Western Rail Corridor

IE shouldn't be allowed to repeat the mistakes they did with Phase 1.

I think those for and against would prefer it done right.

Okay, but how come I see railway lines in the UK with max speeds of 90 / 100 / 110 mph, and these lines are over a century old?

Example below, with speed limits up to 90mph:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_Marches_line

Approved and actually building are two very different items. The business case and various decision gates must be complied with, whats been approved is to develop a business case and to scope out the works required and if that meets the standards it gets funded.

Engineering standards were the same, the UK invested more over time, WRC is an exception as it was built in part under a light railway order so to a lower standard.

Dublin Galway is passed for 90mph in places, Dublin Waterford even has some 100mph running

Its money if you can eliminate more and more level crossings and make minor alignment changes there is huge scope to increase speeds. ETCS will help as well as signal sighting distances/time will no longer be an issue and hopefully the stepped PSR limits can go as well.

To my amateur eye, Athenry to Tuam seems fairly straight, and seems to have only minor LC over farm lanes?

I believe it was built to heavy rail standard.

Maybe 160kph after rebuilding, I hope?

I read that Tuam to Claremorris was built as a "light railway", and there are four LC across the N17 (the two at Ballindine could be removed by re-aligning maybe 1km). Could we hope for 120kph on this stretch?

The trackbed will be excavated and rebuilt anyway. The main differences that will have an impact now are the fact that nearly all crossings north of Tuam are at grade, and there's no way they will put in bridges for the majority of these. This means line speed will likely be limited to 70mph at best north of Tuam. The line is also curvier so this may limit speeds to 60mph in a few locations.

I will say this. I would not be surprised if they did reopen to Clairemorris with the N19 level crossings in-situ and run nothing regular on it. Another Foynes relay. Foynes proves you can keep a lot of professional victim complexes happy with just a bit of oul track and few extra bits and bobs.

If the WRC is ever re-opened,

and if there are hourly trains from Ballina to Galway

and if there are hourly trains from Limerick to Galway

and if the Dublin train goes to hourly frequency

…..this implies three trains per hour each way on Athenry to Galway

……with six departures per hour from Athenry.

(1) can Athenry station manage this?

(2) can this be done without re-doubling Galway to Athenry?

Just saw this posted on other thread. There was discussion here last week about passing loops between Westport and Claremorris. There seems to be one planned somewhere west of Claremorris according to this. Its mentioned more in the context of the Dublin line but could also benefit the WRC.

https://www.boards.ie/api/v2/media/download-by-url?url=https%3A%2F%2Fus.v-cdn.net%2F6034073%2Fuploads%2F1RZM9IKGND2V%2Frail-project-prioritisation-strategy-2025.pdf

Has it been announced that there is an ambition to have hourly trains from Ballina or just personal views here? Given that there isnt even trains every 2 hours on the Westport Dublin line yet im not sure where that level of frequency is coming from. Sounds unrealistic for the reasons you state and also probably in terms of initial demand.

No, but like Gueze says it is likely for there to be reasonably frequent commuters to Tuam.

I also wasn't thinking too much about what the actual frequency would be more just answering the question.

I would note though, that the Wesport services I believe are struggling quite a bit with capacity and the biggest limitation to the Galway-Dublin and Westport-Dublin services is Portarlington-Athlone single track. When that section it is twin-tracked it could allow for much more frequent services. I would expect to see 2-hourly services to Westport all day and hourly peak services, as we currently have with Sligo services.

The politicians in Mayo/Roscommon/Galway need to be convinced that infrastructure in Offaly will benefit them, i.e double-tracking Portarlington to Athlone.

This might be finally happening.

Seems like I nailed it concerning a WRC superfical relay - as per Foynes - according to the latest refinement of the All Ireland Rail plan. The section from Athenry to Claremorris is now designated a relay with possible future freight. Which would be the best option. I have nothing per se on relaying old lines and maintaining them just in case. It's mad in theory, but this being Ireland it is par for the course.So no packed commuter trains between Leney and Swinford coming going at 100km ph on the 8 mile long express fly-overs and so on. Like Foynes, all the professional victim complexes are getting is a 'bit of track' and a technical reopening. N17 level crossing and all. A few IRRS specials and lads from the 'mainland' ticking off their journals.