Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Western Rail Corridor / Rail Trail

12467181

Comments

  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,317 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21


    Someone better tell Peter Feeney that the Waterford-Dungarvan greenway is part of a disused railway alignment that ran all the way to Mallow..

    It is fair to say that Athenry-Tuam is quite a high standard railway alignment given it's segregated. It's the abomination north of Tuam is what's useless.


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    marno21 wrote: »
    Someone better tell Peter Feeney that the Waterford-Dungarvan greenway is part of a disused railway alignment that ran all the way to Mallow..

    It is fair to say that Athenry-Tuam is quite a high standard railway alignment given it's segregated. It's the abomination north of Tuam is what's useless.

    What does this even mean?


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,317 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21


    Del.Monte wrote: »
    What does this even mean?
    The alignment north of Tuam is terrible. It's not good enough for a reasonable speed modern railway. The alignment south of Tuam is of a decent standard, much better than north of Tuam.


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    marno21 wrote: »
    The alignment north of Tuam is terrible. It's not good enough for a reasonable speed modern railway. The alignment south of Tuam is of a decent standard, much better than north of Tuam.

    What's wrong with the 'alignment' save for some LCs that need eliminating? It's part of a through route not some useless branch from Athenry to Claremorris.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,796 ✭✭✭Isambard


    the alignment and formation north of Claremorris is brutal but the bit south to Tuam isn't too bad is it?


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    Isambard wrote: »
    the alignment and formation north of Claremorris is brutal but the bit south to Tuam isn't too bad is it?

    And you know this how?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 652 ✭✭✭Muckyboots


    Del.Monte wrote: »
    And you know this how?
    I've walked it regularly and cycled along its route often. You could put a man walking in front of the train waving a red flag. I have a few candidates in mind.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    marno21 wrote: »
    The alignment north of Tuam is terrible. It's not good enough for a reasonable speed modern railway. The alignment south of Tuam is of a decent standard, much better than north of Tuam.

    Apart from the bit that is falling into the bog.
    And the missing bridge.
    And the few miles that need raising significantly if a bridge was to be built.
    And the fact that it closed because nobody was using it.
    Aye, sure it's grand.


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    Muckyboots wrote: »
    I've walked it regularly and cycled along its route often. You could put a man walking in front of the train waving a red flag. I have a few candidates in mind.

    Yes. yes that may be the state CIE have allowed the line to lapse into today but has nothing to do with with potential as a through route. Unlike most of the posters here I have travelled over the route many times by train rather than bicycle and there's little wrong with the 'alignment' that the elimination of a few crossings wouldn't put right.


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,796 ✭✭✭Isambard


    the section north from Claremorris was always a lightly laid line not of the same standard as other lines. It's nothing to do with CIE neglect. What potential does a line from Claremorris to Sligo have as a through route?


  • Advertisement
  • Posts: 0 Jon Green Geese


    Del.Monte wrote: »
    Yes. yes that may be the state CIE have allowed the line to lapse into today but has nothing to do with with potential as a through route. Unlike most of the posters here I have travelled over the route many times by train rather than bicycle and there's little wrong with the 'alignment' that the elimination of a few crossings wouldn't put right.

    Shame there isn't the population density to justify the cost

    What was the last CB ratio? 100/6?

    What's the bare minimum? 100/80

    We'll all be long dead and buried before it would be logical to reopen that line. In the meantime it can serve communities along the route in another way


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,928 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    Shame there isn't the population density to justify the cost

    to tuam certainly would.
    In the meantime it can serve communities along the route in another way

    it can, but i have a feeling that it is unlikely to. realistically, the government look to have little interest in putting either a greenway or a railway on that alinement. yee should have gone for a different route and you would likely have had a greenway years ago. at this rate by the looks of it i have a feeling yee will get nothing.

    shut down alcohol action ireland now! end MUP today!



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    to tuam certainly would.



    it can, but i have a feeling that it is unlikely to. realistically, the government look to have little interest in putting either a greenway or a railway on that alinement. yee should have gone for a different route and you would likely have had a greenway years ago. at this rate by the looks of it i have a feeling yee will get nothing.

    You're probably right about getting nothing; once there is a division of opinion among councillors nothing can happen.
    However when it comes to identifying a different route, that sums up where the rail lobby screwed up. If they had pushed for a railway alongside a revamped M17/N17, and if the first phase of the wrc had been built alongside the motorway from Limerick, it might just have performed well enough to tempt some reckless minister into edging it northwards.
    Now however with the failure of the first bit to deliver, other than existing commuter traffic at either end, the wrc project is dead in the water, and nothing can change that.


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,928 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    eastwest wrote: »
    You're probably right about getting nothing; once there is a division of opinion among councillors nothing can happen.
    However when it comes to identifying a different route, that sums up where the rail lobby screwed up. If they had pushed for a railway alongside a revamped M17/N17, and if the first phase of the wrc had been built alongside the motorway from Limerick, it might just have performed well enough to tempt some reckless minister into edging it northwards.
    Now however with the failure of the first bit to deliver, other than existing commuter traffic at either end, the wrc project is dead in the water, and nothing can change that.


    that applies to both sides. both needed to find alternative routings incase the one they wanted would cause their project to be severely delaid or ignored altogether by central government.

    shut down alcohol action ireland now! end MUP today!



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    that applies to both sides. both needed to find alternative routings incase the one they wanted would cause their project to be severely delaid or ignored altogether by central government.
    Except that the only route likely to get greenway funding is the rail route. The strategy document pretty much rules out a hyper-expensive wanderweg that would be drawn up.simply to avoid a disused rail line.
    This obsessive belief that (a) there's a railway in the pipeline, and (b) that the greenway would prevent investment in rail is holding back Galway and Mayo and funneling the money into smarter places.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    Mayo county council can't ignore these kinds of numbers, or can they?
    My guess is that they will. WOT is well embedded in Mayo Coco, and the council will stick with the old guard on this.
    Galway potentially could go with public opinion, despite the Canney factor, but my guess is that the Galway executive won't want to isolate their mayo colleagues by closing off the wrc from the south. Sligo seems to have escaped the groupthink clutches of the Inter county railway committee.


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,317 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21


    It would make most sense for the greenway to start from Collooney and work it's way down. Up there the railway is least viable and the alignment is in very bad condition

    Then the Tuam+ Claremorris racket can be dealt with over time as communities in the area see how the greenway is working further up the line


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    marno21 wrote: »
    It would make most sense for the greenway to start from Collooney and work it's way down. Up there the railway is least viable and the alignment is in very bad condition

    Then the Tuam+ Claremorris racket can be dealt with over time as communities in the area see how the greenway is working further up the line
    On the other hand, a continuous greenway from Athenry to Collooney, connecting the Dublin Galway greenway to the north west, would create an attractive route that could be marketed internationally. A long, flat route of 200+ miles would be quite an attraction.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 652 ✭✭✭Muckyboots


    eastwest wrote: »
    Mayo county council can't ignore these kinds of numbers, or can they?
    My guess is that they will. WOT is well embedded in Mayo Coco, and the council will stick with the old guard on this.
    Galway potentially could go with public opinion, despite the Canney factor, but my guess is that the Galway executive won't want to isolate their mayo colleagues by closing off the wrc from the south. Sligo seems to have escaped the groupthink clutches of the Inter county railway committee.

    Galway Co Co wont move until the rail feasibility score is completed, if it's ever published. Ross has form in burying reports, when it suits him. Don't know what his stance is on rail v trail these days.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    Muckyboots wrote: »
    Galway Co Co wont move until the rail feasibility score is completed, if it's ever published. Ross has form in burying reports, when it suits him. Don't know what his stance is on rail v trail these days.

    Ross isn't really very interested in anything that happens west of Lucan, it's all very foreign to him.
    Anyway he was too busy lately winning medals for hockey.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,646 ✭✭✭Pete_Cavan


    Muckyboots wrote: »
    eastwest wrote: »
    Ross has form in burying reports, when it suits him. Don't know what his stance is on rail v trail these days.
    Both are forms of transport so our Minister for Transport has no interest whatsoever in either. We're it a non tourism, transport or sport matter in his constituency however, he would be all over it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    Pete_Cavan wrote: »
    Muckyboots wrote: »
    Both are forms of transport so our Minister for Transport has no interest whatsoever in either. We're it a non tourism, transport or sport matter in his constituency however, he would be all over it.
    It's a pity there isn't a closed garda station in Ballyglunin.


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,317 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21




  • Registered Users Posts: 4,502 ✭✭✭Topgear on Dave


    marno21 wrote: »

    Spirited defence by Sean Canney on the radio this morning.
    Newstalk about 9.15 (I think!)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    marno21 wrote: »

    Here we go again!
    But maybe if they keep doing reviews, they might come up with a different result.


  • Registered Users Posts: 643 ✭✭✭Corca Baiscinn


    marno21 wrote: »
    It would make most sense for the greenway to start from Collooney and work it's way down. Up there the railway is least viable and the alignment is in very bad condition

    Then the Tuam+ Claremorris racket can be dealt with over time as communities in the area see how the greenway is working further up the line

    That may well happen in any event since the Greenway Strategy makes it clear that Co Co's are the bodies which will apply for funding and since Sligo Co Co is supportive it's likely they will be ready to apply when applications open in Nov whereas clearly Mayo and Galway wont be.

    The 200 km is a nice idea but assuming the problems are resolved will only happen over time anyway since there is no way there will be enough funding for all the greenway projects that are in the pipeline. Instead of links to the Dub Galway Greenway for now there can be links to Sligo town and Strandhill etc, to the Shannon Blueway at Carrick on Shannon and to the Royal Canal at Longford by train! (only for 2 people at a time of course)


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,048 ✭✭✭✭Grandeeod


    It's over 14 years since this crazy project was exposed for the worthless thing it is. Yet it persists even after a 100 million plus investment that's now subsidized to the point of free car parking and cheap fares. If other rail users getting screwed over with car parking charges and high fares actually cared we'd have a riot on our hands. But nobody cares apart from the usual cronies who know nothing about rail travel and loads about regional entitlement regardless of reality. The positive spin on reopening the rest of the WRC and the existing reopened section is offensive to the many who use rail to commute in the GDA after paying parking charges and high fares, not to mention the abandonment of projects like DU and the current piecemeal and so called DART upgrade which just pushes the can down the road for hundreds of thousands.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,610 ✭✭✭eastwest


    Spirited defence by Sean Canney on the radio this morning.
    Newstalk about 9.15 (I think!)

    I heard that interview, Canney didn't come across very well even with a lightweight interviewer. The texts that were read out also seemed to mostly rubbish his blatherings about the viability of a railway on the route.
    He doesn't need to put himself under this pressure though, he has pretty much blocked any development on this route for a decade at least.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 4,502 ✭✭✭Topgear on Dave


    Grandeeod wrote: »
    It's over 14 years since this crazy project was exposed for the worthless thing it is..

    It survived one of the greatest economic crisis the country has ever known.

    It is immortal and cannot be killed. :pac:


Advertisement