Foynes Line

It's a great sell for parish-pump politics. It would be too obvious and attract unwanted media attention if they only rebuilt the Adare section. At least with this they can reopen it in the hope that something comes forward.

And the operative word is the back of Raheen Ind Est. It is not an option for commuters from the residential areas around Raheen/Doordoyle. Even for the ind estate its not really an option.

According to this 6k people work in the industrial estate, I actually taught it was higher.

https://www.mwasp.ie/documents/Major%20and%20Agency%20Supported%20Employment%20in%20the%20Region.pdf

When you factor in shift work, different start times WFH, the diverse area the workers live the industrial estate will not require a train stop.

Evenn if the theory was build and they will come as the Kerry man said to the Yank asking the way to Donegal

"You would not start here"

Posters throwing up BS trying to justify this line are not being honest with other posters.

These is much better option for commuter lines in Ireland, there is none around Limerick and this was one of the least viable option at that. This will set rail back ten years in Ireland

This railway line has swallowed money that could have been spent elsewhere. The upgrades for the Ryder Cup will swallow money that could be allocated elsewhere for 2025/26 and 27. Even after that there will be p!ssing and farting about trying to justify it. Its has impacted Iarnroid Eireann budgeting. After all this is over any new projects will need to jump through more hoops to check their viability

This line and the WRC were prioritised over DART+, which isn’t in the NDP despite having permission granted for most of it.

No funding was assigned for any of it, look in the DART+ thread.

I agree that as-it-stands, the Foynes line as a freight line is a white elephant, but for how long will it stay that way? The M20/M7, M7/N24 and M7/Dublin road junctions need significant expensive upgrades today, never mind in the future when the motorway to Cork is eventually built. The motorway from Raheen to Castletroy will need to be upgraded to three lanes soon. The M20 to Raheen Industrial estate section will need upgrades too, and the roads within the Industrial estate are over-capacity today. How long before these upgrades start, and before they are over capacity again because everyone is forced to use their cars?

If we'd any ambition, something like this would be built:

The alignment for the old cement factory line is still there. It passes by Mungret (major new housing area), Fr. Russell Rd (Existing housing, <1km walk from UHL), The Crescent (close to new houses at Greenpark) and Kilteragh (Even more large housing). A slight realignment at either end to better position platforms would be very simple to do.

The Foynes line itself is well placed for Raheen industrial estate and housing. Ballycummin is the only section here where land access for building some platforms might be difficult, but it doesn't seem any tighter than many stretches along the DART. Run regular busses from Raheen P&R into the estate and to the hospital.

The biggest challenge (other than political will…) is tying this in with Colbert. Having a terminus at ~90 degrees to the existing platforms is a relatively simple option, if somewhat limited. Fully curving in and having short platforms like in the past is still doable, but probably not desirable today. There's probably several better ways to do it…

Add a few platforms and passing loops on the other lines around Limerick, and you get a very decent commuter rail system. If the TEN-T funding and Ryder cup rush help get us closer to that, then it doesn't seem like a waste of money to me.

By the way, the figures of 6000 employees in the industrial estate mentioned in a previous post are from 2009 - after Dell shutdown manufacturing, before Regeneron and Eli Lilly moved in, before Analog and Stryker expanded massively, before many other businesses moved in or expanded, and during the worst recession in recent memory. I don't have an accurate number of the number of workers today, but its a hell of a lot higher than that. Just Regeneron, Eli Lilly, Analog, Dell and Stryker combined would be north of 6k people today, never mind all of the other businesses/training facilities etc. in there - of which there are many.