Cross-border review of rail network officially launched

In my experience people who say the lack of a direct Limerick to Cork service is why they don't use the train are only using it as an excuse.

As a regular public transport user in Limerick I see stuff like this all the time. People want to make themselves feel better about their car use with various excuses and even when you solve their excuse for them you later find out they took the car anyway.

I am not suggesting to take sets from Dublin-Cork services. I don't believe there is any way a Cork-Limerick service could happen before more ICRs are freed from Enterprise and/or Dublin-HH services.

I could see the arguement being made for its impact on Limerick Jnc-Limerick services, as because of track capacity I imagine a Cork-Limerick service would be timed to replace a Limerick Jnc-Limerick which could leave room for error. But provided the sets are available (probably ~2030) I struggle to see how Cork-Limerick services would negatively impact Dublin-Cork services.

Yes, this would be ideal. The internal splits between bi-mode, bemu, and pure emu within those two types still make things a little complex when assigning trains to services, but there's a huge saving in maintenance and training.

The loco hauled stock is coming close to end of life, or rather the locos are, so I could see Enterprise being used as a proving ground before replacing the Mk4 coaches with the same trains.

The inclusion of 25kV from the start on the new trains also signals that electrification of Drogheda-Belfast is happening sooner than we may have thought.. clearly someone expects to have 25kV OHLE in place before these trains need their midlife refurbishment.

I would hope they are planning to acquire more sets for the rest of the network, but I am not sure if that is the reason they have picked the Battery+25kV AC+ 1.5kV DC sets. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe NIR originally planned to electrify the line to the border in phases and/or were not going to electrify the entire line. However I would hope this has changed since the AISRR.

Of course, even if the point of Battery+25kV AC+ 1.5kV DC wasn't so they could order them for other services, like you say it does still make them very good for that.

Would Drogheda Viaduct have room for OHLE? The central span doesn't have a lot of leeway for wires, but if rebuilding it was necessary it could provide a good excuse to make it wide enough for two tracks again. Or they just switch to diesel/battery for that section I suppose.

Arup has been working on this, was awarded before Christmas. They've all the incumbent knowledge from Dart+ Coastal so should be able to make good progress

A consultant was appointed 6 months ago so we're 5 years from any construction contractors. This will be a painful project lots of legal crap with residents.

I'm hearing that a RO for Cork Commuter Rail should be coming by year end. Cork will be 25kV AC. This is likely to be the first 25kV AC in Ireland

Navan public consultation will start q4 2025 and a railway order will be submitted to ABP in 2027 with construction start in 2030

IÉ are planning to build Cabra station without going to ABP.

No new info on 4North, IÉ seem reluctant on this.

[Idea that wasn't the best]

If you have no crossovers etc it would be no different to the fairly common situation of a tram or metro running in to platforms at the same station as mainline on different voltages

However, as it'll be 1500v DC from the end of any quad tracking to Drogheda and the start back to Connolly, there really wouldn't be any point; and throwing away operational flexibility when your rail operator is really bad at service recovery is also not a good idea

I think you could both be at cross purposes, the other poster is effectively saying "it's not just about journey times, we want the direct service for comfort". I'd be very much in agreement. The journey time doesn't put me off right now, it's the schedule and the convenience. I do use that train, but far too seldom.

Things like the 05:40 Kent having a 50 min stopover in Limerick Junction is obviously just awful but even the perfectly reasonable 10 min change for the 0700 is off-putting even for me, able-bodied and travelling alone. With small kids or people of various physical abilities it gets much more off-putting.

Things that have happened to me in various stations: people who monitor the lifts refusing to open the doors to allow you to cross the platform bridge, needing to walk through multiple carriages to find a seat, no shelter (sun or rain) while waiting for the connecting train at LJ… it's all just needless friction to the journey.

Very substandard shelter on the Southbound platform too. I presume that the thinking is that you won't ever be on that platform more than a few minutes, but 10 minutes in the rain or baking sun can be a long time, and people who have low mobility (old, young, etc) are the ones most inconvenienced.

Also, on a separate but related topic, this new network-level thing of an intercom before you can get a lift is a real pain in the hole. I understand the rationale behind it but when nobody answers it's a very serious problem (yes I can confirm I've been left stranded by this).

125 km, I think. 90 to Limerick Junction and 35 into Limerick. The road takes a more direct route and is roughly 100.

With new trains and electrification, a 1 hour Cork-Limerick service is doable, but it will need a long stretch of 200km/h running on the Cork Dublin line to get the average speed up to what's needed.

I take all your points, but what I'm hearing from people who very regularly use N20 is that traffic is even now a bigger issue than speed for them. The M20 project will exacerbate that.

So buses will do that big span in the middle reasonably fast (if staying out of the towns) but the train will still do well near the city. Add in more commuter rail in Cork and there are still some advantages for the rail. Let's see how it pans out.