Western Rail Corridor (all disused sections)

Muckyboots

Also reported in the Tuam Herald is that funding for Ballyglunin Bridge, after a €100k spend on design, has gone out to Europe for Ten-T consideration. - You think I'm making this up !!!

marno21

Muckyboots wrote: »

Also reported in the Tuam Herald is that funding for Ballyglunin Bridge, after a €100k spend on design, has gone out to Europe for Ten-T consideration. - You think I'm making this up !!!

Will be used for justifying the TEN-T group's operational expenses for their shredder

Del.Monte

Why do certain posters persist in referring to the proposed reinstatement of Athenry/Claremorris as a freight line when clearly it will be both. The Belmond Hibernian will surely traverse to line to reach Westport. The Railway Records (sic) Society will also want to use it at least once.

Muckyboots

Del.Monte wrote: »

Why do certain posters persist in referring to the proposed reinstatement of Athenry/Claremorris as a freight line when clearly it will be both. The Belmond Hibernian will surely traverse to line to reach Westport. The Railway Records (sic) Society will also want to use it at least once.

The passengers of Belmond Hibernian could hang up their blazers and break a sweat on the velocycles between Claremorris and Charlestown. Keep everyone happy. Hire bikes in Curry and finish their journey in Sligo instead. Spend a few quid locally too.

eastwest

Del.Monte wrote: »

Why do certain posters persist in referring to the proposed reinstatement of Athenry/Claremorris as a freight line when clearly it will be both. The Belmond Hibernian will surely traverse to line to reach Westport. The Railway Records (sic) Society will also want to use it at least once.

That's the stance taken by WOT in recent years. John O'Mahony even put a price on the cheaper option of a freight only line, as I recall he suggested a mere 60 million (I'm open to correction on that figure, it might have been 30 million) to build a line designed for lower running speeds than might apply to passenger travel. As I also recall, the lack of stations was also to be a cost saving advantage if the focus was to be only on freight.
Unfortunately for this 'railway by stealth' approach, the commissioning of a report by WOT supporters within the WDC couldn't come up with a case for a second railway to carry the one freught train a day that comes out of Mayo.
However there is now a golden opportunity for WOT to find funding for their hobby horse. Why don't they suggest that the pension reform proposals, being sought by women who were discriminated against in the previous changes, be deferred for a decade or so to pay for their little project? I'm sure that if Kyne and Canney suggested this in the Dail, they would get great support from the women of the west.

Muckyboots

http://connachttribune.ie/rail-links-airports-key-wests-future-2/ Simple as that !-
"Making Shannon and Knock airports accessible by train by reopening the Western Rail Corridor, and reclassifying Galway Harbour, are two objectives that should be included in the Ireland 2040 Plan, according to a Government minister. Seán Kyne, Minister of State at the Department or Rural and Community Development, made the suggestions in a submission on the draft national planning framework. He did so in his capacity as a TD for Galway West, he said, and his recommendations strive to achieve more connectivity in the West and regional balance in the plan. Minister Kyne said the Western Rail Corridor “and its continued development must be included as a key point of ‘Accessibility to the North West’ in Ireland 2040 Plan.” “The Western Rail Corridor, as it stands now, could, with minor investment, create the first rail-connected airport in the country: Shannon Airport. Similarly, a re-opened railway north of Athenry to Sligo could also improve the connectivity of Ireland West Knock Airport,” said Minister Kyne."

Isambard

it's ridiculous to suggest linking Shannon or Knock to the rail network. a train each way every couple of hours is not going to be of much use to many travellers and where does he think those travellers are going to travel to or from? The best case to answer that would be Limerick to Shannon and how many people per day actually make that journey by any means? It must be a very small number indeed.

eastwest

Muckyboots wrote: »

http://connachttribune.ie/rail-links-airports-key-wests-future-2/ Simple as that !-
"Making Shannon and Knock airports accessible by train by reopening the Western Rail Corridor, and reclassifying Galway Harbour, are two objectives that should be included in the Ireland 2040 Plan, according to a Government minister. Seán Kyne, Minister of State at the Department or Rural and Community Development, made the suggestions in a submission on the draft national planning framework. He did so in his capacity as a TD for Galway West, he said, and his recommendations strive to achieve more connectivity in the West and regional balance in the plan. Minister Kyne said the Western Rail Corridor “and its continued development must be included as a key point of ‘Accessibility to the North West’ in Ireland 2040 Plan.” “The Western Rail Corridor, as it stands now, could, with minor investment, create the first rail-connected airport in the country: Shannon Airport. Similarly, a re-opened railway north of Athenry to Sligo could also improve the connectivity of Ireland West Knock Airport,” said Minister Kyne."

Thankfully, this idiot isn't in charge of our transport network!
And we thought Ross was bad!

westtip

Muckyboots wrote: »

http://connachttribune.ie/rail-links-airports-key-wests-future-2/ Simple as that !-
"Making Shannon and Knock airports accessible by train by reopening the Western Rail Corridor, and reclassifying Galway Harbour, are two objectives that should be included in the Ireland 2040 Plan, according to a Government minister. Seán Kyne, Minister of State at the Department or Rural and Community Development, made the suggestions in a submission on the draft national planning framework. He did so in his capacity as a TD for Galway West, he said, and his recommendations strive to achieve more connectivity in the West and regional balance in the plan. Minister Kyne said the Western Rail Corridor “and its continued development must be included as a key point of ‘Accessibility to the North West’ in Ireland 2040 Plan.” “The Western Rail Corridor, as it stands now, could, with minor investment, create the first rail-connected airport in the country: Shannon Airport. Similarly, a re-opened railway north of Athenry to Sligo could also improve the connectivity of Ireland West Knock Airport,” said Minister Kyne."

Ah yes the Shannon/Knock Rail link, handy if your car is parked at Knock and your flight gets diverted to Shannon, with a train every fifteen minutes you will be able to get back to your car quick enough. The thing is this though, I doubt he will be listened to. It would appear that despite all this Custer last stand stuff, the goose is well and truly cooked, why do I say this. Well guess what folks, the Western Inter county railway board, and the Western Development Commission as notified parties both made submissions on the first tranche of submissions for the first draft of the Ireland 2040 plan. An FF member for May Lisa Chambers also made a submission asking for the Western Rail Corridor to be reinstated (I thought there was hope for her but clearly not) Now if you care to read that first draft - in fact why not download the .pdf from here http://npf.ie/ - and do a word search on it, the phrase "Western Rail Corridor" is singular in it's total absence. In other words, Mayo TDs, and such August bodies the Intercounty railway board and Western Development Commission have been ignored. The only rail route that is talked about with any serious strategic value is to develop the Belfast - Dublin - Cork route. Which happens to be the exact axis route identified in European TEN-T Transport policy, the days of anything West on Track being automatically written into any government sponsored policy document are long since gone, believe me they are over.

Sean Kynes latest trip to the local media in the west and bruhaha about this vital need for the WRC is in response to the fact that the first draft document didn't even mention the WRC as an aspiration. Sean Kyne is focussing on the Atlantic Economic Corridor concept, the new battle cry which West on Track are hoping to leverage the WRC back into favour with, now folks the devil is in the detail here, as ever it is. Take a look again at the first draft Ireland 2040 plan, and suggest a word search on the .pdf http://npf.ie/, for the phrase "Atlantic Economic Corridor" it pops up a few times and is becoming a bit of a Western War Cry, however look what they said in the first draft report about transport under this very subject:
Page 133 is probably the most clear statement that the Western Rail Corridor is no longer on the official agenda, It’s all about roads and not a squeak about the railway, doubtless West on Track will be seeking to amend this, which is why Sean Kyne has been in the papers of late. Just look what it says below, can you imagine West on Track allowing that to happen ten years ago in such an official and important document?


Extract from page 133 of the Ireland 2040 plan

Accessibility to the North-West
Upgraded access to the North-West border area, utilising
existing routes (N2/N14/A5).
Upgrade northern sections of the N4 route and sections of the
N3/M3 national primary route.
Progressive development of the Atlantic Economic Corridor from
Galway northwards by completion of the M17/M18, upgrading
sections of the N17 northwards, where required and upgrading
the N15/N13 link.

You see folks the game is up. Now, and if you will bear me a while longer, just do a search on the word "greenways" in the same document and you will begin to understand that what some of us have been writing here for long time is beginning to percolate through to "official speak". The Western Rail Trail may not be mentioned as an official project however the thinking about greenways and the potential for a greenway network and for long distance greenways all lends itself very nicely to one idea that has been floating around now for a while, now what could that be?

eastwest

I'm not aware of any theory or practice on the provision of public transport that prioritises the linking of airports by rail.
I'm surprised at Kyne, I thought he had some modicum of cop-on. I guess I was wrong.

westtip

eastwest wrote: »

I'm not aware of any theory or practice on the provision of public transport that prioritises the linking of airports by rail.
I'm surprised at Kyne, I thought he had some modicum of cop-on. I guess I was wrong.

He is probably equating it to the direct rail link between Luton Airport Parkway and Gatwick, which you can get on the cross rail link.....

The only issue here is that this route crosses and serves a minor urban area....London. Of course Mr Kynes route would get them as far as Kiltimagh, when because of the ancillary use of the closed disused former railway from Claremorris north as a velorail (which has a 12 year lease to use the closed disused fomer railway), folk would have to get off the train and use a velo-rail to get to Charlestown....then they could jump onto the famous "spur" up the mountain to Knock airport.

Jaysus its great stuff coming for the wesht.

BTW a quick explanation - Mayo county coucil called the velo-rail an ancillary use of the closed railway.

and up until recently Mayo county council didn't even accept the railway is closed, they called it the disused former railway, in all their documentation including the county plan as the disused former railway however in a legal declaration they made to a well known greenway campaigner in October they actually conceded it is closed, so for Mayo county councils sake we call the closed disused former railway.

In answer to the question when is a railway no longer a railway

When it is a closed disused former railway!

westtip

Muckyboots wrote: »

Also reported in the Tuam Herald is that funding for Ballyglunin Bridge, after a €100k spend on design, has gone out to Europe for Ten-T consideration. - You think I'm making this up !!!

What on earth is the Minister of transport thinking of? Can anyone find a link this tender it will make a great story for the press. Just read what is published about it in the Tuam Herald, Unbelievable that Shane Ross is allowing this to go for European consideration it makes a laughing stock of him as minister of transport, European TEN T Transport policy does not include the Western Rail Corridor, I think what has happened here is the Minister is looking for an excuse to "blame Europe" that nothing can be done about the bridge at Ballyglunin it is pure waste of money to see this kind of nonsense going on.

westtip

Isambard wrote: »

it's ridiculous to suggest linking Shannon or Knock to the rail network. a train each way every couple of hours is not going to be of much use to many travellers and where does he think those travellers are going to travel to or from? The best case to answer that would be Limerick to Shannon and how many people per day actually make that journey by any means? It must be a very small number indeed.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, we have heard it all before, nobody is listening to West on Track anymore, as I mentioned in a post above, the western rail corridor didn't get so much as a passing mention in the Ireland2040 draft plan, they will cling on to Regional Planning Guidelines written about ten years ago for awhile yet, but believe me the concept of the Western Rail corridor is more dead than John Cleeses brightly coloured bird. It's over.

Isambard

it's a great pity that the worthies involved in WoT didn't use their energies to secure improvements to the lines that do exist which could use some investment. The area is quite well served for rail lines actually.

marno21

westtip wrote: »

What on earth is the Minister of transport thinking of? Can anyone find a link this tender it will make a great story for the press. Just read what is published about it in the Tuam Herald, Unbelievable that Shane Ross is allowing this to go for European consideration it makes a laughing stock of him as minister of transport, European TEN T Transport policy does not include the Western Rail Corridor, I think what has happened here is the Minister is looking for an excuse to "blame Europe" that nothing can be done about the bridge at Ballyglunin it is pure waste of money to see this kind of nonsense going on.

Keeping his buddy Sean Canney happy.

eastwest

marno21 wrote: »

Keeping his buddy Sean Canney happy.

While throwing our money around like snuff at a wake.

serfboard

westtip wrote: »

I think what has happened here is the Minister is looking for an excuse to "blame Europe" that nothing can be done about the bridge at Ballyglunin

I'd say you're bang on the money there - this will then provide political cover to Sean Canney to go back to the people who don't live in his constituency (Claremorris) to explain why he has reached the "end of the road".

Meanwhile, he cannot fail to have spotted all the stickers on businesses and on cars around Tuam supporting the Greenway, or to be unaware of the numbers going to meetings on the subject.

Time for a pivot, methinks. He'll have plenty of time til the next election, since there seems to be no hurry on anyone's part to have one soon.

MayoForSam

serfboard wrote: »

Time for a pivot, methinks. He'll have plenty of time til the next election, since there seems to be no hurry on anyone's part to have one soon.

Not so sure about that Canney may need to do a volte-face in very short order. This would be a very hot topic in Tuam if an election is held before Christmas. I doubt if the Euro TEN-T response will be forthcoming before then.

eastwest

The current wobble in government must be a concern to Canney. He can't go to the electorate with his current anti-greenway stance. In the event of an election campaign he will have to either publicly and unambiguously support the greenway or face losing his seat.
An election in June or July would have given him time to blame the rail report on his failure to deliver his train, but going to the country before the rail report is published will be tricky for him.

rebel456

eastwest wrote: »

The current wobble in government must be a concern to Canney. He can't go to the electorate with his current anti-greenway stance. In the event of an election campaign he will have to either publicly and unambiguously support the greenway or face losing his seat.
An election in June or July would have given him time to blame the rail report on his failure to deliver his train, but going to the country before the rail report is published will be tricky for him.

Actually this might work in his favour. He can still hang his voters hopes on the rail report.... even if the outcome is a forgone conclusion. And use the commentary of folks such as Sean Kyne to pat his back on the pro-rail stance.

Whilst I think he's likely to be given the chop by the electorate he does stand a chance of scraping back in if he can convince folks to give him a chance to get stuff done, it has been less than two years.

eastwest

rebel456 wrote: »

Actually this might work in his favour. He can still hang his voters hopes on the rail report.... even if the outcome is a forgone conclusion. And use the commentary of folks such as Sean Kyne to pat his back on the pro-rail stance.

Whilst I think he's likely to be given the chop by the electorate he does stand a chance of scraping back in if he can convince folks to give him a chance to get stuff done, it has been less than two years.

It could work in his favour on one level, but a couple of things point to him losing his seat. Firstly he is seen clearly in Tuam and Athenry as the person leading the campaign to stop.the investment in the region. Secondly, his 'red line' issue of a rail report within six months of being elected has ruined his credibility as somebody who can be effective in Dail eireann. He enjoyed a unique position of holding the balance of power, so he could have done great things for the area. Instead, he looked for a meaningless report and then didn't even deliver it.
A 'busted flush' is the best term, I think.

Muckyboots

westtip wrote: »

I wouldn't worry too much about it, we have heard it all before, nobody is listening to West on Track anymore, as I mentioned in a post above, the western rail corridor didn't get so much as a passing mention in the Ireland2040 draft plan, they will cling on to Regional Planning Guidelines written about ten years ago for awhile yet, but believe me the concept of the Western Rail corridor is more dead than John Cleeses brightly coloured bird. It's over.

http://connachttribune.ie/galway-limerick-passenger-hike-leads-renewed-calls-extension-222/

Hardly a ringing endorsement from IR for WOT here. How times have changed. Doesn't help their case when they take "one-day" station user census figures and try and dress them up as annual passenger figures when the intro to the report expressly states not to do so.
Nice numbers for the Claremorris Greenway though. I think I hear the sound of a pennies dropping, even if some are standing too close to belching diesel engines to hear it.

eastwest

Muckyboots wrote: »

http://connachttribune.ie/galway-limerick-passenger-hike-leads-renewed-calls-extension-222/

Hardly a ringing endorsement from IR for WOT here. How times have changed. Doesn't help their case when they take "one-day" station user census figures and try and dress them up as annual passenger figures when the intro to the report expressly states not to do so.
Nice numbers for the Claremorris Greenway though. I think I hear the sound of a pennies dropping, even if some are standing too close to belching diesel engines to hear it.

The desperate sound of straws being clutched in Claremorris. They took one days figures and ignored the reality that numbers are actually falling on the wrc.
They're in trouble. Their pet TD is facing an election at the very worst time; if an election is called now his future is all behind him, back on the council at best and swimming around in the group think tank that is the inter county railway committee, aka the political wing of west on track.
And Sean Kyne is lining up to be the next sacrificial puppet. Backing the wrong horse is a bit of a trend in western politics.

westtip

Muckyboots wrote: »

http://connachttribune.ie/galway-limerick-passenger-hike-leads-renewed-calls-extension-222/

Hardly a ringing endorsement from IR for WOT here. How times have changed. Doesn't help their case when they take "one-day" station user census figures and try and dress them up as annual passenger figures when the intro to the report expressly states not to do so.
Nice numbers for the Claremorris Greenway though. I think I hear the sound of a pennies dropping, even if some are standing too close to belching diesel engines to hear it.

Glad to see that Colman mentioned the greenway, means more people read about the idea and compare it to the idea of the railway that is not going to happen, also I thought Gerry "not up for discussion" Murray of Sinn Fein/West on Track said the Western Rail Corridor was not up for discuss but here the great commander Colman O'Ragerty speaks the G word in the same mention as the railway, pity he didn't mention that West on Track have supported giving away the closed former disused railway to be used as a velorail on a 12 year lease, how come a Velo-Rail is ok for 12 years Colman but not a greenway? Answers on a postcard please.

eastwest

westtip wrote: »

Glad to see that Colman mentioned the greenway, means more people read about the idea and compare it to the idea of the railway that is not going to happen, also I thought Gerry "not up for discussion" Murray of Sinn Fein/West on Track said the Western Rail Corridor was not up for discuss but here the great commander Colman O'Ragerty speaks the G word in the same mention as the railway, pity he didn't mention that West on Track have supported giving away the closed former disused railway to be used as a velorail on a 12 year lease, how come a Velo-Rail is ok for 12 years Colman but not a greenway? Answers on a postcard please.

The anti tourism brigade are gone way beyond logic at this stage. They are like kids in a school yard -- 'It's my ball.and if I can't play, nobody can play'.

voz es

eastwest wrote: »

The anti tourism brigade are gone way beyond logic at this stage. They are like kids in a school yard -- 'It's my ball.and if I can't play, nobody can play'.

Usual crap from you I see East west.

voz es

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eastwest

voz es wrote: »

Usual crap from you I see East west.

A very sweeping statement, but not based on anything.

devnull

A lot of the UK stuff is re-announcing stuff that has already been announced whilst the other stuff is simply asking for ideas, considering the fact that a large number of schemes have been cut entirely or scaled back because there is no money, as has been pointed out, there's little substance to these claims. It's all full of may, but, if, ideas, proposals, could and no will.

It's quite likely a deliberate distraction by the UK government from certain other topics with the word Beeching thrown in to hook the media and the media have actually taken it.

voz es

eastwest wrote: »

A very sweeping statement, but not based on anything.

A sweeping statement, you do make me laugh.

In your last post you were on about 'the anti-tourism brigade