317 forever
Established Member
Having travelled from Waterford to Limerick Jn, and onto Cork, and from Tralee to Cork, in June I would feel relieved to have done these lines then if they were to close.
On RTÉ Prime Time, a lot was argued about lack of Investments on the Ballybrophy line, yet nobody mentioned that Ennis-Athenry had that Investment and is still underused. Are those line to rural to suceed ?
Lesson here for some of the more optimistic proponents of reopening on this forum - built it and they may not come?
Why did they reopen the line to Ballybrohpy? It's just fields.
*Yawns*
They've been threatening to close Limerick to Ballybrophy for years, and it still isn't likely to happen any time soon.
I too don't know why they bothered re-opening Western Rail Corridor, that was a huge waste of money. Keeping Waterford to Rosslare open would have been a far better use of money!
Rail in Ireland is poorly used, full stop, outside the county of Dublin. Northern Ireland fare better, but then rail fares are so much better up there. So many areas in the Republic of Ireland (note I use the full name here in this sentence to clarify which part of the country I refer to) need better information systems on their stations. I found this a major pain when I covered the country's railways, I mean come on if the ultra rural shacks on the Heart of Wales line can get decent passenger information screens then so should Ireland.
My opinion is simply to leave just these lines running:
Dublin - Athlone - Galway
Athlone - Westport and Ballina
Portarlington - Cork
Dublin - Belfast
Limerick Junction - Limerick
Dublin - Waterford
The rest have such poor service I wouldn't bother wasting money on them. Dublin to Rosslare by rail for ferry connections is so poor you're far better off getting the coach. Mind you that's been the case since December 2004 at least!
*Yawns*
They've been threatening to close Limerick to Ballybrophy for years, and it still isn't likely to happen any time soon.
I too don't know why they bothered re-opening Western Rail Corridor, that was a huge waste of money. Keeping Waterford to Rosslare open would have been a far better use of money!
Rail in Ireland is poorly used, full stop, outside the county of Dublin. Northern Ireland fare better, but then rail fares are so much better up there. So many areas in the Republic of Ireland (note I use the full name here in this sentence to clarify which part of the country I refer to) need better information systems on their stations. I found this a major pain when I covered the country's railways, I mean come on if the ultra rural shacks on the Heart of Wales line can get decent passenger information screens then so should Ireland.
They've been threatening to close Limerick to Ballybrophy for years, and it still isn't likely to happen any time soon.
My opinion is simply to leave just these lines running:
Dublin - Athlone - Galway
Athlone - Westport and Ballina
Portarlington - Cork
Dublin - Belfast
Limerick Junction - Limerick
Dublin - Waterford
The rest have such poor service I wouldn't bother wasting money on them. Dublin to Rosslare by rail for ferry connections is so poor you're far better off getting the coach. Mind you that's been the case since December 2004 at least!
Ballybrophy to Limerick is about 8km shorter via Nenagh than via Thurles, albeit the branch is a slow route. There must be some scope for speed improvements however and a new curve at Ballybrophy could allow the junction station there to close and Dublin - Limerick direct trains to be rerouted via Nenagh instead of Thurles, all calling at Roscrea and Nenagh en route. That would be a step change in service, a through train from Dublin for the first time in decades I guess. I would close the other intermediate stations on the branch, except possibly Castleconnel ('Limerick Parkway' potential) to help speed up the journey, which is nearly an hour longer than via Thurles).
I agree as a ferry link it's next to useless today but the Dublin - Rosslare line could be cut back to Wexford, retaining almost all its current utility, and patronage I would hazard a guess. That would avoid the awkward and time consuming street running along the quay, and the hour or so saving on a round trip might allow some strengthening of service frequency north of Wexford with the same quota of rolling stock and crew.
Kerry would be particularly displeased with you notion of depriving the county of all its rail services, especially as they have yet to see any motorways!
Ireland is a place that like Wales would benefit from a single integrated public transport system comprising bus and rail, with a single national zonal fare system. And it'd be much easier to do it in Ireland as it's nationalised anyway.
Oh those screens are annoying at Connolly. Heuston's ones are better, but far from perfect.
Ireland is a place that like Wales would benefit from a single integrated public transport system comprising bus and rail, with a single national zonal fare system. And it'd be much easier to do it in Ireland as it's nationalised anyway.
I was privy to the prolonged gestation of the Leap Card in Dublin. Dublin Bus Management fought long and hard against it, and it took over a decade to get to a point where all side agreed to implement Leap in Dublin.
You are talking about Ireland here. The Government here could not run a bath! The unions will not allow a single integrated public transport system here, as it would upset their cozy cartels. The Management are the same, protecting their own little fiefdoms.
I can't help but think that that could be solved by the Government making them into one company a la Northern Ireland!
Perhaps not brave enough.
I'd be curious to hear more of that! I heard on the grapevine that one of the issues with Dublin Bus was that they did not agree with a smart-card because the credit loaded on the card could potentially be used for people to travel using different travel companies and they were worried that this would lead to some revenue abstraction? Was that the case or indeed just a rumour?
This is the case.
As you may be aware Dublin Bus are the primary providers of services in the city. There are a couple of Private Companies that operate services into Dublin (Gray Line and Swords Express are two that come to mind), who were involved in discussions about Leap. Swords Express wanted to operate limited stop services from Swords which would take revenue from Dublin Bus routes 41(A/B/C), the majority of which went via the Airport.
Dublin Bus put some services out to tender, (Services like the 17, 18, 75 etc). Non of the services tendered went into the City Centre. Because of the threat of strike action by Dublin Bus drivers, the tendered services were put back into the Dublin Bus fold.
Percentage wise I believe Iarnrod Eireann get more subvention per head of population than the UK Rail System gets. A lot of that money is wasted in grossly inefficient Management and Working Practices, but you can understand why from my previous observations.
Finally if you want to see how not to run a Public Transport system come to Ireland. Bus Eireann are having rings run around them by the plethora of well run, comfortable Private Operators, many of whom offer Leap Card facilities for their longer distance services, (Wexford Bus being one).
The biggest bugbear I have with ineffiences is on the DART and Clontarf Depot. There is a train depot 50m from a train station near the city centre, The train stops at the depot, the drivers change (during peak hour trains) everyone on the train gets delayed by 4 mins waiting for the drivers to change,, the new driver gets on, drives for 10 seconds and the train stops again and passengers get on and get off at the actual station. There is a clear path from the depot to the station, but still the train has to stop right next to the depot as well. The reverse happens in the other direction, train stops at a station, everyone gets on or off, drives for 10 seconds, stops for 3-4 minutes to change drivers at the depot.
I don't know much about Dublin Bus, apart from frustrations about waiting on Lower Abbey Street for a 41 to the airport and you can be there for 30+ minutes before one shows up, despite there allegedly being three buses due in that time!
Clontarf depot, been there and experienced such idiocy. Such a thing in the UK would be met with huge outcries and massive threads on this forum!
I don't know much about Dublin Bus, apart from frustrations about waiting on Lower Abbey Street for a 41 to the airport and you can be there for 30+ minutes before one shows up, despite there allegedly being three buses due in that time!
Is the LUAS extension being welcomed over there? I'm rather looking forward to it being completeted so I have a good excuse to get back over there. Some proper Guiness would have to be sampled too of course
I just hope the trams won't be permanently stuck in traffic trams when they reach O'Connell Street!