National Development Plan 2022-2030

Basically what's needed is a 'Limerick Crossrail'

For commuter rail to work in Limerick, you'd need a tunnel from Colbert out to Mouross. That would allow thru services to run Ennis to Nenagh, add new stations at LIT and somewhere west of the Shannon, plus east of Colbert and a P&R at M7 J28 and J29. Obviously it would cost an absolute fortune and isn't going to happen.

They'd be better off looking at light rail imo. From Patrickswell on the old heavy rail alignment, turning west at Raheen to pass UHL and Crescent SC before returning to old alignment to Colbert, then via Parkway to UL and Castletroy.

I'm a bit fan of rail and want to see rail developed in Ireland but I think Limerick is a very poor case for developing rail.

It's all very well looking at a map and seeing a bunch of heavy rail alignments and imagining they could be used as the basis of a commuter service but there's no potential for using them for this purpose as they are not at all aligned with the trips people actually make in Limerick.

Nor does it make any sense to think "build it and they will come" because where you see green on the map near these heavy rail alignments - thinking there's potential for development - is actually most flood plain and marsh.

Limerick commuter rail is just not a practical idea and does nothing to alleviate the real problems the city is facing with daily traffic jams on all the major spines into the city with no option for commuters except to sit it out in their cars.

We all know that the idea of billions becoming available to build interconnectors/cross-rails, new tracks and loops, stations and providing a commuter rail service through fields to a place like Patricskwell (pop. 800) which is already minutes from a motorway are just fantasy.

Limerick's immediate problems are the choke points into and out of the city Corbally, Ballysimon Rd, Dublin Rd, O'Connell Av, etc. - there is simply not enough road space to accommodate the number of people trying to use these spaces (in cars).

But before you can say screw the cars, there needs to be an alternative which I think should be a BusConnects type network of spines with proper dedicated bus lanes, frequent service, integrated/smart card ticketing and proper bus stops/shelters with arrival information boards and the like. This would cost a small fraction of the cost to even link Colbert with Patrickswell with a tram and would immediately be useful and well patronised.

Just a general point.

I know there are lots of plans/projects being worked on at the moment.

Dublin:

(1) metrolink to airport

(2) improvements to north-south DART line + new trains

(3) new DART lines southwest and to Maynooth

Cork

(4) signalling / doubling / new stations from Mallow to Midleton

Are the following statements correct?

(1) not a metre of new track has been laid in at least a decade

(2) train speeds have not increased

(3) frequencies have not increased

(4) other than the 1km passing loop planned for Oranmore, are there any other substantial improvements in the national network?

My general point is: we seem to be complacent. Even with the Green party in Govt, I don't see the ambition that I expect. I don't see a real effort to encourage modal shift.

By ambition I mean moving to Belgian frequencies and fares.

By ambition I mean 200kph max speeds and 130 kph average speeds between all cities, much more double-tracking, limited stop trains for faster journeys, with regional trains stopping at all stations.

Dub-Cork 2hrs

Dub-Galway 2hrs

Dub-Belfast 1.5 hrs

For example, I don't hear any talk about Dub-Cork electrification, 200 kph all the way, double or triple pax numbers, aim for massive modal shift.

The Govt seem committed to CO2 reduction targets, okay, but surely to get there we will have to be far more ambitious on national rail development?

(1) and (4) are welcome, but where is the ambition?

Twenty years ago, we had a plan to build motorways to every city.

Where is the plan to have 200 kph trains to Belfast, Galway, LK, CK?

Is it just me, or are the Greens more focussed on walking/cycling and urban busses than intercity rail?

What about rail electrification? The case for it is now much stronger than ever. Given that we are going to try to electrify private car transport, why not rail, which is proven technology. Hybrid trains, whether battery of hydrogen, are of pretty limited use.

Why are railways in mainland Europe mostly electrified? Do we follow the UK, which is a big laggard in electrification?

You are pretty well on the money with that. Next question: how do you achieve these journey times? Diesel - no way without huge emissions. Hybrid - no use for long-distance high-speed. That leaves electrification - which wins by a country mile.

I'm very sceptical about the GoCar proposals actually working within every town in Ireland. First off you have a lot of households within rural Ireland who are highly dependent on the car to get in and out of town to go about their day to day activities.

People who live within these rural areas would express a view that owning their car would be the best option for them especially if they live in areas that have no bus or rail services available to them.

Then you have people like the well off classes who like owning their cars as well. If GoCar cannot attract those customers to the service. Where would they go next to support their own demand for it?

The lions share of money by far still goes to motorways and car travel generally. I went to the Inchicore open day recently and was amazed at the scale of the site but equally I didn't sense it was a hive of activity. The numbers who work there are tiny for such a site presumably because the new stock being ordered does not require the skillset from the past? It was built for a different era when all skills were in house. Bit like modern cars are more electronics than mechanics. There seems to be no agreement on direction. Is total electrification the way, are diesels still in play indefinitely or hybrids? The latter seem to get the nod.

The new control centre in Heuston looks finished and I liked the station infrastructure at Hazelhatch and Pelletstown that I saw recently. But Connolly is a mess as are many Dart stations. The one in Howth hasn't seen a paint brush in 50 years. Any idea why the beautiful Broadstone building is neglected? I don't envy IR dealing with say the scumbaggery that requires every station lift to be monitored like a bank vault.

Maybe new upper management is needed to drag it into the 21st century and secure rail both urban and intercity as the way to finally displace the road mania of the past decades where bypassing every village in the country seems to be the be all and end all.

When is the all Island rail review due to be published?

By way of contrast the ARdnacrusha scheme was pushed thru in 7 years costing annually one fifth of the states income. Yet it was done.

GoCar actually started in a village of ~600 people (Cloughjordan)... but they aren't actually there anymore!