Rural D Area Rapid Transit ? (R-DART)

Can we rename the thread to "Trolleybuses"?

I know this thread has been idle for over a year, but the Foynes line thread got me thinking about commuter rail for Limerick, and I don't want to drag that thread off topic. In the Foynes thread, I posted some possible stations along that line, and the old cement line. I got the crayons out and expanded it for the other existing lines around Limerick, and came up with this:

To start with, the Moyross and Ballysimon stations have already been given the green light. Passenger services are also being planned to Adare for the Ryder cup.

There are only 2 "new" lines here, and even then, both are following existing alignments - The old cement factory line (3km long), and the link up to Colbert from the Foynes line (less than 500M, including 200M long platforms, loosely following the old route to the short platform).

This is relatively easy to get started today. Build Ballycummin, Kilteragh/Rossbrien, Childers Road, Corbally and Annacotty Business Park stations first, with simple platforms, nothing fancy or expensive. This enables service lines like Adare to Colbert, Nenagh to Raheen, Ennis to Dooradoyle.

The important part for me is that the only major structures needed are train stations/platforms to start with. Passing loops, double tracking etc. is nice to have for capacity, but not needed initially. The little spur in Colbert isn't mandatory, but would certainly help a lot. The expensive parts are the stations (Estimates of ~€10M for Moyross and Ballysimon for context), rolling stock (€6M to €9M per 3-car DMU roughly according to chatGPT) and probably a new depot (€20M to €30M). €300-€400M would be the ballpark to get this going, €500-€600M for a very decent system - it's obviously not cheap, but it's also not a multi-billion euro project to deliver either. For context, Cork Luas is estimated between €2-€3 Billion; This would likely cost less than 20% of that.

It's got plenty of room for future expansion/capacity growth as the surrounding areas grow - upgrades to the Ennis line, a Shannon spur, services towards Limerick Junction, removing level crossings etc.

There's obviously major gaps in Castletroy and Caherdavin with this, which busses or maybe a future tram line could solve too. An elevated line from Childers road, along Plassey Park road, passing near UL/National Technology Park and connecting back up before Castleconnell looks surprisingly doable, but I wouldn't want to guess how much that would cost, or how many objections it would get…

The motorway network around Limerick is over capacity today - in particular the stretch from Raheen to the Tipperary road, with 20+ minutes sitting stationary in tailbacks becoming more and more common at rush hour on a journey that should only take 6 or 7 minutes to complete… The M20/M7, M7/R445 (Finnegan's) and in particular M7/N24 junctions are already in need of significant expensive upgrades. And this is before the motorway to Cork is in place. What I'm showing here obviously won't solve all of this, but it could certainly help if you had the option to use a P&R, or get the train directly to where you are going.

All fair points.

My logic for Childers Road (maybe I should call it St Brigits NS/Lynwood Park instead) is there's more space for 2 platforms/a passing loop, whereas the Parkway would be a lot more difficult to do that - at least with 200M platforms. A stop at the Parkway would also be around 500M from Rhebouge - seems better to have 2 stations and a larger catchment area, but either/or would do.

Childers Road at the Foynes line side (Ballinacurra Weston/Janesboro area) is a tricky one. As this stretch is twin track (or at least was in the past, not sure what it is planned to be now), there is very little room for platforms in the vicinity of the road, without CPO'ing quite a few back gardens, and probably a few houses. You could build the platforms 150M to the north of the road, or 200M to the south much easier. To the south is probably best, as there is a lot of land which could be used for future housing there, and an access road interlinking to the Motorway/R526 small roundabout is already there.

Colbert is the part that makes or breaks anything in Limerick. Something like this is quite flexible, but has it's drawbacks:

2 or more Orange platforms serving as a terminus for the Foynes/Cement factory lines. This enables a hub-and-spoke system, but forces everyone to change at Colbert. Useful for shuttle services, and regional rail.

2x Green platforms allowing actual radial lines to be made - Line 1 Foynes to Nenagh, Line 2 Adare to Ennis, Line 3 Mungret to Ballysimon, Line 4 Raheen to Limerick Junction, something like that.

The main disadvantage of this is the proximity of the Green platforms from the station itself - 650M walk (yellow path drawn). It's not terrible, but not great. It does allow for new access from Roxboro road and Carey's Road, though.

If the green platforms were built, the orange platforms might not be needed, and just a walkway instead - but having terminus platforms on that side gives operational flexibility too.

I took another look at it.

4x 150M platforms, laid out as 2 island platforms. Extend the existing platform may be an option too to get a fifth platform accessible from Foynes. 150M seems a reasonable compromise - any shorter seems very limiting for mainline rail

200M curve radius from the Foynes line, near enough the minimum you can get away with on heavy rail.

Terminus platforms force all trains to switch directions - not the end of the world, and at least it's at the station with most likely the longest dwell times anyway. Having 4 platforms should enable a reasonable service on all lines.

Jackman Park could be re-oriented to fit in, but it's difficult to tell, as there's already a steep incline upto the station/car park today. It would definitely lose the stand though.

This does require the full car park - the previous Orange/Green platforms takes a lot, but not all of it. Park-and-Rides seem like a good compromise.

Separate to Colbert, does anyone know exactly where the Ballysimon station is actually planned to go? Talk of P&R would make it seem like it's on the small roundabout on the N24 near Morrisons, but then it has practically no catchment for housing/businesses, and isn't actually in Ballysimon. Closer to Ros Mór makes sense for housing/businesses in the vicinity, but doesn't make sense for P&R motorway access.