Cork Commuter Stations

Board Walker

So all the talk the last few months is the new stations that should be built between Cork and Mallow. Im not convinced So lets discuss?

Mourneabbey - No village nearby and only 5.5km from Mallow. A ridiculous idea IMO. Its nearly as easy for people to go to Mallow because you cant walk to it bar maybe 6 houses. What ever about walking distance, its too dangerous to walk those roads.

Rathduff - 2km from Grenagh village. Not the worst idea but certainly the paths would have to be built intot he village.

Blarney - Not as far to walk and paths already built but there is great bus connectivity from the town so is it worth the investment?

Blackpool - Im not qualified to comment on this one as i don't have any information on this but im not sure why one would build a station in Blackpool?

Buttevant - Obviously on the other side of Mallow but its a no brainer IMO. There are loads of people come in from Buttevant every day to commute to the city.

namloc1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058250480/cork-commuter-stations

Blackpool makes sense as a transport hub with BusConnects. There'll be buses to Apple, CUH, UCC and city centre from there. So makes sense to have a transport hub with the rail line.

Blarney possibly but Station Road would need some serious upgrades to make it pedestrian/cycle friendly.

Board Walker

The local councillor Liam Madden is still going on radio stations pushing for a Mourneabbey stop which is madness IMO.

Still think Buttevant is a good option and extend that commuter service to Charleville.

namloc1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119256639#Comment_119256639

Buttevant and Charleville suffer from that most Irish of rail problems. The train stations are located well outside the towns on narrow country roads with no developments at all around them in both instances. It's a shame. It severely limits their potential as commuter stations.

timmyjimmy

On the Cork - Middleton line, there should be a stop in the Carrigtwohill IDA. 1000s of people work here, it's a no brainer.

timmyjimmy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119255598#Comment_119255598

Also, more and more workplaces will be in the docks. This could really work.

namloc1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119260768#Comment_119260768

It's been talked about for years and years. The right time to do it was when the Midleton line was being reopened as it wouldn't have cost much more in time or money to build an extra station then, but as usual in Irish transport infrastructure there was no foresight and it wasn't done.

It's part of CMATS alright but again it's probably at least a decade or more away, if ever.

timmyjimmy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119260825#Comment_119260825

It's a shame, I know of a company in the IDA where applicants turn down jobs due to poor public transport.

Board Walker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119260729#Comment_119260729

Charleville is a good walk in fairness but Buttevant is only 1.1km which is closer than Blarney station to the town and Grenagh to rathduff.

namloc1980

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119265685#Comment_119265685

Generally people will be happy to walk up to 400m or so to a transit stop. After that the willingness of people to walk drops off significantly and it becomes a barrier. A lot of the houses in Buttevant are c.1.5km from the station. Also the walk itself is down a narrow country road with a very narrow footpath, not very attractive for people. All this adds up to serious barriers for commuters to make the choice.

https://humantransit.org/2011/04/basics-walking-distance-to-transit.html

L1011

P&R; and change development plans to build towards the station. Something that's never really been done anywhere here, but should be.

Board Walker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119266051#Comment_119266051

Well you cant have the station 400m from every house! That's what car parks are for. Plus there will be people coming from the opposite direction and churchtown also.

Ronald Binge Redux

Everything regarding rail is at least ten years away - often as a ‘reward’ for existing development and resulting congestion. Not good enough. Meanwhile in London whole suburbs would not exist without speculative development based on putting a station in first.

Itssoeasy

I think the Blackpool is a no brainer as they already have the site and would safe people having to go to Kent station if they didn’t have to. I’m thinking of areas on the northside of the city.

Board Walker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119280534#Comment_119280534

You cant really compare London with Mourneabbey man :D

Markcheese

Could there be a through commuter line either cobh to mallow or midleton to mallow ,? Combine that with a decent stop at dunkettle ( ain't gonna happen ) and a distributor bus at little island,at least 2 stops in the new north docks development the station at carrigtohil , a transport hub at blackpool ,

And see whats actually needed for new commuter development on the midleton and mallow lines ,( if the plan is to have high density development north of blackpool along the line then great - but not so much If it's a few small estates in the middle of no where .

The same with the "new " waterrock village plan , it'll be a rail oriented village so no major changes to the road network but the plan is to build the houses long before the railway station - so at least 2 cars required per house..

Markcheese

I'd love to see a change in the stations opposite passage west - the current car ferry to great island drops you off a good walk from the train station , so if you live on the more populated side of passage it's a long walk to the ferry , the crossing and then a good walk back to the train station.

Even better would be a commuter pedestrian ferry from passage to line up with a station on great island ... And if it was possible to link up a distributor ferry from rushbrook or the dockyard to the major employers in ringaskiddy that'd be great , ( they used to do that for Irish steel ,verolme and Marino point at one stage )

Poxyshamrock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119384570#Comment_119384570

A through service is the plan once an additional platform at Kent is built. This is part of a more medium- to long-term part of CMATS and should see trains go from both Cobh and Midleton to Mallow.

Board Walker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119387324#Comment_119387324

No harm because you have to wait 30-40 minutes between any train from mallow to either Cobh/Midleton

Poxyshamrock

Public consultation for major upgrade to Cork rail line between Glounthaune and Midleton launched (irishrail.ie)

What I don't understand about this is why Cobh which is already double tracked had to wait until 2022 to get a 30 minute frequency? What's stopping the Cobh line become a 10 minute frequency as well or at least 15-20 mins?

BagofWeed

I remember similar plans about opening/reopening rail stations on the Cork lines twenty years ago. Yes twenty years ago. I moved here at the time and after two decades here I noticed Cork people like talk and plans but hate action which can already be seen by the opposition to the bus connects plan. Action is seen as an attack on their city by pen pushers in Dublin offices who don't understand Cork or want to ruin Cork, LOL. New = Bad, Old/derelict= Good.*

*normally left idle until it inevitably gets burnt down and then its, 'Why did they (politicians, everyone else) leave it get like that'.

I personally think Blackpool would be a great stop if it ever gets build but really needs Bus Connects to spread out its catchment area and sadly I can't see BC go ahead.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119389216#Comment_119389216

Lack of staff and lack of funding from the NTA for the first question.

The Cobh line frequency may well increase too when the service is recast following these works.