Western Rail Corridor (all disused sections)

eastwest

westtip wrote: »

What Atlantic Economic Corridor? This concept simply does not stand up to scrutiny, it is a mythical creation, it does not exist in the minds of business, consumers, economists, anyone. It simply does not exist save in the minds of those taking to the airways to talk it up as some form of meaningful idea. It lacks substance, and certainly re-opening a c19th alignment railway that joins the mythical dots will do nothing for the area shaded orange on this map.

But it will produce a glossy report to join all the others on the shelves. It will create political heroes and martyrs and will make a difference for the odd candidate.
It won't of course make a bit if difference to people living in dying towns like Kiltimagh, but that makes it no different from all the other bundles of waffle produced over the years.

westtip

Wagon360 wrote: »

My Irony meter has just broken...



Meanwhile I hear that the report on Ross's desk is a lot more favourable towards rail than some here may hope it would be. Don't expect to see anything published until the draft NPF is finalised following the consultation exercise. It would seem the arguments on climate change made by consultees have hit home.

Oh do share. I am pretty sure if the report was favourable to the idea of re-opening the alignment from Athenry to Claremorris, the independent alliance colleague of the Minister would have been waving it around by now. But you might be right as you can never know how the wheels grind on this merry go round.

eastwest

westtip wrote: »

Oh do share. I am pretty sure if the report was favourable to the idea of re-opening the alignment from Athenry to Claremorris, the independent alliance colleague of the Minister would have been waving it around by now. But you might be right as you can never know how the wheels grind on this merry go round.

All the most credible leaks suggest that it recommends the closure of three lines, including ennis athenry. The fact that Ross is apparently being blocked from releasing it by the IA would tend to reinforce this view.

westtip

eastwest wrote: »

All the most credible leaks suggest that it recommends the closure of three lines, including ennis athenry. The fact that Ross is apparently being blocked from releasing it by the IA would tend to reinforce this view.

Inclined to think you may be right EASTWEST when you consider what the Rail Review 2016 report said on page 43 of its pages: “The Ennis to Athenry section of rail line should only be considered for closure after a full review is carried out of the extension of the Western Rail corridor and when the National Planning Framework has been published” with this kind of talk about potential closure of what was only re-opened in 2011 in a published report the augurs are not good for Athenry - Tuam - Claremorris

Unless there is some Lazarus effect at play I can’t see a huge chance that the National Planning Framework or the public consultation rail review sitting on the Ministers desk, which he refuses to publish, will come up with anything startling and lets face it the draft National planning framework gave no cause for optimism in the WRC camp and the Regional Spatial Economic Strategies document from the NW Regional assembly mentioned greenways in the same breath as the Western Rail Corridor, I really can't see where any positive news is coming from for the diehard supporters of the WRC, but I may be wrong, who knows what the future holds.

westtip

Just sharing this one. The Western Rail Trail set up a petition on change.org back in March, asking for a greenway from Collooney to Athenry. For what these things are worth as a measure of engagement from the public and level of support, the main petition has now gone through 3500 signatures, analysis of who has signed it shows the majority of petitioners come from within the West of Ireland Counties, Galway, Mayo and Sligo. It's an interesting exercise.

but anyone who hasn't signed it and wants to go look.

https://www.change.org/p/western-rail-trail-campaign-create-a-walking-and-cycling-greenway-on-the-closed-railway-from-sligo-to-athenry?recruiter=679242500&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_term=des-lg-welcome_email-no_msg

A separate petition asking for parallel greenway to the proposed Velo rail at Kiltimagh has hit over 900 signatures with huge local support within Kiltimagh.

These on line petitions needn't be a true measure of public support, but as each signature generates emails to the county managers and Shane Ross, what they do do is maintain presence of mind in the decision makers. With two other petitions on change.org, one focused on a greenway from Swinford to Charlestown and another asking the Minister not to waste money on Balyglunin bridge I think Ross will have received over 4,900 emails now about the Greenway. It's not an insignificant showing of public opinion.

Muckyboots

eastwest wrote: »

All the most credible leaks suggest that it recommends the closure of three lines, including ennis athenry. The fact that Ross is apparently being blocked from releasing it by the IA would tend to reinforce this view.

NPF2040, the big reveal, will be published by the end of the week and adopted by the end of Feb.
An opportunity for clarity approaches. Hope it's met with courage and sensibility.

westtip

Muckyboots wrote: »

NPF2040, the big reveal, will be published by the end of the week and adopted by the end of Feb.
An opportunity for clarity approaches. Hope it's met with courage and sensibility.

Want to lay any odds that it will once again kick the can down the road. BTW when was it announced its coming out by end of the week? good news if it is - will put us all out of our misery one way or the other, at least lets see a decision on this particular issue (WRC or WRT)

eastwest

Muckyboots wrote: »

NPF2040, the big reveal, will be published by the end of the week and adopted by the end of Feb.
An opportunity for clarity approaches. Hope it's met with courage and sensibility.

Not much here about reopening the wrc....
http://npf.ie/wp-content/uploads/Prospects-for-Irish-Regions-and-Counties.-Scenarios-and-Implications.Jan-2018.pdf

Corca Baiscinn

Discussion re Train V Greenway on TG4 7 Lá tonight with 1 proponent of each option interviewed plus Seán Kyne who is in favour of train to Tuam and says it woulld help alleviate congestion in Galway and help re Climate Change. This ties with post above re possible official thinking. Video on this twitter link, not sure how long it takes for prog to come up onTG4 Player
7 LÁ
@7LATG4
4h4 hours ago
"De réir eolais atá fáighte ag 7LÁ faoin Acht um Shaoráil Faisnéise tá aighneas ag géarú idir 2 dhream atá i mbun feachtais faoin leas ba chór a bhaint as Bealach Iarnróid an Iarthair."
According to info obtained under the Freedom of Information Act disagreement is intensifying between 2 groups who are campaigning re the optimal future use of the Western Rail Corridor.

eastwest

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

Discussion re Train V Greenway on TG4 7 Lá tonight with 1 proponent of each option interviewed plus Seán Kyne who is in favour of train to Tuam and says it woulld help alleviate congestion in Galway and help re Climate Change. This ties with post above re possible official thinking. Video on this twitter link, not sure how long it takes for prog to come up onTG4 Player
7 LÁ
@7LATG4
4h4 hours ago
"De réir eolais atá fáighte ag 7LÁ faoin Acht um Shaoráil Faisnéise tá aighneas ag géarú idir 2 dhream atá i mbun feachtais faoin leas ba chór a bhaint as Bealach Iarnróid an Iarthair."
According to info obtained under the Freedom of Information Act disagreement is intensifying between 2 groups who are campaigning re the optimal future use of the Western Rail Corridor.

They didn't need FOI! A glance at this thread would have told them that the realists and the trainspotters are unlikely to agree on this issue.
On the other side, given all the footage of rotting tracks and missing bridges, wasn't it touching to see the almost naive faith of the west on track spokesman who genuinely seemed to believe that the train would puff into Claremorris any day now?

HugoRune

westtip wrote: »

Wagon360 wrote: »

Everything, in my opinion.

It would be worth having a read at the following links which reflect my views in detail.

https://irishrailwaydevelopments.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/the-atlantic-economic-corridor-is-more-than-just-a-motorway/

http://www.mayonews.ie/news/28772-report-optimistic-for-future-development-of-western-rail-corridor

What Atlantic Economic Corridor? This concept simply does not stand up to scrutiny, it is a mythical creation, it does not exist in the minds of business, consumers, economists, anyone.  It simply does not exist save in the minds of those taking to the airways to talk it up as some form of meaningful idea.  It lacks substance, and certainly re-opening a c19th alignment railway that joins the mythical dots will do nothing for the area shaded orange on this map.

Not sure what the problem is here. There is no Atlantic Economic Corridor. There might be -- although it should be called the Atlantic Access Corridor, opening up development and therefore opportunities for "not Dublin". Dublin which according to elsewhere on boards.ie, lacks accommodation facilities, transport facilities and access facilities has possibly outgrown its location. It doesn't mattter if its rail, road, sea or air, the corridor would be a gamechanger. Cork, Galway, Sligo, Derry as a unit is crying out for a route that bypasses Dublin. Waterford and Belfast less so. But there's no competing here -- Dublin and surrounds can co-exist with the AAC, no sweat.

monument

eastwest wrote: »

They didn't need FOI! A glance at this thread would have told them that the realists and the trainspotters are unlikely to agree on this issue.
On the other side, given all the footage of rotting tracks and missing bridges, wasn't it touching to see the almost naive faith of the west on track spokesman who genuinely seemed to believe that the train would puff into Claremorris any day now?

Last warning — drop the trainspotters stuff.

— moderator

TCDStudent1

Might be of interest to some on here:

http://www.tuamherald.ie/news/roundup/articles/2018/01/31/4151450-congestion-and-rising-rents-lead-to-extra-commuter-services/

Muckyboots

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Might be of interest to some on here:

http://www.tuamherald.ie/news/roundup/articles/2018/01/31/4151450-congestion-and-rising-rents-lead-to-extra-commuter-services/

Demand identified & addressed quickly and no one had to go to Athenry. What's not to like about this?

end of the road

Muckyboots wrote: »

Demand identified & addressed quickly and no one had to go to Athenry. What's not to like about this?

a bus company putting on 15 extra services does not negate the need for other solutions. their services will only ever be part of the solution to the problem and will still rely on the same roads cars do.

Muckyboots

end of the road wrote: »

a bus company putting on 15 extra services does not negate the need for other solutions. their services will only ever be part of the solution to the problem and will still rely on the same roads cars do.

Without a double track from Athenry to Galway rail can't be part of any solution.

Isambard

Muckyboots wrote: »

Without a double track from Athenry to Galway rail can't be part of any solution.

quite right, I do wonder about the economics of maintaining lines which only have a handful of services per day. For any line to be worth having it really needs a frequent and fast service , even Cork to Dublin doesn't have that

westtip

think there's going to be something on the NPF this week. let's hope they finally make a decision!!!!

eastwest

westtip wrote: »

think there's going to be something on the NPF this week. let's hope they finally make a decision!!!!

Apparently they're going to bin metro north and build a second freight line to Claremorris.

eastwest

eastwest wrote: »

Apparently they're going to bin metro north and build a second freight line to Claremorris.

eastwest

Deleted User wrote: »

I was making a serious point, though. The notion that metro north or a dozen other important national projects would be binned in favour of a second freight line to Claremorris does sound pretty daft when you put it like that, but there are a few people who firmly believe it will.happen.

eastwest

eastwest wrote: »

I was making a serious point, though. The notion that metro north or a dozen other important national projects would be binned in favour of a second freight line to Claremorris does sound pretty daft when you put it like that, but there are a few people who firmly believe it will.happen.

I know, but the meter just reinforces how ridiculous the idea really is.
From a logistical point of view, the freight can be switched via Athlone & Portarlington.

Enhancing the restricted lines where there is congestion or new lines where there is (real) demand must come first.

westtip

Deleted User wrote: »

I know, but the meter just reinforces how ridiculous the idea really is.
From a logistical point of view, the freight can be switched via Athlone & Portarlington.

Enhancing the restricted lines where there is congestion or new lines where there is (real) demand must come first.

https://www.rte.ie/news/economy/2018/0205/938359-cabinet-to-meet-on-national-planning-framework/

Cabinet meeting about the NPF2040 today and the darlings of the wesht Ringer and Cuiv have been on the airwaves pontificating about rural Ireland; yes there are issues about rural Ireland, we all know there are, but my guess, is by moaning on the airwaves now they are expressing a pre-publication note of warning to their army of listeners (sic) if they had positive news to express about projects like the Western Rail Corridor, these guys would be saying we are delighted projects like the WRC have been included, and are very positive about the plan, my guess is some pet projects such as the WRC may well have (finally) been binned. Who knows? I am past predicting and to a certain degree caring, but let's wait and see, who knows the Minister of Transport might finally publish the rail review he has had on his desk since early October, he is on record of saying he won't publish until the NPF2040 is published, we may actually be on the cusp of one of those rare events in Irish politics: A decision!, it would be nice to have as this marathon thread approaches 10,000 post! not to mention the several thousand on the previous giant thread. I am however not holding my breath!

Topgear on Dave

westtip wrote: »

Cabinet meeting about the NPF2040 today and the darlings of the wesht Ringer and Cuiv have been on the airwaves pontificating about rural Ireland;

Frustrating interview. Rural Ireland this and rural Ireland that. How great is rural Ireland?

If it was that great I wouldnt have left it myself. Nor would I spend my days working in Kildare and Dublin with fellas from Kerry/Donegal/Mayo and Galway.

They need to stop trying to hobble Galway and Cork cities and give them to resources to let them grow.

Muckyboots

westtip wrote: »

https://www.rte.ie/news/economy/2018/0205/938359-cabinet-to-meet-on-national-planning-framework/

Cabinet meeting about the NPF2040 today and the darlings of the wesht Ringer and Cuiv have been on the airwaves pontificating about rural Ireland; yes there are issues about rural Ireland, we all know there are, but my guess, is by moaning on the airwaves now they are expressing a pre-publication note of warning to their army of listeners (sic) if they had positive news to express about projects like the Western Rail Corridor, these guys would be saying we are delighted projects like the WRC have been included, and are very positive about the plan, my guess is some pet projects such as the WRC may well have (finally) been binned. Who knows? I am past predicting and to a certain degree caring, but let's wait and see, who knows the Minister of Transport might finally publish the rail review he has had on his desk since early October, he is on record of saying he won't publish until the NPF2040 is published, we may actually be on the cusp of one of those rare events in Irish politics: A decision!, it would be nice to have as this marathon thread approaches 10,000 post! not to mention the several thousand on the previous giant thread. I am however not holding my breath!

They can make all the decisions they like, and make the promises they wish, but until a train is actually running on the tracks the campaign for alternative use will continue. Local communities have had to endure enough bullsh*t for far too long.

eastwest

Muckyboots wrote: »

They can make all the decisions they like, and make the promises they wish, but until a train is actually running on the tracks the campaign for alternative use will continue. Local communities have had to endure enough bullsh*t for far too long.

The plan won't involve a railway, they can barely fund what we have. With no possible funding channel and no budget to subsidise it, the railway won't be included.
What is likely is a fudge sentence or two with a vague aspiration for a railway, which Canney, Ring and O'Cuiv can spin as a promise of an imminent project. All it will do will be to stop the greenway, but that will be seen as a victory for the anti-greenway group, and the three musty peers will be happy enough with it. From Ring's perspective, it will keep tourism development out of East Mayo and he can make hay with that.

westtip

eastwest wrote: »

The plan won't involve a railway, they can barely fund what we have. With no possible funding channel and no budget to subsidise it, the railway won't be included.
What is likely is a fudge sentence or two with a vague aspiration for a railway, which Canney, Ring and O'Cuiv can spin as a promise of an imminent project. All it will do will be to stop the greenway, but that will be seen as a victory for the anti-greenway group, and the three musty peers will be happy enough with it. From Ring's perspective, it will keep tourism development out of East Mayo and he can make hay with that.

Indeed the fear is this is exactly what will be done, and we will be left high and dry with nothing happening for years and the continued waste of this resource to pander to the vanity of the likes of the "three musty peers" who will continue to promise the railway, hopefully the more electorally vulnerable one of this triumvarate will be found out at the polls - nice phrase to describe this bunch btw..

However who knows we might yet be surprised by the outcome of the NPF2040 has to say.

Talking of national plans like the railway review etc, did anyone ever hear what became of the national greenway review and public consultation ......another report not to see the light of day?

eastwest

westtip wrote: »

Talking of national plans like the railway review etc, did anyone ever hear what became of the national greenway review and public consultation ......another report not to see the light of day?

Rumour has it that it will emerge either in Q1 or early Q2 of this year, and that it will include reference to the Western rail trail/corridor.
In the meantime, the rest of the country is getting on with it, positioning themselves for funding as it comes available. The west prefers to wait and see if some hairy godmother might come along with a train set.

Muckyboots

westtip wrote: »

However who knows we might yet be surprised by the outcome of the NPF2040 has to say.

I'd be surprised if we're surprised.

westtip

Muckyboots wrote: »

I'd be surprised if we're surprised.

Me too, despite even further reports like that in the Indo today, Ah well we can close down all the lines but will still need Athenry - Claremorris to provide regional balance to the Dart!

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/rural-rail-networks-under-threat-without-460m-rescue-package-36572515.html

And Barry Kenny here on newstalk, what it points to is what we all know, the money is simply not there to waste on fantasy projects like the Western Rail Corridor, this whole mountain of evidence has now accumulated, Muckyboots, who knows the surprise when the truth is out might finally be coming.

http://www.newstalk.com/Irish-Rail-reassures-passengers-that-intercity-services-do-not-face-closure