Railcars to be replaced by railbuses on Ballybrophy to Limerick branch line.

Our man in Havana

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0326/rail.html

Iarnród Éireann considers 'rail-bus' options
Friday, 26 March 2010

Iarnród Éireann has confirmed it is looking to lower their operating costs on a mid-west rail line.

The Nenagh to Limerick line, which was opened in the 19th century, was expanded 18 months ago to offer a commuter service to Limerick.

It was hoped at the time that over 360 passengers a day would use the service. However, Iarnród Éireann said today that the number of journeys per day is averaging at 80.


The company has said it is considering what are known as 'rail-bus technologies', specifically lighter rail vehicles that run on tracks.

The news comes as the company prepares to launch a new service from Limerick to Galway next week.

They seem to conveniently forget that the line runs beyond Nenagh to Roscrea and Ballybrophy.

foggy_lad

are they thinking of bringing the luas to limerick?

corktina

Parry People Mover perhaps? Huge safety implications in running it on same lines as heavy rail vehicles though

Our man in Havana

I thought that IE were desperate to close the entire line?

foggy_lad

they have to spend millions on keeping it open to justify closing it:rolleyes:

Hungerford

Bond-007 wrote: »

I thought that IE were desperate to close the entire line?

Erm... IE don't invest to keep lines open, it invests to bury them financially. The 'simplified' signalling means you can kiss bye-bye to mainline standard trains or even a return of the shale traffic.

The railbuses are added to the line's capital investment and will be deliberately unfortunately too small to carry all the line's passengers.

Dick Fearn's BR Closure by Stealth manual must be a very popular document in the IE offices at the moment. It's an old trick used in the past to close British branch lines.

L1011

foggy_lad wrote: »

they have to spend millions on keeping it open to justify closing it:rolleyes:

This is so worryingly true.

If they spend whatever price it takes to buy a few brand new railbuses they can add it to the overall "upkeep" cost of the line on the books and use that to justify closing it.

It'll have to be diesel railbus kit cause its way too long for a Parry People Mover surely? Of course, they could just use the two we already have (the 2750s) rather than allegedly painting one of them + a 2700 set to look like a 22000...

Baboushka

What would be wrong with amending the line so that Dublin-Limerick trains could be run down the line thus freeing the other line for an inmproved Dublin-Cork service?

FlameoftheWest

Baboushka wrote: »

What would be wrong with amending the line so that Dublin-Limerick trains could be run down the line thus freeing the other line for an inmproved Dublin-Cork service?

It used to be like this. CIE in the 1970's in an effort to kill the line off reverse the curve the other direction.

Our man in Havana

The Ballybrophy-Limerick line is riddled with speed restrictions, some as low as 15 mph and the line speed is now 40 mph where there are no restrictions. Also the track at Ballybrophy would need changes to allow trains pass from the Dublin-Cork line to the branch line easily. the current setup requires the train to reverse back up the main line to switch to the branch. It is a total mess.

Judgement Day

FlameoftheWest wrote: »

It used to be like this. CIE in the 1970's in an effort to kill the line off reverse the curve the other direction.

I meant to pull you up on this before - although Ballybrophy was remodelled in the 1980s there never was a curve facing Dublin. What CIE did in the 1980s was to make the already poor layout at Ballybrophy even more awkward to use. No consideration has ever been given to the 'no-brainer' of building a Dublin facing avoiding line at Ballybrophy which would rejuvenate the line to Limerick. :mad:

They spouted this "railbus" bullcrap last year with the Limerick to Waterford line too. Seems to me that Irish Rail just aren't interested in anything outside Dublin. Even the Kerry road was earmarked for closure in the mid 90s.

DWCommuter

Karsini wrote: »

They spouted this "railbus" bullcrap last year with the Limerick to Waterford line too. Seems to me that Irish Rail just aren't interested in anything outside Dublin. Even the Kerry road was earmarked for closure in the mid 90s.

Your wrong.

Irish Rail just aren't interested in running a half decent railway, full stop. Dublin has nothing to do with it. Have you witnessed the ****e they run here? You must have as you're based in Drumcondra. They are nothing more than a political man servant that ultimately does what the Government tells them. They have their moments of rebellion, (like crap services and infrastructure on the WRC and this railbus baloney) but it's more to do with suiting it's own agenda rather than the customers.

Irish Rail and CIE in general are a bonkers outfit full of inbread management, devoid of vision, shackled to its political paymaster and unable or incapable of displaying balls. Some of their staff share this philosophy while the rest are either indifferent or get banished to narky little internet forums like this, where they try to articulate a commonsense approach that is ignored by their management and shareholder.

dowlingm

They have to find a 2700 for Galway-Tuam to satisfy Fr. McGreil so Nenagh gets a toy bus :rolleyes: