Foynes Line

that one in Buttevant station and the one on the main road between buttevant and ballyhea on the turnoff for churchtow. two major crossings. I just cant understand why they arent automated.

Just googled how much a crossing gate keeper earns in Ireland, and it suggests €25k to €45k (average is €33-35k). So just taking the €35k figure, and assuming 2 shifts per gate (I've no idea if that's how it works, but for the sake of napkin math lets go with it). If a new automated crossing costs €1million, then the payback is over 14 years. So I guess some bean counter in IE just decided it's not worth the "effort" to do it.

There's also the impact to services (if the gate is not at a stopping station) as usually a manual gate has a speed restriction.

I'm very open to be corrected on this, but I think the impact is that manual staffed crossings are very prone to delays because the gate takes so long to close.

I don't think many of the staffed crossings actually have speed restrictions other than what the line/curvature allows. I think all on the cork line are cleared for 160km/h.

I also believe for a crossing to allow for 160km/h, it has to be staffed as a way to make sure the line is clear for incoming trains. Also for clarification CCTV are officially staffed crossings.

The vast majority of those restrictions are for user-operated crossings, not staffed crossings. The only staffed crossings I can find with speed restrictions in the network statement are on the Nenagh and Waterford-LJ lines (or are staffed crossings with unprotected signals, but they are a different story and are very few). However, the Nenagh restrictions are believe are outdated, and were from before they were upgraded (this is not uncommon in the Network statement, it sometimes references LCs that havent existed in many years). The Waterford-LJ restrictions I am less sure about, however.

That said, the network statement isn't the most helpful for this because it doesn't always say a restriction is becuase of an LC. There are some restrictions, such as on the Cork and Waterford lines, that I suspect are because of user-worked crossings, but it just doesn't say that, only the section of line the crossing is on.

Terrible waste of money IMO

The Irish rail PR guy was on the radio 1 this morning discussing the line, and mentioned expecting to carry substantial rail freight.

Mr Kenny is ever optimistic, and when challenged on the expense for a temporary train station, he very quickly pivoted to limerick stations… and busses from Limerick to Adare for the Ryder cup .

"Only Limerick Junction" except the connections from Limerick, Cork, Dublin and all in between which is a perfectly normal thing to happen unless you are one of these misguided people who thinks all trains in Europe are door to door and only the Irish are inept enough to have train changes.

Problem with your 5 class Mercs is moving 10'000 passengers required an extra 2500 cars on the road and guess what all those cars are not gonna get near 2km of that course either.

Is that a real time type of 6 months or like a childrens hospital opening kind of 6 months I wonder

The flip side of that is, assuming the arse doesn't fall out of ever increasing property values, that parcel of land will be worth substantially more than €2m in a few years time when Irish Rail inevitably go to sell it again

nope not hyperbole but fact.

look it up.

While yes they have bought the land for the temporary platform, I would be very surprised if they just sell it off just after the Ryder Cup.

Personally I think it's a question of 'when' not 'if'. LSMATs and IÉ have ideas/plans for a commuter rail network for Limerick, the problem is just that they are currently long-term/2040 plans. However, owning a bit of the land and a building that will be used in the commuter rail programme will help later on, even if it just means not having to buy it later at a higher price.

That said, it is my hope that things may start to progress sooner than planned with LSMATs. Between Moyross and Ballysimon stations progressing and CACR having some nice early success, I think there is going to be a lot more demand for commuter rail in Limerick. I also think owning the old station may encourage IÉ to put together more formal estimates and plans for creating a commuter service for the line.

I don't disagree, Limerick doesn't need a system of the same quality as CACR. But also CACR is going support 10-minute frequencies to its destinations and 5-minute freq core section. A system for Limerick can just start with 20- or 30-minute frequencies to its end destinations (in my mind, Moyross, Ballysimon, Raheen, and Mungret). Something that a single-track can support, especially with how short the lines are (less so Moyross with WRC/Ennis services).

I also do agree about Raheen. The demand is going to be between Limerick and Raheen. However at the same time that is where the difficult infrastructure is. So once services are running to Raheen, extending one service an hour to Adare isn't really that difficult.

The two aren't even related and there won't be demand past Raheen with those tiny populations.

I really have to disagree. Whatever happens with CACR I think is going to change how people view the idea of commuter rail outside of Dublin.