Glounthaune Midleton track laying underway

Typewriter

Latest photos start here...

http://finbarrsrailwayphotos.fotopic.net/p57040584.html

Chris_533976

Thanks.

I still think though with all the work thats going into this (after all the fuss) that its absolutely dismal that this is only single track.

KC61

There is no need for this line to be anything more than single track. There is a long dynamic loop going in at Carrigtwohill and this will facilitate a reasonably high frequency (every 15 mins) operation if required.

Why would you need any more than that?

What is planned is an hourly frequency off-peak (slotting in around the Cobh service) and half-hourly at peak.

Judgement Day

Thanks for the new pics green jesus. I hope they plant some new hedgerows along the dreadful prison camp fencing that parallels most of the line.

Chris 533976 - why on earth would you want a double track to Midleton for the miserable 2-car commuter railcar service that CIE/IE intend to provide. There is already a frequent bus service from Cork to Midleton which brings you into the town centre as opposed to the projected, infrequent rail service which will dump you on the outskirts of town.

Chris_533976

I'm just thinking that in the long term they might want to consider extending this to Youghal. Doing it as double track from day 1 would be a good idea.

Besides, whats the bet that the schedules will be dire and that trains will sit in the passing loop for absolutely ages waiting for other trains to pass?

invincibleirish

The WRC may be giving various regional lobbies ideas above their stations but i don't think there is much of a case for re-opening the line all the way to Youghal. Unless both Youghal & Killeagh experience major population growth its rather pointless opening up 20+ miles of track thru the east Cork countryside? but then Adrahan & Claremorris are as equally remote...

Victor

Chris_533976 wrote: »

I still think though with all the work thats going into this (after all the fuss) that its absolutely dismal that this is only single track.

Chris_533976 wrote: »

I'm just thinking that in the long term they might want to consider extending this to Youghal. Doing it as double track from day 1 would be a good idea. Besides, whats the bet that the schedules will be dire and that trains will sit in the passing loop for absolutely ages waiting for other trains to pass?

While Youghal may be an argument, there will only ever be one train in the Glounthaune-Midleton Section - nearly half of which is double track anyway. Double track would need some additional structural works, e.g. the river bridge west of Midleton is only suitable for single track.

Judgement Day wrote: »

Thanks for the new pics green jesus. I hope they plant some new hedgerows along the dreadful prison camp fencing that parallels most of the line.

Better a decent fence than a trespassing cow or person being struck.

dowlingm

I went to school in that area during the 90s and the population has grown substantially since but to extend to Youghal would be a questionable exercise unless you could show substantial traffic. Now if there was a connecting-same-ticket bus you could do just that of course, but there won't be. I am wondering what having Midleton as the terminus will do to the town's traffic - I'd rather see a P&R terminus a bit east, accessible from both the Dungourney and N25 roads.

Judgement Day

Sorry to disagree with you Victor but the pallisade fencing which adorns much of CIE/IEs property is an unforgiveable act of vandalism and does not keep out those seriously hell bent on trespass. They must have shares in the bloody company which makes the stuff.

As for reopening to Youghal - well apart from the fact that it should never have been closed - of course it should be reopened and should have been part of the present scheme. Youghal and environs boasts a population of 10,500 and used to be a major seaside destination for the population of Cork until CIE cut it off! It could be again and would be a major boost to the town, the people of Cork and the economics of the entire line. It is 14.25 miles from Midleton - not 20 - and since much of the track was lifted years ago is ready for relaying after a bit of scraping away vegetation. However, as I am sick of banging on about CIE/IE are not fit to run any rail services and as a starting point the operation of all reopened lines should be put out to tender like the Luas. :mad:

spacetweek

Judgement Day wrote: »

As for reopening to Youghal - well apart from the fact that it should never have been closed - of course it should be reopened and should have been part of the present scheme. Youghal and environs boasts a population of 10,500 and used to be a major seaside destination for the population of Cork until CIE cut it off! It could be again and would be a major boost to the town, the people of Cork and the economics of the entire line. It is 14.25 miles from Midleton - not 20 - and since much of the track was lifted years ago is ready for relaying after a bit of scraping away vegetation. However, as I am sick of banging on about CIE/IE are not fit to run any rail services and as a starting point the operation of all reopened lines should be put out to tender like the Luas. :mad:

Youghal was closed decades ago due to insufficient population on the corridor; this is still the case. It could be revisited in a decade though.

Judgement Day

No the Youghal line was closed decades ago because CIE couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery and still can't. Having removed its regular passenger service in 1963 the line was run down along traditional CIE lines i.e. freight only service with excursion traffic as required, later remove freight service, reduce track maintenance so that passenger excursions are no longer allowed and finally 'mothball' the line for future possible re-opening. CIE's interpretation of mothballing and mine differ as they saw fit to remove 4/5 miles of track West of Youghal during the late 1980's. If population was the prime consideration other lines should have gone first.

dowlingm

JD - extending to Youghal on day 1 would have meant the same number of trains running half as often, which would have been no good to anyone.

paulm17781

Judgement Day wrote: »

Sorry to disagree with you Victor but the pallisade fencing which adorns much of CIE/IEs property is an unforgiveable act of vandalism and does not keep out those seriously hell bent on trespass. They must have shares in the bloody company which makes the stuff.

What utter nonsense. It's a fence. It will stop animals, nothing will stop a determined tresspasser, a litte common sense is needed by people to not play on the track. Rail services aren't about looking pretty. A functional fence is what's needed and that's what is provided.

Judgement Day

paulm17781 wrote: »

What utter nonsense. It's a fence. It will stop animals, nothing will stop a determined tresspasser, a litte common sense is needed by people to not play on the track. Rail services aren't about looking pretty. A functional fence is what's needed and that's what is provided.

Excuse me for daring to breathe! Pallisade fencing is security fencing and nothing to do with keeping livestock off the tracks. Standard concrete post and wire fencing is in use on most of the rail network but particularly on commuter routes someone in CIE/IE has a fetish with the use of pallisade fencing or, perhaps, given the brown envelope culture..... don't forget the mini-CTC scandal.

http://www.jpkfencing.com/IndustrialSecurity-PublicWorksFencing/IndustrialPalisadeFencingSystems

Rail services are not about looking pretty but they shouldn't be about travelling along a route that looks like the way into Auchswitz!! Come to think of it the lift towers are a bit like.....I'll stop before I really say something.

Judgement Day

dowlingm wrote: »

JD - extending to Youghal on day 1 would have meant the same number of trains running half as often, which would have been no good to anyone.

Why?

KC61

Insufficient rolling stock could be part of it!

paulm17781

Judgement Day wrote: »

Excuse me for daring to breathe! Pallisade fencing is security fencing and nothing to do with keeping livestock off the tracks. Standard concrete post and wire fencing is in use on most of the rail network but particularly on commuter routes someone in CIE/IE has a fetish with the use of pallisade fencing or, perhaps, given the brown envelope culture..... don't forget the mini-CTC scandal.
.

Does it keep people / live stock off the tracks? Yes.

BrianD

Judgement Day wrote: »

No the Youghal line was closed decades ago because CIE couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery and still can't. Having removed its regular passenger service in 1963 the line was run down along traditional CIE lines i.e. freight only service with excursion traffic as required, later remove freight service, reduce track maintenance so that passenger excursions are no longer allowed and finally 'mothball' the line for future possible re-opening. CIE's interpretation of mothballing and mine differ as they saw fit to remove 4/5 miles of track West of Youghal during the late 1980's. If population was the prime consideration other lines should have gone first.

Is the original alignment preserved? Didn't this line continue towards Waterford and Rosslare and how much of it is still there (or mothballed)?

loyatemu

BrianD wrote: »

Is the original alignment preserved? Didn't this line continue towards Waterford and Rosslare and how much of it is still there (or mothballed)?

I think this is one that was never abandoned (it was still in occasional use in the 80s), so CIE still own the alignment. It didn't continue onto Waterford, Youghal was the end of the line.

Judgement Day

BrianD wrote: »

Is the original alignment preserved? Didn't this line continue towards Waterford and Rosslare and how much of it is still there (or mothballed)?

The line never went further than Youghal. The line to Waterford was via Mallow and that closed in 1967. The alignment to Youghal is not 'preserved' as according to CIE/IE it is closed and in situ - mothballed. The fact that there are no rails or sleepers on 4/5 miles of it seems to have escaped their attention.

Returning to the subject of Pallisade fencing - I find it offensive, unnecessary and overly expensive. What sort of a railway is it going to be - driver only trains, unmanned stations monitored by CCTV and running between a corridor of steel fencing. God awful in my opinion! :mad:

Victor

Judgement Day wrote: »

Sorry to disagree with you Victor but the pallisade fencing which adorns much of CIE/IEs property is an unforgiveable act of vandalism and does not keep out those seriously hell bent on trespass.

It keeps out the passive idiots, not the determined ones.

KC61

Judgement Day wrote: »

Returning to the subject of Pallisade fencing - I find it offensive, unnecessary and overly expensive. What sort of a railway is it going to be - driver only trains, unmanned stations monitored by CCTV and running between a corridor of steel fencing. God awful in my opinion! :mad:

Well what do you suggest for keeping the undesireables off the permanent way?

Times have unfortunately changed and this is a fact of urban life nowadays.

deRanged

This is the first time I've seen something other than JCBs and so on going down the new line. Taken in Glounthaune station this morning.




The two lads were operating the line switch thing by hand



click to go to flickr for larger sizes.

IIMII

Great to see this moving ahead so well - brilliant stuff.. Any idea what the journey time into town will be compared to road?

Just noticed one of the old style signals in that pic - thought these were obsolete (I know they have them still in Navan but I thought that was down to the line being freight only)..

KC61

IIMII wrote: »

Great to see this moving ahead so well - brilliant stuff.. Any idea what the journey time into town will be compared to road?

Just noticed one of the old style signals in that pic - thought these were obsolete (I know they have them still in Navan but I thought that was down to the line being freight only)..

Journey times should be in the region of 25 minutes.

Semaphore signals are alive and well still on the Nenagh branch and Limerick Junction - Rosslare Strand lines.

deRanged

Those signals are still hand controlled from the station signal office. presumably that'll change when the new signalling comes online.

Chris_533976

Journey times will trump the car in rush hour as you wont have to deal with Dunkettle and Tivoli jams.

Judgement Day

Journey times by steam, in 1956, averaged 25/26 minutes from Midleton and that included 3 stops. The train will not just be competing with cars but with a reasonably good bus service from Midleton which, depending on the time of day, delivers you into Cork (City Centre) in 30/40 minutes. I am in favour of the reopening but not the manner in which it is being conducted.

Chris_533976

The controversial bridge over the lower Glanmire Road was hoisted into place over the Easter weekend, which resulted in the main road into Cork from the East being closed for several days. Thank **** they did it over Easter!

This is the massive construction that was to block out the view of Cork from the east and serve only a handful of houses who themselves said they were happy using the current level crossing.

Its not anything like as bad as everyone (myself included) thought it would be. Structures on the riverside to get up to the bridge still have to be done though.

Heres some backseat-of-the-car pics ->

Nostradamus

I do not understand. What is the issue with the bridge. It is very attractive and functional and visually enhances the location?