Cork Area Commuter Rail (CACR)

Yep, it's strange alright. Let's see, all will hopefully become clearer in future weeks.

I guess it would push the station even further from the city centre - it might only be 500 or 600m but it might look even further? Second, are there plans to develop that property and if there are, does that mean it would be lost as an option anyway?

Wow. A street parallel to Horgan's Quay? Or right angles to it? You have the link by any chance?

Thanks, got there ahead of me.

Not sure how I feel about this one, because I'd like the area to be well built up as commercial around the station rather than only residential. But I guess residential is the big priority right now. And at least they retain the waterfront.

Buildings are what's intended nearer the water side yep. No firm plans yet, and this road (if approved) would be a critical enabler of that. I think what's proposed could certainly make it difficult to move the main station entrance East, but not necessarily the platforms and shelter building. There would be no reason I can think of to remove the existing buildings, you could just choose to not use the current curved platforms and instead only use the straight sections further East maybe.

Right now we have several fairly exposed straight platforms to the East that are used by commuter services, and two covered curved platforms to the West. I'm just suggesting we make the Eastern ones the "main" platforms and roof the whole lot with a canopy (platforms and tracks) rather than having isolated small "platform" canopies as at present.

I never realised the Waters Street bridge was the second attempt at the joining of the lines and removal of Summerhill Station!

You can see that old alignment in the 25 inch mapping

8 stations

Yep we already had Kilbarry and Monard in the 2004/2005 announcement (when only Midleton and Carrigtwohill proceeded).

I hope they announce details and dates for all 8 and not just the first 3 basically. I suspect/fear we get something similar again - details for 3 and a vague announcement of an intention for 5 others. We will see.

All very exciting. A few key points for those actually willing to engage rather than just waffle here.

Feedback submissions form is here: https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/about-us/iarnrod-eireann-projects-and-investments/cork-area-commuter-rail/Cork-Area-Commuter-Rail-Feedback-Form

Deadline for submissions is 18th July

In person engagement events as follows:

16:00 - 20:00hrs

Webinar details:

Other contact details:

You can contact the project team through the following channels:

Website: www.irishrail.ie/CACR

Email: CACR@irishrail.ie

Phone: 087 673 3387*

*Our phone line is open 24 hours a day. If you leave a message, we'll aim to return your call between 9:30am and 5pm the next working day.

Postal Address: If you would prefer to write to us, please send it or any correspondence to:

CACR Community,

Liaison Officer,

Iarnród Éireann,

1 Horgan’s Quay,

Waterfront Square,

Cork. T23 PPT8

Some bits from the reports:

Depot to be located between Carrigtwohill and Water Rock.

BEMU found to be unfeasible as the ‘TSS cannot be reliably delivered’.

New stations to have 94m long platforms, and will have a standard design with stations east and north of Kent having different colour schemes on the lift shafts.

Blarney will have 3 220m platforms for turn back and to allow intercity services to call there.

Rathduff will get a passing loop.

New platform at Cobh.

New island platform for Mallow west of the existing ones, with a new western entrance.

Chosen TSS has all Cobh services terminating at Kent, with Midleton services extending to Blarney/Mallow.

I'm almost in shock at how ambitious the plan is. You would have to go back the the dart in the 70s/80s to have any comparison in terms of heavy rail projects.

The only gap for me is the run from Blarney all the way to Mallow. By comparison the m20 plans will have 2 major exits at rathduff and mallow south within this run, which implies the traffic models showed the need for these exits. If the traffic is expected to be there, it doesn't seem to tie in with the rail plan that wont provide any service along this stretch.

Maybe a longer term plan would provide for another park and ride station somewhere around the mallow south exit?

Overall I am very happy to see most of the decisions made for the project. They could proposed a cheap and quick phase 2 with only a few stations and BEMU services, but I think they have really designed a good network. I am very happy to see they plan for OHLE electrification rather than BEMU, even if it was only because BEMUs couldn't meet the TSS specification. I was only expecting the Mallow improvements would be a 4th platform, so it's amazing to see they are making 2 dedicated platforms for CACR services. Additionally I think the Stabling upgrades will be great for the network and will help allow for early morning and late night services.

I will be interested to see if they pick 25kV or 1.5kV OHLE electrification, as I don't see it mentioned anywhere in any of the documents. I would think 25kV electrificaiton because of the Cork-Dublin IC services, however with the added cost of the AC electrification over DC, and that the IC fleet might be bi-mode anyways maybe not.

I am also curious if the new stations between Mallow and Kent are designed to allow for future four-tracking. It isn't something I expect will be needed soon, but I think it will be needed eventually and it might make sense to make sure all future IC and regional services can operate effeciently.

I was initially confused by that, however it turns out that part of the study is out of date. All the brochures, and more importantly the Project Report (third document, section 8, p.67) say this:

In Phase 2 of the project, a Power and Fleet Study was undertaken to identify the most suitable electrificationapproach. Initially, static charging of a Battery Electric Multiple Unit (BEMU) fleet at terminal stations and the depot was identified as the emerging preferred option, subject to further design development andassessment.

However, a recent review of the Phase 2 work identified a number of limitations in the earlier study:

It did not adequately consider realistic operating conditions across the network.

It failed to address degraded operating scenarios, which are likely during real-world use.

The Train Service Specification (TSS) routes and depot access movements were not fully developed.

It did not evaluate the impact of service disruptions on charging times or their effect on TSS delivery, nor did it propose effective solutions.

and

The results of this updated study concluded that BEMU electrification is not feasible for the CACR network, as the required TSS cannot be reliably delivered within the performance limits of BEMU technology.

As a result, full OHLE-based electrification has been confirmed as the preferred and feasible solution. This decision enables the deployment of EMU trains across the network, ensuring robust service delivery and long-term operational efficiency.