Irish rail fleet and infrastructure plans

Not looked at the planning docs but I don't think the upgrade will have a major impact on journeys.

The issue and delays are likely referring to road users. Many of them are so close and likely triggered as part of the same signal sequence. Most spend 20-30m down per hour when the timetable is running to plan.

There is a train north of Mallow at xx:46 and south of Charleville at xx:55. Then factor in line speed non stop is through those stations is around 80mph.

Could be wrong but most of those crossings likely start closing around xx:40 and don't open until xx:05.

for the level crossings that are being retained and upgraded to CCTV crossings, I wonder has it been taken into account that it is planned to double the Dublin-Cork frequency to a train every 30 minutes plus increased direct Dublin to Limerick and Dublin to Tralee services. With intercity trains travelling at 200km/h the buffer time to close the gates must be at least 10 mins either side of the crossing? that could leave them closed more less all the time during the daytime hours.

I suspect that there has indeed been thought put toward it, because as you say if the level crossing is closed for most of the day, that makes the case for the closing of the level crossing quite self explanatory!

While there may have been objections to closing and replacing some of the level crossings as things stand, if they are closed for most of the day, there will actually be calls from drivers to close them and replace them with bridges or underpasses!

I suspect that this is IÉ’s plan with the 5 level crossings in Dublin 4 - increase DART frequency so much (right under people’s noses) that residents and commuters start to complain that they can never access/leave their houses. Then closing the level crossings and replacing them with pedestrian and cycle bridges will become the solution that people are crying out for.

A road bridge/underpass is I think the preferred solution for the Merrion Gates and but one other location would work pretty well too. Lansdowne would be great and in some ways, there is already an underpass there for pedestrians, but the whole road ends up being closed whenever there is an event on in the Aviva so may not be the best value.

Serpentine Avenue or Sandymount Avenue provide the best options as they are sufficiently far from from Merrion Gates to not duplicate capacity but also still keep through access from the northern part of the line. Trickier to do a bridge or underpass within a residential street though so it’s tricky. Would Dublin be able to manage with I just the crossing at Merrion…?

Just a few musings while on the topic of level crossing closures, it really is incredible the amount of L/C’s they’ve closed in the recent past like @PlatformNine says - hopefully they keep this up, grade separation is key for frequency and reliability.

One last thing, on the few level crossings that are not signalled on the semaphore branch lines that seriously hamper the frequency and speed on the line, could a single interlocking signal not be installed for these level crossings…? Like not hooked up to the rest of the signaling system, literally just a colour light two aspect signal isolated to the level crossing and automated to when the gate is interlocked.

I don’t know much about semaphore signalling or if this would even be possible, but I think a programme to increase the speed and frequency on these branch lines would be a nice thing to see developed over the next few years - things like L/C closures, signalling upgrades/ECTS integration, track relaying, passing loops and so on.

I know that there is some scattered plans to do upgrade works on the Limerick-Balybrophy line and the Waterford-Limerick Jnct line but it would be good to see a compiled and scheduled plan on the works to bring these lines into the 21st century. While the semaphore system is charming and a stunning piece of history, the reality is, these should be busy and frequent commuter and in fact intercity railway lines, and as things stand are not living nearly up to their full potentials.

It’d be great to see similar programmes to the Cork line rolled out all across the network and while I appreciate these branches will probably be the last to be addressed, it’d be great to see some sort of a priority list of works.

3 on the Waterford to Dublin line all within very close proximity of one another around Kilmacow are manual - there may be more but I’m not sure…

Doubtful based on how the public spending code works.

Very difficult to spend money future proofing for a project/intervention that doesn't exist as a committed plan. In this case its 200kph running which also would require new rolling stock and resignalling. It's really frustrating, particularly when it comes to double tracking and future proofing for electrification.

The rules don't allow for enabling works across a pipeline of interventions on the same corridor unless you do a programme business case. The programme approach creates its own issues in terms of funding affordability and delivery under the same system.

There's no plan to change it either

Are you asking generally about staffed LCs? If so there are actually a good few left on the network. The 2023 CRR report tracks 46, and that may have changed a bit since.

Those are scattered all over still. There are the 7 on the Cork mainline are the entire focus of the Cork LC closure project. There are a ton on Limerick-Ballybrophy, Limerick-Ennis, and Limerick-Waterford. There is even still one in Dublin at Ashtown.

I think it is just a good bit of kit to install. You are effectively creating a mini signalling block.

I believe (and very open to correction here as im not sure) that LCs don't have to have their own dedicated signalling block, but they needed to be at least connected to the signalling block they are on. So on the lines with signalling systems LC blocks can be integrated into the existing system, but on lines like the Nenagh branch it means installing a dedicated stretch of signal for a block.

I don’t think it’s realistic that all Lc’s are closed or eliminated. That would mean a massive rebuilding programme which would be extremely costly, not to mention disruptive

I remember that manned level crossing from way back in 1999. There was a man in a house and he would come out and close the road manually, for the train to pass. I'd be very much surprised if it's still manned and not automatic?

It’s still a manned level crossing. Some of the crossing keepers between there and Ashtown often swap shifts.

It’s manned, and operated by wheel, from the old signal cabin that’s adjacent to the crossing.

Wow ok I stand fully corrected, thank you for the info. I was told by a relative who lives down that neck of the woods that they had automated it a while back but I guess not, that’s mad!

on an intercity route I remember in the late 1980s / maybe early 1990s a steel farm gate being used on manned level crossings. It was painted white mind you !! This was replaced by timber purpose built gates and has been fully automated now for a number of years.

I don't disagree but it is a lot easier said than done, there are still about 860 LCs across the country and it will just take time to go through and close them. IÉ have done a very good job so far, and while I would like to see the rate of closure increase, maintaining a steady stream of closures every year goes a long way. However, IÉ is also likely to focus on risk first, which doesn't always prioritise the IC corridors.

That said I think they have done a good job with the IC corridors so far, but of course they need to keep working. Back in 2017 (that's just the data I have) LCs on the IC corridors accounted for only ~150 of 950-1000 LCs on the network, and I assume a good few of those 150 have been closed in the last 8 years too.

Dublin-Dundalk/border is one of the best actually, as I believe there is currently just 1 LC on the entire line, and that is going to be closed as a part of D+. Or as it is a simple LC closure, IÉ's own team or whoever they normally have closing LCs may just deal with it later this year just to have it done. North of the border is a different story though, as NIR have taken a different approach to LCs.

Disappointing to see that many near misses with lines workmen in this day and age. You’d imagine they should be almost not possible unless human error was involved

Good that safety improvements are being made, but wondering out loud as to how the track inspectors do not feel the vibrations and hear the train approaching?

The live train section of the public app is also beyond useless, but I understand that the employee version is more accurate.