Western Rail Corridor

Judgement Day

Westtip is it you?

DWCommuter

Sponge Bob wrote: »

You know this is rather well written so it could not have come from any of the regulars in this thread except for me . I did not write it , however .

Very well done to Brendan Quinn whoever he may be

http://www.galwayindependent.com/letters/letters/wrc-not-a-great-priority-/

Dear Editor,

Hey Sponge

Whats with this "regulars here couldn't write this except for you" bull****?

With respect to Mr. Quinn, many (myself included) have done this over the years and radio and TV.

The unique aspect of this particular letter is that its apparently from a west of Ireland resident. So from a regular diatribe of baloney from WOT and their flock, we get a reasoned argument from a "normal" west of Ireland resident. Thats welcoming and refreshing in equal measure. We agree on that much.

Sponge Bob

DWCommuter wrote: »

Hey Sponge

Whats with this "regulars here couldn't write this except for you"

Not very elegaic DW , must try harder .

dermo88

Screw the Western Rail corridor, for frankly speaking, the amount of money about to be spent, or has been spent bailing out the Banks could build almost everything that was needed. Not only that, but almost every fantasy project a trainspotter wanted. Worse than that again.

It was given, willingly, with hardly any consideration to viability, or other strange words.

It was given to the people who messed up, by the advice of the people who messed up, who should be lined up against the wall of Kilmainham jail and shot.

May God help us, because this is the reality of how much NAMA costs, or rather SCAMA.

Does anyone think they can find 150 ounces of GOLD for every man woman and child left in Ireland when the Bank guarantee goes through.

Thats what it amounts to. The Paddy Peso, AKA Irish Pound will return, and drop like a hot snot. Christ on a bike, I have no cigarettes left now, and my family and friends do not get the message. GET your cash out now you silly people, because the elites already have.

Get your money out, now, fast, because NAMA.....does anyone comprehend what 150 ounces of Gold in Bank Guarantees represents.

Its about 600 Gold Sovereigns. Per person, in Ireland.

We could'nt chop the fingers off enough skangers to pay for the whole mess fast enough.

I'll expand on the rest in the economics forum. I cannot wait for the reaction.

westtip

Judgement Day wrote: »

Westtip is it you?

As if Anonymity is the beauty of the boards. tee hee.

Judgement Day wrote: »

Westtip the link isn't working .....WOT at work? Anyway I read the earlier anti-WRC letter and apart from anything else I just love these people who totally generalise 'everyone I speak to doesn't place any importance on having the WRC reopened'... If there's anything worse than a WOT zealot it's an anti-WRC zealot! Anyway, do you think we can reach 3,000 postings on this thread before the reopening of Ennis/Athenry takes place?

I think the point the second letter writer was making, Mr. Quinn - is that you don't write to the papers (as the first guy did) with the kind of phrase like

Many young people in Dublin are surprised when I tell them that there is currently no train service between the Republic's second, third and fourth cities or indeed that there is no rail link in the West to Sligo, Derry or Donegal

-as per the original letter from Nial O'Brocoli re young people in Dublin being in some state of trauma about such an issue, its like saying I met a bloke in the pub last night truly astonished at the lack of bullet trains in the west of Ireland. the letter writer set himself up to have the complete and utter p*ss taken out of himself - I think the response letter was - now don't get me wrong - was in fact taking the p*ss!

Really the whole thing is a bit of fun at this stage...... I await the voodoo doll...and yes in answer to your question JD.

Chris_533976

Sponge Bob wrote: »

You know this is rather well written so it could not have come from any of the regulars in this thread except for me .

Umm I've had eloquent letters in the papers before.

DWCommuter

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Not very elegaic DW , must try harder .

Elegaic is a beautiful word Sponge, but I think only you understand its relevence to what you quoted.

black47

Anyone heard about the new programme for Government? Will the greens be dancing at the crossroads with WOT as Fr. Micheal and the train pass by on their way to Claremorris

westtip

black47 wrote: »

Anyone heard about the new programme for Government? Will the greens be dancing at the crossroads with WOT as Fr. Micheal and the train pass by on their way to Claremorris

Makes no differnece WOT they agree it is all cloud cuckoo land.

serfboard

Rail
This Government is committed to the provision of a safe and efficient network of rail
Services. Construction is nearing completion or well underway on Phase 1 of the
Western Rail Corridor, the Kildare Line upgrade, Navan (Phase 1) and the Dublin city
centre re-signalling project. Work will continue on the subsequent phases of the
Western Rail Corridor and Navan projects for earliest possible delivery.

Aspirational. Define the bolded statements.

westtip

serfboard wrote: »

Aspirational. Define the bolded statements.

Precisely - they were hardly going to abondon it mid term wtih the greens on their back - so the wording of the new programme is purely aspirational - just we all know it won't happen, and if it does the service will not be used enough to justify it - However the encouraging thing is in the roads programme nothing was mentioned about abandonning the Atlantic Road Corridor - just a review of those projects which are basically already on the long finger - and the specific abondonnment of the outer Dublin Ring road - which was not going to happen anyway. Thank goodness the Atlantic Road Corridor was not signalled out in such a way to be a named abandonned project. We need it for public transport in the west. I had to go to Galway last night from Sligo - I hadn't done the N17 for a month or so - My god it reminded me of the horrors people are facing on a daily basis on this road.

RE another pet subject of mine: Claremorris -Collooney - the new programme for Government did not thank goodness start stating that this section will be added to the fairy tale of the WRC

However it did say this (sound familiar??)

We will promote the development of cycling as a growth area for tourism.
· We will introduce an All-Ireland Walkways Development Plan, mapping out
infrastructural needs and routes and maximising their use. We will pursue the
possibility of using former railway infrastructure as recreational trails for cycling
etc. in partnership with Iarnród Éireann.

From page 13 of the document issued this weekendhttp://www.irishtimes.com/focus/2009/pfg/index.pdf

jasonh

Folks

When my yearly rail ticket from Athenry - Galway expires in January, i'm half considering giving it up and going back to driving into galway city for my daily commute into work.

The reasons for this, is mainly the inflexibility of the service, i.e. I either get the 6.05pm back out or the 9.40pm - that it's. Which is playing havoc with me trying to incorporate a gym session in the evenings. I use to be part of the radisson gym club, in the old days when the train use to leave @ 6.30 pm - which was perfect timing, finish work at 5 and get 45mins cardio. I had to cancel that membership and join the raheen woods one in athenry. Which i tend to make excuses to myself NOT to go - 'coz i'm nearly home now'.

I'd rather not have to drive in - because of expense, stress, carbon footprint, more prone to accidents, etc.

Does anyone have any idea if by January we will know if we'll have a more frequent service between Athenry and Galway. And if so, how frequent? Any word of a new timetable?

Thanks

Jason

Nostradamus

jasonh wrote: »

Does anyone have any idea if by January we will know if we'll have a more frequent service between Athenry and Galway. And if so, how frequent? Any word of a new timetable?

Should be more trains alright but one thing I would like to know. What provision for extra movements in and out of Galway station?

I get the feeling there are going to be a lot of extra mid day services into Galway but little or no change in peak hour services.

I have read nothing so far about how tunaround time at Galway with its 1.5 platforms is going to have on the service. I suspect it'll be a night mare.

crocro

Are there not two platforms in Galway? There seems to be a spare shed beside the main one.

Surely there's a bus service from Athenry to Galway? Is there a bus lane?

http://www.galwaynews.ie/9162-tumbleweed-tuam-public-meeting-draws-tiny-crowd

Tumbleweed in Tuam as public meeting draws tiny crowd
Thu 15th October 2009

Corrie is a bigger draw than Tuam Hospital and Rail Corridor

Anyone would be forgiven for thinking that the people of Tuam had fled to the hills and that the traffic on the streets had been replaced by tumbleweed – such was the attendance which turned to a public meeting held in the town on Monday evening.

A football team and their subs would have occupied more space in the 300-seater room of the Ard Ri House Hotel than the crowd that eventually turned out for the much publicised meeting, which turned out to be something of a fiasco.

In fact just 18 members of the public – taking into account that there is around a 7,000 population in the greater Tuam area – bothered to turn up to the public meeting which was organised by Tuam Town Council.

It wasn’t that it was a bad night or anything like that. The roads were certainly not blocked by snow drifts and there hadn’t been any significant rainfall in the Tuam area for the past three weeks so flooded roads was not an excuse.

Nor was it a shock that so few people turned out – there were nearly more politicians than there were members of the public – because a few years ago a similar public meeting failed to become the main attraction in Tuam. But for the fact that a few people trickled in from a novena in the local cathedral at the time, it would have been equally embarrassing.

Once again the main item on the agenda was the long running Tuam Hospital issue – and if it failed to draw an audience four or five years ago, there was little chance of it being a crowd puller this time around either. The lack of action over the issue has just worn people down and there is an acceptance that it just won’t happen.

While the intentions of the Tuam Town Council members, who put a lot of work into organising this meeting, were admirable, the people of the town spoke with their feet and told the elected members that they are just not interested anymore.

Not even the fact that there were other issues like the Tuam bypass, the Western Rail Corridor or...

westtip

Ahem - as a certain writer said a few posts ago:

http://www.galwayindependent.com/let...eat-priority-/

Anecdotally, everyone I ever speak to in the West places no importance on the need for the Western Rail Corridor project (WRC). In fact, apart from West on Track and local politicians jumping on the 'we must have it for the west' bandwagon, I don't know anyone who actually gives a damn about this project. Yes, many people have signed petitions, but it is not a major issue for many people in the West.

Judgement Day

I was just having a root in the bin archives and I came across this pic which all WOT fans should have on their dart boards. Several well known WOT officials are here including Fr.Michael McGreil who appears to be in the photograph twice .....truly the stuff of the Twilight Zone!

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/171218/93312.JPG

westtip

Brilliant JD. 1981 and they are still there - one thing you have to admire is their sheer bloody tenacity!

Nostradamus

Judgement Day wrote: »

I was just having a root in the bin archives and I came across this pic which all WOT fans should have on their dart boards. Several well known WOT officials are here including Fr.Michael McGreil who appears to be in the photograph twice .....truly the stuff of the Twilight Zone!

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/171218/93312.JPG

That's incredible! He is the same age then as now.

The guy in the back with the glasses smiling in one of West on Track as well. I think it even goes back further. I think it was Derek Wheeler who stumbled across a clipping were more or less WoT as it is now sent a delegation to Dublin in the mid-1970's to demand that the new Supertrains be taken off the "Dublin commuter route" and put on the WRC instead. I do not even think Dublin had a suburban service in the mid 70's.

westtip

Perhaps he is in fact a Timelord....spooky....

Nostradamus

westtip wrote: »

Perhaps he is in fact a Timelord....spooky....

Just studying that image again. I think 80% of the current WoT is in it.

Reminds me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hJQ18S6aag

ardmacha

I do not even think Dublin had a suburban service in the mid 70's.

Of course Dublin had a suburban service in the mid 70's. Supertrains it did not have!

Geez, i thought i'd landed into the politics.ie thread on the Western Rail Corridor, such is the level of sniping here. I'd like to go off topic here and ask,


Is there any word on when the athenry-limerick line will open? Or are they going to let all the new facilities go idle?

Ham'nd'egger

Deleted User wrote: »

Geez, i thought i'd landed into the politics.ie thread on the Western Rail Corridor, such is the level of sniping here. I'd like to go off topic here and ask,


Is there any word on when the athenry-limerick line will open? Or are they going to let all the new facilities go idle?

December is what I was told; rolling stock tests to begin in November once the last tamping of track is dealt with.

westtip

Deleted User wrote: »

Geez, i thought i'd landed into the politics.ie thread on the Western Rail Corridor, such is the level of sniping here. I'd like to go off topic here and ask,

Aye you have in fact hit the nail on the head - As we all know the Western Rail Corridor is in fact nothing to do with Commuting and Transport and is as you have inadvertently pointed out - is all about politics.

westtip

westtip wrote: »

Aye you have in fact hit the nail on the head - As we all know the Western Rail Corridor is in fact nothing to do with Commuting and Transport and is as you have inadvertently pointed out - is all about politics.

Westtip, if you want to talk about the politics of the Western Rail Corridor, could you and the morons who want to argue for and against you f*ck off over to either the Politics section of boards.ie or even better to www.politics.ie and leave the rest of us who don't give a sh*t but might consider getting to Limerick from Galway or Ballinasloe and wonder when we can do that.

corktina

get a bus...you can do that right now and it'll be quicker and cheaper.

Quicker?

By bus?

From Ballinasloe?

To dublin it's 4 hours, with a pee break only in athlone bus station. By bus. By train it's a 2 hour journey, with a shop (admittedly overpriced but hey, it's there) and the ability to get up and walk about. With Limerick it's 1 hour bus to Galway city then 2 hours to Limerick, or train to Portarlington, then to Limerick Junction, then Limerick.

Cop on.

Nostradamus

Deleted User wrote: »

Quicker? Bus? To dublin it's 4 hours with a pee break only in athlone by bus. By train it's 2 with a shop and the ability to get us and walk about. With Limerick it's 1 hour bus to Galway city then 2 hours to Limerick, or train to Portarlington. Cop on.

I nominate this post for the 2009 Turner Prize.

corktina

i would like to see some justification of those times....Citylink dont take two hours Gal to Lim as far as I know .How long do you imagine the train will take? You arent expecting a direct service are you///or a connection at Athenry.

Lose the attitude BTW