag scans and people scanners to access the metro. Cameras on every carriage, monitored, and cameras on every corridor and stairs. Added to that, there is a transport police as well.

Anti-social behaviour is practically zero.

The bag scanning is on every Metro station in Shanghai and Beijing.

https://www.eastisread.com/p/are-security-checks-in-beijing-subway

Oh, they have the video surveillance everywhere too, and the facial recognition software gets better by the day.

I've been through the security at Chinese high speed rail, in my experience it really depends on where you are. Some stations you could have 5 people looking at one screen as your bags go through the scanner. Other stations you could have nobody on duty. I suspect it's more a case of a communist regime creating 100% employment than fulfilling any real security need.

Why are we even talking about this? It's never going to happen and it is the most absurd suggestion to say that it's needed on IR.

Lol try the New York subway, every trip is risking your life despite fare barriers

I lived in some pretty rough parts of South London and never really saw anti social behaviour despite their being no barriers.

Saw a lot more on the bus where you had to pay.

Why would we need them? Is the demand there?

It would seem to me that Limerick-Cork demand will always be less than Dublin-Cork demand, based on population, and that even Limerick-Dublin would have more demand than Limerick-Cork, so what need would direct Limerick-Cork meet?

Surely, the best use of resources would be to increase Dublin-Limerick Jn-Cork frequency?

It could be a number of things honestly, demand is likely a significant part, IE may view that Dublin-Cork services have enough space for those travelling between Limerick and Cork. However even if the demand was there I imagine that the number of sets available is the biggest limiting factor. That said from my understanding Limerick Junction itself isn't a problem, although it definetly could be improved to allow a Cork-Limerick service to more effeciently use the station.

You mention sending the Limerick-Limerick Jnc sets all the way to Cork, but to even send sets all the way to Cork would likely mean taking sets away from other services, especially WRC services. But also yes their limited speed would be a problem as they are significantly slower than other sets operating on the Cork-Dublin mainline and could risk delays to other services.

I think above all there is a need for more trains sets for the IC network, both for existing services and for much needed expansions, especially non-Dublin IC services. D+ and the Enterprise fleet replacement will help. D+ will free all ICRs operating to Hazelhatch, and perhaps even sets operating as far as Newbridge and Kildare (although they may chose to keep ICRs for anything west of HH). It will also free most of the 29Ks from the GDA commuter services which could replace ICRs from some shorter services such as Dublin-Dundalk or Dublin-Longford. Additionally the Enterprise currently has a few ICRs for the hourly frequency which will be freed when the new sets arrive (order to be placed this year).

However even then, I do believe we will need another order of IC sets within the next 5-10 years. My hope is that after the Enterprise sets have been commissioned(~2029) and have had some running time to prove they are reliable, IE will order additional sets to further expand IC services. Within the next decade I would like to see the introduction of Galway-Cork via Limerick services. I would also like to see Galway-Waterford Via Limerick and Cork-Waterford services However there is a lot more infrastructure needed there due to various issues with the Limerick Jnc - Waterford line.

Some form of Cross Country service Cork/Limerick/Galway seems an easy win. There are 20+ buses a day going Cork/Limerick/Galway, more if you add in indirect services like Charleville/Limerick.

IMO it’s the kind of service that’ll be a success like the early morning Cork/Dublin express trains and we’ll all wonder why it wasn’t already in place.

Yes, we do need to make improvements to the non-Dublin IC network, but not at the expense of the Dublin/Cork route.

Rather than Cork to Galway, Waterford to Galway, interchange at Limerick Junction makes more sense.