Western Rail Corridor (all disused sections)

westtip wrote: »

You are having a laugh aren't you, I mean why can't you get a train from Dublin to say Longford or Mullingar or Sligo or Galway or Athlone after 8.00 pm All single track lines - Is this level of service delivery functioning fine? Places like Longford or Mullingar or Athlone are long distance commuter lines, after 7 pm there shoudl be an annual service up until 11.30 pm if they really want to attract people onto trains this is what they need to do! If you live in the sticks the idea of gonig up to Das Kapital for say a night at the theatre is simply not on by train cos there is no late night service. IE "functions fine" if you want a third world service.

I don't think it is the single track that is preventing a late night service. Especially seen as if you wanted a train out of Dublin late at night there would be little or no conflicting movements in the opposite direction, if they were they could be accomadated at passing loops just like during the day.

Of course you could theoritically double-track the whole system, but that would be alot of money; think about all the cuttings, embankments, bridges etc that would require significant engineering work to widen them, that's before so much as a sleeper is put down.

IE could run later trains to the outer suburban stops, but that would mean basing trains and drivers in places like Mullingar and Gorey.

rainbowdash wrote: »

about 40 on the train from Galway, 4 got off, er well theres a few numbers.

But not enough to fill a bus.

yes absolutely this mythical mid morning loading ofr 40 passengers at 6MB is based on an observation from where - on the train - from the platform, an anedotal comment, how many were fare paying passengers, how many were using the line north of Ennis?

Its hardly "hard" evidence - and as said before - not enough to fill a bus. Not seen any shouting from the rooftops from IE recently or indeed WOT about the massive level of usership that was expected.

Nothern WRC will get postponed indefinitely in the budget anyway.

CIE wrote: »

I recall when the Maynooth commuter service was restarted; during the early afternoon, the outbound trains ran empty, but when the heavy rush hour hit, you couldn't get a seat. Nowadays you have almost as many trains as buses serving Leixlip and Maynooth, and the trains are much higher capacity than the buses.

As far as direct service between Limerick and Galway, a bypass of Athenry might do. Overall, holding the average speed of trains down (which looks to be utterly deliberate on the state's part, on all lines) has to stop; the passengers have to be adamant about that, because the railways and current rolling stock are capable of much faster.

This is just complete cloud cuckoo land talk. Comparing the likely demand on a suburban service from Dublin to the outer suburbs of the only sizeable city we have to the likely demand from a large town (sorry city) to a series of small towns and villages in the middle of the west of Ireland is poppycock. Face facts - we simply don't have the population to support this hair brained scheme.

Re the direct services - we got what was campaigned for - the re-opening of the old alignment - of course it made sense to bypass Athenry with a southern loop to the southwest of Athenry and to at least make Limerick/Galway feasible but that would have defeated the whole "corridor" argument by WOT up there in Claremorris. this whole thing was a calamity from the start because amateur armchair transport planners with a missionary zeal became the mouthpiece of the west and we dared not speak against the folly of the whole wretched project, we have a transport department that just caves in to parish pump politicians. Instead of governing - and saying no - sorry this is not part of the overall scheme of things. Instead we got this shambles we have.

Judgement Day wrote: »

Any bets as to when Ballycar is going to be flooded again? According to several people interviewed on RTE tonight the Shannon is already flooding land not normally affected this early in the Winter. Will the WRC still be operating by Christmas?

It better not flood, What will Duncan do then ? :eek:

Irish Rail might like to take notice of this when the WRC floods again this winter :pac::D

Victor wrote: »

Not funny. Surely the train driver couldn't know what any of the signals said or whether there was an obstruction on the track - hidden by the water ... or the waterfall.

you can see the track so the water is only a couple of inches deep. also all the people standing around aren't phased in the least giving the appearance of it being "normal". and as it was such a short section you'd see signals far in advance of it.

Either a) the driver was not expecting it and so didn't slow down or b) they know its happens and don't care and just deal with i. given the general reaction of people I'm of the opinion that option b) is the more likely, they look like they are used to it and not bothered.

more cool than funny anyway.

IR should set up a 'Soak Zone' (a la theme parks) and charge people. It might pay for the WRC!





...or not