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Controversial Irish Rail extensions

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  • 06-07-2020 1:36pm
    #1
    ohographite
    Registered Users Posts: 312 ✭✭


    Please read these rules before posting:

    This is a thread for people to share any idea for an extension to Irish Rail's network that they would like, but that they think is controversial.
    It can be anything you'd like to see, whether you think it will happen or not.

    Please do not make suggestions for extensions that you intend as a joke, such as a branch line just to serve one person's house.
    Please do not make over the top criticism of other people's ideas either, such as calling them a joke, or saying they'd be the worst investment ever made in Ireland.

    This is a thread for extensions to the Irish Rail network only, so it isn't for Luas or Metro line ideas.


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    #2
    CucamarMor
    Registered Users Posts: 23 ✭CucamarMor


    Reopening the old Waterford to Wexford line to create a link with Rosslare that serves the West and South of country.


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    #3
    ohographite
    Registered Users Posts: 312 ✭✭ohographite


    Here's my idea, to give an example:

    Tramore to Waterford reopening + a line connecting it to Waterford Plunkett Station.

    It would start on the seafront, kind of in the centre of Tramore, on an embankment. The embankment would circle the eastern edge of the town, protecting the park and houses from coastal erosion and flooding.
    Then it would run along the original Waterford-Tramore railway trackbed until the southern edge of Waterford city. It would have a new station there for passengers travelling to or from the southern part of the city, since Plunkett station(which is on the northern edge of it) isn't much use to them.
    Finally, it would run along the western edge of Waterford city, and cross the river Suir, to finish in Plunkett station.

    All trains to and from Dublin would use the line as far as the Waterford south station.
    Some of them would go to and from Tramore, too.

    I do not believe any of this will happen, but I still think it should.


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    #4
    ohographite
    Registered Users Posts: 312 ✭✭ohographite


    CucamarMor wrote: »
    Reopening the old Waterford to Wexford line to create a link with Rosslare that serves the West and South of country.

    Is that the one via Bridgetown that closed in 2010?


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    #5
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users Posts: 15,731 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    Navan. Railtour ban for years so locals wouldn't get wild ideas that passenger services can be run.


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    #6
    GerardKeating
    Registered Users Posts: 7,526 ✭✭✭GerardKeating


    CucamarMor wrote: »
    Reopening the old Waterford to Wexford line to create a link with Rosslare that serves the West and South of country.

    They could/should make a loop of it, with many/all Wexford train extended to waterford via the South Wexford line, and Waterford trains extended to Wexford as well, so trains would do

    Connolly-Bray-Wexford-Waterford-Kilkenny-Hueston and the reverse.


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    #7
    River Suir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭River Suir


    Extend the Northern line to Dublin Airport and quad track from Malahide to Connolly to allow for capacity. Start and finish all Dublin originated InterCity trains at Dublin Airport.


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    #8
    Lord Glentoran
    Closed Accounts Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Lord Glentoran


    As the OP specifies Irish Rail, extend the Sligo line to Donegal Town via Bundoran and with a view to extending to Letterkenny and Derry.

    If NI Railways acceptable then extend the Derry line to Letterkenny.


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    #9
    Isambard
    Registered Users Posts: 5,796 ✭✭✭Isambard


    i can think of a few sensible ones , some plain stupid ones, but controversial ones are scarce.


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    #10
    Curb Your Enthusiasm
    Registered Users Posts: 3,462 ✭✭✭Curb Your Enthusiasm


    Extend the Cork - Midleton line out to Youghal. Look into providing rail towards Carrigaline and Ballincollig once again. Carrigaline line could connect Ringaskiddy Port and Passage / Rochestown into town also.

    Would absolutely love to see West Cork connected by rail again sometime in the future, down towards Skibbereen / Clonakilty / Bandon, etc, perhaps Kinsale too.

    Connect up Shannon Airport and Dublin Airport to nearby mainline rail lines.

    Connecting County Donegal by rail is a must IMO.


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    #11
    JeffK88
    Registered Users Posts: 627 ✭✭✭JeffK88


    ohographite wrote: »
    Here's my idea, to give an example:

    Tramore to Waterford reopening + a line connecting it to Waterford Plunkett Station.

    It would start on the seafront, kind of in the centre of Tramore, on an embankment. The embankment would circle the eastern edge of the town, protecting the park and houses from coastal erosion and flooding.
    Then it would run along the original Waterford-Tramore railway trackbed until the southern edge of Waterford city. It would have a new station there for passengers travelling to or from the southern part of the city, since Plunkett station(which is on the northern edge of it) isn't much use to them.
    Finally, it would run along the western edge of Waterford city, and cross the river Suir, to finish in Plunkett station.

    All trains to and from Dublin would use the line as far as the Waterford south station.
    Some of them would go to and from Tramore, too.

    I do not believe any of this will happen, but I still think it should.

    This could be done as a tourist railway and commuter something like a mini Muni like they have in San Francisco. Electrify the route and acquire some vintage trams/streetcars for a tourist/commuter route plus newer commuter stock similar to the muni-metro in SF. Never going to happen but that would be cool. Could even extend it along the promenade along the beach front.


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    #12
    end of the road
    Registered Users Posts: 28,984 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    the athlone to mullingar mainline.
    a railway through cavan and monaghan, would probably need to be a new route to be able to serve the main towns of the counties more directly.
    they wouldn't be irish rail operations today if opened but i'm including them anyway, the derry road and reopen to armagh.

    ticking a box on a form does not make you of a religion.



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    #13
    River Suir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭River Suir


    ohographite wrote: »
    Here's my idea, to give an example:

    Tramore to Waterford reopening + a line connecting it to Waterford Plunkett Station.

    It would start on the seafront, kind of in the centre of Tramore, on an embankment. The embankment would circle the eastern edge of the town, protecting the park and houses from coastal erosion and flooding.
    Then it would run along the original Waterford-Tramore railway trackbed until the southern edge of Waterford city. It would have a new station there for passengers travelling to or from the southern part of the city, since Plunkett station(which is on the northern edge of it) isn't much use to them.
    Finally, it would run along the western edge of Waterford city, and cross the river Suir, to finish in Plunkett station.

    All trains to and from Dublin would use the line as far as the Waterford south station.
    Some of them would go to and from Tramore, too.

    I do not believe any of this will happen, but I still think it should.

    Excellent idea, I would continue the Light Rail up to New Ross.


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    #14
    cgcsb
    Registered Users Posts: 9,272 ✭✭✭cgcsb


    Restoring the West Cork railway would be a good start every town along the cost there is chockers with cars.


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    #15
    Curb Your Enthusiasm
    Registered Users Posts: 3,462 ✭✭✭Curb Your Enthusiasm


    cgcsb wrote: »
    Restoring the West Cork railway would be a good start every town along the cost there is chockers with cars.

    Imagine not only the local / Commuter traffic, but huge tourism opportunities too.

    Closing the West Cork railways will go down as one of the major failings in Irish transport history.


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    #16
    GT89
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,770 ✭✭✭GT89


    Maybe not too controversial but build a station in Navan soon and run half hourly shuttles between Navan and Drogheda whilst working on extending and electrifying the line from M3 Parkway to Navan. Convert the Navan to Kingscourt stretch to Greenway.


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    #17
    end of the road
    Registered Users Posts: 28,984 ✭✭✭✭end of the road


    kingscourt line i believe is already in the process of being greenwayed.
    wouldn't be on my list of reopenings anyway personally.
    i don't think the factory that did use it puts out as much as it did these days does it, anyone know?

    ticking a box on a form does not make you of a religion.



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    #18
    Geog1234
    Registered Users Posts: 311 ✭✭Geog1234


    GT89 wrote: »
    Maybe not too controversial but build a station in Navan soon and run half hourly shuttles between Navan and Drogheda whilat working on extending and electrifying the line from M3 Parkway to Navan. Convert the Navan to Kingscourt stretch to Greenway.

    Fully agree with the potential for using Navan - Drogheda and the existing station is fit for purpose. Special trains operated as recent as the 1990s without any issue. Could be done but a smokescreen appears to be presented citing costs to upgrade the line to passenger standards which I don't fully buy. If a (passenger) train was driven to Navan in the morning I'm confident it would get there and back without any issues too.


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    #19
    Lord Glentoran
    Closed Accounts Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Lord Glentoran


    Geog1234 wrote: »
    Fully agree with the potential for using Navan - Drogheda and the existing station is fit for purpose. Special trains operated as recent as the 1990s without any issue. Could be done but a smokescreen appears to be presented citing costs to upgrade the line to passenger standards which I don't fully buy. If a (passenger) train was driven to Navan in the morning I'm confident it would get there and back without any issues too.

    Fully agree. Sounds like the excuses that prevented the Phoenix Park tunnel from being used for commuter trains for so long. Drogheda Navan is long overdue and would be an easy win


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    #20
    Del.Monte
    Registered Users Posts: 12,363 ✭✭✭✭Del.Monte


    Controversial Irish Rail extensions = anything outside the Greater Dublin Area.

    ****



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    #21
    Oscar Madison
    Registered Users Posts: 689 ✭✭✭Oscar Madison


    Waterford to Cork.


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    #22
    cgcsb
    Registered Users Posts: 9,272 ✭✭✭cgcsb


    Del.Monte wrote: »
    Controversial Irish Rail extensions = anything outside the Greater Dublin Area.

    What Irish Rail extensions have there been inside Greater Dublin in the last 100 years?


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    #23
    Lord Glentoran
    Closed Accounts Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Lord Glentoran


    cgcsb wrote: »
    What Irish Rail extensions have there been inside Greater Dublin in the last 100 years?

    Service extensions certainly, and for those of us with long memories all met with opposition, and from seemingly surprising quarters. The service to Maynooth, for example, was done by ministerial diktat in 1981 and was opposed by CIE. Now imagine West Dublin commuting without it. And if I had a penny for every wiseacre b1tching in the Sindo and the Turbine about DART I’d be a wealthy man.


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    #24
    whisky_galore
    Registered Users Posts: 15,731 ✭✭✭✭whisky_galore


    Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

    Closing the West Cork railways will go down as one of the major failings in Irish transport history.

    One of the few lines locals put up any kind of a fight to resist closure.


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    #25
    Losty Dublin
    Registered Users Posts: 12,962 ✭✭✭✭Losty Dublin


    Lord Glentoran wrote: »
    Service extensions certainly, and for those of us with long memories all met with opposition, and from seemingly surprising quarters. The service to Maynooth, for example, was done by ministerial diktat in 1981 and was opposed by CIE. Now imagine West Dublin commuting without it. And if I had a penny for every wiseacre b1tching in the Sindo and the Turbine about DART I’d be a wealthy man.

    There was a good reason why they opposed it; they had nothing left to run a new service and no way of paying it. Even their last bean at the time was bought on the never never and true to form the Kildare St mandarins wanted the service but they had no intention to pay for any of it. In the end they used 2600 push pull sets that were supposed to have been withdrawn and scrapped when Howth-Bray services were scaled down when the DART infrastructure was built.


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    #26
    Lord Glentoran
    Closed Accounts Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Lord Glentoran


    Losty Dublin wrote: »
    There was a good reason why they opposed it; they had nothing left to run a new service and no way of paying it. Even their last bean at the time was bought on the never never and true to form the Kildare St mandarins wanted the service but they had no intention to pay for any of it. In the end they used 2600 push pull sets that were supposed to have been withdrawn and scrapped when Howth-Bray services were scaled down when the DART infrastructure was built.

    I remember the push-pull sets well. Practically deteriorating daily, and not helped by feral little thugs stoning the trains or, in one memorable case, throwing a banger through an open window from the balcony of some flats near Croke Park.


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    #27
    Losty Dublin
    Registered Users Posts: 12,962 ✭✭✭✭Losty Dublin


    Lord Glentoran wrote: »
    I remember the push-pull sets well. Practically deteriorating daily, and not helped by feral little thugs stoning the trains or, in one memorable case, throwing a banger through an open window from the balcony of some flats near Croke Park.

    How dare you insult inner city dwellers. Salta di Iirth, that's what they are :pac:


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    #28
    GT89
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,770 ✭✭✭GT89


    Geog1234 wrote: »
    Fully agree with the potential for using Navan - Drogheda and the existing station is fit for purpose. Special trains operated as recent as the 1990s without any issue. Could be done but a smokescreen appears to be presented citing costs to upgrade the line to passenger standards which I don't fully buy. If a (passenger) train was driven to Navan in the morning I'm confident it would get there and back without any issues too.

    If freight trains can run on it as is I don't see why passenger trains can't run too. Why not electrify it and run Dublin-Navan-Drogheda trains in the long run. I mean Navan and Drogheda are big towns that would justify a rail service between the two.


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    #29
    ohographite
    Registered Users Posts: 312 ✭✭ohographite


    cgcsb wrote: »
    What Irish Rail extensions have there been inside Greater Dublin in the last 100 years?

    Only Clonsilla to M3 Parkway.
    I think there should've been a lot more, and I have 3 suggestions which haven't been suggested on this thread yet:

    1. A brand new line running from M3 Parkway, through Rathoath(with a station there), to Ashbourne.

    2. A brand new line from Hazelhatch to Maynooth, which would hug the western edge of Celbridge, and which would have one new station there.
    It would be triple-tracked. Two tracks would be for suburban trains, and the third would be for Sligo trains so they can be diverted via the heuston-hazelhatch multi track, and the phoenix park tunnel.
    This means they can zoom out of Dublin, which they can't do from Connolly to Maynooth via Ashtown if it gets a more frequent commuter train service(commuter trains would slow it down on just a double track).

    3. A little bit of track connecting Docklands station with the line that runs through Drumcondra station, so commuter trains going to Docklands can stop in Drumcondra instead of running on that other line with no stations on it.
    That means this other line with no stations on it can be used for Sligo trains, so(with my 2nd suggestion) this'd mean Sligo trains can get out of Dublin without sharing most of their right of way with commuter trains.


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    #30
    River Suir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭River Suir


    ohographite wrote: »
    Only Clonsilla to M3 Parkway.
    I think there should've been a lot more, and I have 3 suggestions which haven't been suggested on this thread yet:

    1. A brand new line running from M3 Parkway, through Rathoath(with a station there), to Ashbourne.

    2. A brand new line from Hazelhatch to Maynooth, which would hug the western edge of Celbridge, and which would have one new station there.
    It would be triple-tracked. Two tracks would be for suburban trains, and the third would be for Sligo trains so they can be diverted via the heuston-hazelhatch multi track, and the phoenix park tunnel.
    This means they can zoom out of Dublin, which they can't do from Connolly to Maynooth via Ashtown if it gets a more frequent commuter train service(commuter trains would slow it down on just a double track).

    3. A little bit of track connecting Docklands station with the line that runs through Drumcondra station, so commuter trains going to Docklands can stop in Drumcondra instead of running on that other line with no stations on it.
    That means this other line with no stations on it can be used for Sligo trains, so(with my 2nd suggestion) this'd mean Sligo trains can get out of Dublin without sharing most of their right of way with commuter trains.

    The proposal to link Maynooth to Hazelhatch has been mentioned here before and I think it would add huge value to not only the Sligo service but also potentially pave the way to reopening the Athlone-Moate-Mullingar section to handle some Galway or Westport trains as well.

    I'm not sure about moving Sligo trains through the PPT - I would start them from Heuston until which point the Dart Underground line was built.

    If the DU does get built does that leave open the prospect of a proper Central Rail and Bus terminus for Dublin? It could for instance be on the site of the present Connolly station but would need a bigger footprint.


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    #31
    Rulmeq
    Registered Users Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭Rulmeq


    .


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