Western Rail Corridor / Rail Trail

serfboard wrote: »

L1011 wrote: »

it will have zero impact on whether it happens or not.

Alright - another way of reading this is to say that there will not be enough people using a train service to significantly affect traffic numbers.

Would make you question why it is being proposed if that's the case.

Because they have the dart up in Dublin?

L1011 wrote: »

The last few posts have been about the proposed Navan reinstatement which is in the East. Multiple reasons it's slipped down the priority list over time from political to practical and cost. If it becomes enough of an election issue there next time it may jump back up

well at least I wasn't off topic!

serfboard wrote: »

L1011 wrote: »

If it becomes enough of an election issue there next time it may jump back up

Indeed and if it does, a train line connecting a town of 30,000 people to a city of 1.4 million is far more justifiable than one connecting a handful of small towns to a city of 80,000.

Even considering that they have the luas up in Dublin?

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Little point talking about reopening Navan or anywhere else in the next few years, IE won't have any rolling stock to put on it.

The additional rolling stock won't be needed. Between the existing roads projects on the N4, N5, N22, N25/N30 and Sallins, the National Children's Hospital and the National Broadband Plan, there'll be very little money for any more infrastructure.

And that's before any talk about another hundred million for the WRC!

Muckyboots wrote: »

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2273624476232167&id=1401404010120889

The funny thing about Neil Cruise stepping up on this one asking for the planning application is the only comments he is getting on his FB page is from people telling him they want a greenway, perhaps he might start listening! Certainly I know the KM Greenway supporters are keen to see the application and have their submissions lined up ready to go!

Muckyboots wrote: »

Muckyboots wrote: »

Any news on the "as is reasonably practicable" velo/cycle/rail, still €300,00 in the red, 12-year lease with no trains, eventually joining into Claremorris, we can have tourist projects on the rail line in Mayo- but you can't in Galway, if it hasn't a saddle- it's not a bike, we'll join dots all the way to Sligo but we admit it will never happen, delighted we lost the An Board Pleanala battle with Brendan Quinn project ?
https://www.midwestradio.ie/index.php/news/30842-an-bord-pleanala-insist-planning-required-for-velo-rail-project-in-kiltimagh

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2273624476232167&id=1401404010120889

There's a strong rumour circulating in Aras an Contae in recent days to the effect that the mayo county council executive is sick to the teeth of the whole Kiltimagh debacle, and that they are backing away from their previous position of unequivocal support for the velorail project.
It now looks as if that project won't be built. They have used up all the avaliable funding and very little has happened, and the council doesn't intend to throw more money at it.

serfboard wrote: »

The half a mill in funding that the velorail has got came from EU LEADER funding, approved by the Minister for Mayo, Michael Ring. How much Council money went into it?

Quite a bit of "costs" apparently, I'm not sure how much of that was actual budget and how much was the use of Council staff and resources, but I'm sure it will all come out in the wash eventually.
Apparently not all the half million was actually drawn down, and some making up had to be done from Council funds. Or so I've been told.

Sligo eye wrote: »

You are not seeing the whole picture Westtip. Perhaps the other posters on that page have blocked you?

don't flatter yourself, I look at FB from a few different angles, it is fairly clear Cllr Cruise is not reading the public mood.

eastwest wrote: »

There's a strong rumour circulating in Aras an Contae in recent days to the effect that the mayo county council executive is sick to the teeth of the whole Kiltimagh debacle, and that they are backing away from their previous position of unequivocal support for the velorail project.
It now looks as if that project won't be built. They have used up all the avaliable funding and very little has happened, and the council doesn't intend to throw more money at it.

I have also heard that MCC don't even respond to letters from the IRD now so maybe they are truly sick of the wasted effort that has gone into the Velorail, one Mayo cllr told me recently that the "Velorrail is seen as a millstone around the neck of the council and they wish they had must tarmacced the whole track over to make a path, the same Mayo Cllor also told me they are sick of hearing from certain quarters in the county with their fantasy railway plans!" We could be seeing a complete change at MCC who knows!

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Id really love to know where all the funding so far has gone. Yes the line was cleared of all the overgrown bushes etc but eh that was about it and its becoming all overgrown again anyway. Id be interested in what a FOI request might show. And fwiw as far as i can ascertain there is now little support for this project in town, most people would prefer it to be part of a linked up Greenway

Where the money has gone is something we'll probably never find out. A lot of these 'schemes' are typically very heavy in overheads, but that's kind-of understood in the whole nod and wink culture of this somewhat vague area. Once a project is delivered eventually, nobody asks whether some local smart Alec has managed to benefit disproportionately from the largesse of a minister.
The problem in Kiltimagh of course is that the project may never now happen, which could leave any beneficiaries of the process a bit exposed if anyone digs a bit.

Lord Glentoran wrote: »

Nobody has funded that journalism thing on boards yet, so can’t see the Government spending more than the cost of the velo scheme investigating the velo scheme for the benefit of the greenway campaigners...

They won't look at the cost of the investigation against the amount of the losses, they never do. If a properly structured complaint is made, raising concerns about an issue that is within their remit, they will investigate it fully.

Not that it would cost much; all the information is there within the files of the Local Authority and the funding agencies and/or Departments, so anyone with basic auditing skills would find out the truth of it pretty quickly.
And given that the Minister approved funding against the written advice of DTTAS officials, I'd imagine that a lot of people within the Department would be more than happy to point an auditor in the right direction on this one!
And it wouldn't be 'for the benefit of the greenway campaigners'; good governance is in all our interests.