Western Rail Corridor

At the meeting, Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney confirmed that funding is available for the project, and it will be included in the National Development Plan.

It was confirmed that works on the line will commence within the next 18 months, with clearance of the route expected to start next year.

"For those of us councillors who have been on this campaign for as long as we can remember, it was a historic day," Cllr Murray said.

"The line is in situ; there is no planning required. It will go to tender, and procurement - there are no impediments. This line could be opened within the lifetime of this council."

I dont understand the skepticism , it seems pretty cut and dry to me this is going ahead. We will know more when they announce details of the NDP, in a few weeks.

Anything beyond track and signals will need PP

Many of the bridges will need to be refurbished or replaced, lots of decisions about how to deal with the mass of level crossing, so build bridges etc well that’s PP

Need stations, car parks etc, that’s PP

The route will need some significant civils to bring it up to standard

RO may be required where parts of the route have been adversely possessed by others so they can get a CPO

Beyond a certain point it’s easier to go RO than rely on a stack of PP applications

What you need is to get a business case, a positive CBA, approval of IE, then NTA, then DoT and cabinet as the cost will exceed the NTA’s authority

All said there are 6+ projects already through planning which will suck up resources for the next 5-10 years

6+ projects already?

Do you mean the 4x DART projects?

And what else, CACR?

Some of my earliest boards memories of the mid noughties is the hamsterwheel of the anti WRC thread that went on here. Pages and pages of “it’s not happening” going on and on. Very much a political space with a few obsessives echoing each other & going feral on outsiders, instead of a space to ask questions. So much of troll culture, bad faith posting, attacking the man, all that rot you see online that put authoritarians in power & destroyed trust in science & medicine, it was all here 20 years before. Not as vicious of course, but a microcosm of what was about to come.

I wonder how they’re doing with this news?

i’m gonna be insufferable with photos from that line in here when it opens…

Yep, bring it on

Imagine so with probably direct Westport to Galway and direct Ballina to Galway in the morning maybe

I meant id imagine during peak they would run Westport-Galway all stops, Ballina-Galway all stops, then off peak would require maybe change at Claremorris, all depends of frequency i guess, would these routes require 2 hourly frequency or more. Ideally id like to see hourly think it be revolutionary for the area combined with hourly or even 2 hourly Westport to Dublin. If properly promoted and used it could only make the case for Claremorris to Sligo stronger. I hope the section is double tracked from the start to allow all these services into the future.

"Ideally id like to see hourly"

Limerick to Nenagh gets 2 trains a day so just wouldn't hold my breath.

Is there capacity for this though, because the line between Claremorris and Westport is single track with no loops…

What's needed to allow the capacity there I wonder? The 4 tracks can be seen here side by side. 2 of them seem to be for the old Ballinrobe line but it looks like the room is there to tie in with the WRC.

Maybe you are referring to delays from the Ballina train waiting for the Westport train coming behind it or vice versa.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/fSqawa4oWHsZxeBm7

For any reinstatement of further intercity services further along to Westport after coming from Galway, putting back in the loop at Balla and / or Castlebar would make sense.

It is a terribly long single section from Claremorris to Westport. You can cross a train that is coming off the Ballina branch, but not two Westports on that section.

That level of intervention is getting close to a RO. NTA has no say here it’s IE and the CRR in terms of safety requirements

if they so desperately want the WRC then they can sit in traffic, be careful what you wish for…