Western Rail Corridor / Rail Trail Discussion

So smaller more frequent trains , to suit more spread out populations , preferably able to stop in towns and villages - maybe give them rubber wheels ,and let them travel on roads -dedicated roads in busy areas ..

I think the point is to get better use out of our current infrastructure by tweaking it, for instance with more crossing points on single lines and more frequent services; and doubling lines where necessary.

Then, re-lay certain lines to create a better network - and the Claremorris to Athenry section along with Waterford to Rosslare is most obvious here, as it would join up most of the lines radiating out from Dublin. After that, there are lots of old lines that could be opened again, many of them in the north or partly so. Remember that there used to be a line linking Mayo to Belfast! Clearly it will never make sense to re-lay most of those old lines as a result of modern fast road traffic along with the fact that the road network reaches every house and business in the country.

My real point here is that the "infrastructure" exists - sure, bridges might need to be rebuilt in some places, but the major engineering work is already in place - the necessary embankments and cuts, viaducts, bridges and possibly even tunnels were built in the 19th and very early 20th centuries and mostly still exist.

Great to see Eamon Ryan name checking the WRC as one of the priority projects ahead of next month's budget.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/greens-want-rural-rail-and-cheap-public-transport-fares-prioritised-in-coming-budget-says-eamon-ryan/a620213727.html

He wont need to commission any other reports or hope for different findings as the AIRR recommends opening the WRC to Claremorris.

Fortune telling what the next minister will do is pointless. It may well be Ryan again anyway.

The AIRR recommends Claremorris to Tuam in its final package based on it connecting a number of towns with 10+ plus populations. It rejects the WRC to Sligo as the town sizes on the route dont justify it. Listening to you it would appear they are basing decisions on nothing.

Your expertise on business cases is evident at the stage of course - I previously asked you 3 times to justify your claim that if the investment on the WRC was spent on exiting line it would provide all the necessary upgrades but you failed to produce any figures.

The downgrading in priority of the N17 road since the release of the NDP proves there are moving parts in it (there shouldn't be in a national plan) so I wouldnt cite that as any evidence against the WRC.

'Rural rail spending is a joke' - based on what? Clearly the government and Arup believe otherwise and for such a tiny fraction of the overall budge they can link a number of the main towns in the West to Galway. As I have already mentioned the report sets 10K+ towns as one criteria for linking. Baxter have already recently moved all their freight to rail and are on record as saying they want the Athenry and on to open so that they can use it. Funny how you seem to know something that they don't.

Oh and for the record the carrigaline municiple district has a population of about 36 thousand people and growing fast , as well many large industrial sites ,

And is only 15 km from the city ,

Even in the rural west, the population of every county has been growing - and this growth tends to very disproportionately go into the towns and in their immediate vicinity, while the actual rural population declines or remains static as small farmers retire and their land becomes incorporated into larger holdings.

Many people commute long distances to work - 50 miles is not unheard of. I'd guess quite a number of people in S Mayo commute to Galway for work & study, also to Tuam and Castlebar as the closest large towns. Many also drive to Galway - which is a nightmare to get in and out of - for shopping.

So to my mind, it is not unreasonable to restore the Athenry to Claremorris lines, while laying more passing points on all single tracks. As well as allowing for a better service, this would permit the introduction of local trains; for instance a hub in Athlone with short trains running local services to nearby town, and maybe another in Claremorris.

Discontent continuing with the downgrading of the N17 as a priority for the region.

It still seems strange that it was given such importance in the NDP and then kicked to touch. Initially there was talk of a motorway, then dual carriageway then singlecarriageway and now it's uncertain when work will take place at all.

Sligo and Galway have been the two gateway cities identified in the region and once the rail reinstatement was rejected the road should logically gain more emphasis. Can it just be put down to limited resources and having to prioritising other road projects or is something else at play?

It is classified as a 'gateway city' in terms of regional development and National Development Plans, which is why I included the word gateway.

It's not a city no. It just has that title which refers more to it's longterm future prospects in terms of regional planning for future population growth and targeted investment. Gateway region is another term that is being increasing used more recently so that is probably a more appropriate description I could have used.

The main point I was making is that Sligo and Galway are the 2 biggest population centres in Connacht and will be in the future. They are situated at each end of the province and up to recently there was supposed to be a strong emphasis on improving infrastructural links between them, which would seem to make sense. That seems to have been diluted significantly since though.

Generally I agree and I like a lot of what Ryan and the Greens want to do - active travel, reduced speed limits, town bypasses taking out bottlenecks instead of big new roads, taking freight off roads on to trains etc but this does seem to be a strange one. Im glad to see the plan to open the rail to Claremorris but it was never going to substitute for the N17.

Exactly just needs to be a safer single lane carriageway with a hard shoulder and bypass as many towns as possible.

Good to see upgrades in fleet. Is that like-for-like in terms of carriages and capacity? I saw a number of people on social media complaining last week that they had to sit on the floor along the route.

There should be an increase in capacity as some existing services use 2-car 2800 (85 seated) whereas the minimum for a 22000 is 3-cars (190 seated)? Open to correction