Limerick-Foynes Rail Line

1huge1 · 02-10-2020 10:04am

Cookiemunster wrote: »

A passenger line would need the reinstatement of the bridge across Careys Road (which was removed 50 years ago with the alignment built on) to allow access to Colbert Station. That would be very very expensive and would most definitely not be covered by the mooted €45m.

Wouldnt that only be the case if the destination for these cargo trains would be Colbert St. Does it make sense that cargo trains would terminate in the middle of the city or continue on to another destination which it can do at present?

Cookiemunster · 02-10-2020 11:24am

1huge1 wrote: »

Wouldnt that only be the case if the destination for these cargo trains would be Colbert St. Does it make sense that cargo trains would terminate in the middle of the city or continue on to another destination which is can do at present?

I was referring to Pete2k saying that the line could be reopened to passengers as far a Adare as part of this. That's why the first words of the bit that you quoted are 'A passenger line'.

1huge1 · 02-10-2020 12:08pm

My mistake, should really take that "attention to detail" line off my CV.

end of the road · 02-10-2020 12:15pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Quote from the article.

That's 2.2 trucks a day, or 3 trucks a day if you only count Monday to Friday. That's not even a dent in the truck numbers. Would it even lead to one full train a week?

Surely you need a much stronger business case than that to spend €45m to open a line for 1-2 trains a week.

A passenger line would need the reinstatement of the bridge across Careys Road (which was removed 50 years ago with the alignment built on) to allow access to Colbert Station. That would be very very expensive and would most definitely not be covered by the mooted €45m.

trucks off the road is trucks off the road.
baby steps, you can't expect a dent to be made from day one.

02-10-2020 12:28pm

end of the road wrote: »

trucks off the road is trucks off the road.
baby steps, you can't expect a dent to be made from day one.

To be honest, you would need to reinstate a large amount of the freight facilities all over the country and move away from JIT logistics for rail freight to return in any major way.

end of the road · 02-10-2020 12:41pm

Jimmy Angry Protein wrote: »

To be honest, you would need to reinstate a large amount of the freight facilities all over the country and move away from JIT logistics for rail freight to return in any major way.

agreed, but that's something that goes way way beyond reopening the foynes branch.
i'm assuming if the branch was to reopen and i'm not holding my breath, i would imagine it would be on the basis that there would be potential for growth from the base load usage over a long term.
but as i said, i'm not holding my breath for a reopening, i will believe it when i hear of track relaying taking place.

Paddico · 02-10-2020 1:14pm

Theres an old strip line about 2km long leading off the line into Rathkeale.

Could be the starting point for limerick commuter services

IE 222 · 02-10-2020 1:56pm

Paddico wrote: »

Theres an old strip line about 2km long leading off the line into Rathkeale.

Could be the starting point for limerick commuter services

That's the old line to Newcastle West and onto to Kerry.

I think a branch to Newcastle West would justify the cost of reopening for passenger services.

Where SFPC willing to put money towards this as well

IE 222 · 02-10-2020 2:08pm

Jimmy Angry Protein wrote: »

To be honest, you would need to reinstate a large amount of the freight facilities all over the country and move away from JIT logistics for rail freight to return in any major way.

Foynes is bulk loads of loose materials. JIT isn't an issue with this and it isn't operated anywhere near the scale it is in the UK. JIT is mainly ro/ro traffic and IE won't be targeting this traffic as they can't transport it. Freight facilities are not overly complicated and rather cheap once you have the yard space. Ballina is literally just a reach stacker and space.

andrewfaulk · 02-10-2020 8:40pm

IE 222 wrote: »

Foynes is bulk loads of loose materials. JIT isn't an issue with this and it isn't operated anywhere near the scale it is in the UK. JIT is mainly ro/ro traffic and IE won't be targeting this traffic as they can't transport it. Freight facilities are not overly complicated and rather cheap once you have the yard space. Ballina is literally just a reach stacker and space.

Agree whole heartedly with this.. JIT is massively over hyped on this forum, and irrelevant to container or bulk traffic which is what rail freight does

02-10-2020 9:04pm

IE 222 wrote: »

Foynes is bulk loads of loose materials. JIT isn't an issue with this and it isn't operated anywhere near the scale it is in the UK. JIT is mainly ro/ro traffic and IE won't be targeting this traffic as they can't transport it. Freight facilities are not overly complicated and rather cheap once you have the yard space. Ballina is literally just a reach stacker and space.

In relation to JIT, I was thinking of freight in general, as opposed to this particular port and bulk material transfer, but I do take your point.

andrewfaulk · 03-10-2020 6:24pm

Jimmy Angry Protein wrote: »

In relation to JIT, I was thinking of freight in general, as opposed to this particular port and bulk material transfer, but I do take your point.

In general freight even, JIT isn’t that common.. cheaper is better is the rule more often than not

Oscar1978 · 05-10-2020 12:19pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

Quote from the article.

That's 2.2 trucks a day, or 3 trucks a day if you only count Monday to Friday. That's not even a dent in the truck numbers. Would it even lead to one full train a week?

Surely you need a much stronger business case than that to spend €45m to open a line for 1-2 trains a week.

A passenger line would need the reinstatement of the bridge across Careys Road (which was removed 50 years ago with the alignment built on) to allow access to Colbert Station. That would be very very expensive and would most definitely not be covered by the mooted €45m.

In fairness in relation to the passenger line you wouldn't need the bridge at Carey's road as the set up would be something similar to Limerick Galway at Athenry. It'd be a case of rolling on towards Limerick check and reversing the short distance back into Colbert. The passenger trains would probably be two unit diesels similar to Limerick Ballybrophy.

trellheim · 05-10-2020 2:43pm

In fairness as well the alignment is clear to build if you wanted to go left or
right of the old CIE club see https://www.google.com/maps/@52.6561534,-8.6212154,3a,51.2y,170.2h,79.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snnB63_TL_udmI5E5s2MpJA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Cookiemunster · 05-10-2020 3:20pm

trellheim wrote: »

In fairness as well the alignment is clear to build if you wanted to go left or
right of the old CIE club see https://www.google.com/maps/@52.6561534,-8.6212154,3a,51.2y,170.2h,79.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snnB63_TL_udmI5E5s2MpJA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

The alignment was a bridge crossing Careys Road of which the stone wall was was one embankment. On top of the embankment there are houses either side of the old track bed. You would need to reinstate the embankment on where the CIE club is and build a new bridge.

There's a photo of it during its removal in 1975 here.

IE 222 · 05-10-2020 5:16pm

Cookiemunster wrote: »

The alignment was a bridge crossing Careys Road of which the stone wall was was one embankment. On top of the embankment there are houses either side of the old track bed. You would need to reinstate the embankment on where the CIE club is and build a new bridge.

There's a photo of it during its removal in 1975 here.

The housing shouldn't cause any problems. They were there when the line was last in service. The club would need to be demolished and reinstate the embankment. The embankment is still in place at the rare of the club.

Cookiemunster · 05-10-2020 5:25pm

IE 222 wrote: »

The housing shouldn't cause any problems. They were there when the line was last in service. The club would need to be demolished and reinstate the embankment. The embankment is still in place at the rare of the club.

I mentioned the housing because the poster prosposed moving the route of the line around the CIE club which would impact the housing. I don't think they took the height differentials into account either.

I'm well aware that it could be reinstated. I never said it couldn't be

trellheim · 05-10-2020 8:52pm

I was there when the embankment was demolished.

marno21 · 01-11-2020 8:35pm

Apparently likely to be included in the new National Development Plan to be published in early next year

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/climate-change-projects-make-waves-in-new-national-development-plan-wnzw67mh9

trellheim · 09-11-2020 9:37pm

This keeps cropping up - is it because of TEN-T funding or something ? I saw a note in Modern Railways.

spacetweek · 09-01-2021 9:54pm

trellheim wrote: »

This keeps cropping up - is it because of TEN-T funding or something ? I saw a note in Modern Railways.

It's eligible for it, but also cause Eamon Ryan is pushing it hard.

ncounties · 10-01-2021 12:43pm

marno21 wrote: »

Apparently likely to be included in the new National Development Plan to be published in early next year

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/climate-change-projects-make-waves-in-new-national-development-plan-wnzw67mh9

Just read the article. A bit late to the party I know. But what do they mean that the line could be used for "Renewable Energy Exports"? Also, veering momentarily off thread, does anyone with a subscription know if the article refers to the Navan line too?

marno21 · 10-01-2021 6:36pm

ncounties wrote: »

Just read the article. A bit late to the party I know. But what do they mean that the line could be used for "Renewable Energy Exports"? Also, veering momentarily off thread, does anyone with a subscription know if the article refers to the Navan line too?

I think Eamon has a notion of creating a cluster of industry in Mayo either relating to emerging renewable technologies or else heavy industry powered by offshore wind. Either renewable energy related goods or goods produced by renewable energy in Mayo could be transported to Foynes via the railway.

Pie in the sky stuff.

Nothing about Navan in that article.

spacetweek · 10-01-2021 7:41pm

Only two projects mentioned specifically in the article were Galway - Athenry and Limerick to Foynes.

Pete_Cavan · 10-01-2021 9:33pm

If it is mentioned in the revised NDP, I'd say it will be along the lines of how further sections of the WRC were mentioned in the previous one; assess its feasibility and fund if viable or something like that. The recently published reports on WRC should see it omitted in the revision, Limerick - Foynes could slot in in its place.

Paddico · 13-01-2022 3:23pm

Was the study to re-open this ever published

munchkin_utd · 15-11-2022 11:26am

what on earth will the railway actually carry ?

From what I see Foynes specialises in bulk cargo, which on paper lends itsself perfectly to a rail link, except that any recipient of bulk cargo would need to be connected to the rail network, if they are even anywhere near a rail line in the first place.

Their new strategy for growth is importing windmills, so great, but not something for the irish railways with its low bridges and whatnot

Theres mentioning of Hydrogen production there but thats far in the future still.

They dont do containers in Foynes so the trains wouldnt carry those, so what will they carry ? Its a very large investment for a very hidden if not non-existant use case . It seems to be a case of "build it and they will come", but is there literally nothing more in the reopening than that ?

loyatemu · 15-11-2022 12:48pm

it's mentioned on the first page of this thread (11 years ago!) that there's a Zinc mine opening in Pallas East near the Limerick Junction line - is that still a potential customer?

munchkin_utd · 15-11-2022 1:58pm

reading a bit more, the locals are not dreaming of any job creation in logistics or industry, its about having a train to bring people to the Ryder cup.

In the Dail, Eamonn Ryan even says the same. So, its a 104million euro railway to a "strategic" port as a front to get cash for a rail link for the Ryder cup.

https://www.kildarestreet.com/debate/?id=2022-03-03a.65

In fairness, Eamonn Ryan does mention "Ore" so maybe thats the initial business case, but jesus, can someone not say this explicitly or are they in typical dept of transport mode that they are petrified of getting sued over anti competitive behaviour.

MyLove4Satan · 20-11-2022 6:09pm

The line is actually being reopened - the plant and equiptment has already arrived on site.

Limerick-Foynes Rail Line

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