Cork Area Commuter Rail (CACR)

That appears to have been black holed due to being not particularly important. Overall backlog is down by about a third.

A planning amnesty for critical infrastructure for the next 5 years is warranted at this point.

It begars belief that this hasn't been moved on. It's about as non-contentious as you can get where infrastructure development is concerned and I understood that the key concerns had been addressed. That we have a supposedly pro-rail minister sitting idly by while this goes nowhere says a lot. It's a bit like the silence since ABP granted the RO for the Glounthane-Midleton double tracking, you'd have expected him to have the SI containing the commencement order ready to go instead of a six month and counting gap. None of this augurs well for the much more complicated and longer term job of delivering a light rail route across and through the city.

It is definitely on record* that this will facilitate improved rail journey times I can’t remember where but I have a figure of 6-8 mins in my head as I remember thinking that it was 1+min per level crossing, and that it benefits the Cork-Limerick service as well as Cork-Dublin.

There is also a huge safety benefit in completing this work. This cannot and shouldn’t be overlooked.

*I’ll see if I can track down the source when I have more time.

I think Eamon is spoofing about electric trains running in 2026. The Railway Order for the electrification infrastructure and new depot for the BEMU trains won't be submitted to ABP until the end of 2025. It'll hardly be approved and infrastructure built and in place for battery electric trains to be running in 2026.

How is it safer? Are the existing ones unsafe somehow?

But you need charging infrastructure for these trains that costs money and needs planning. There is charging infrastructure needed in Drogheda to support the Northern Line trains that required planning permission. It's not a simple case of just plugging them in somewhere.

Every level crossing is a safety risk on the railway. Closing them eliminates that risk.

Also, you asked about speeds - there are permanent speed restrictions on the railway associated with some of the crossings which will be removed following their elimination.

I don't doubt but that it's complicated, and with Iarnrod Eireann involved it's no doubt at least twice as complicate as it needs to be. I'm just aghast at the caption below ……..

THREE HUNDRED MILLION EURO ???

The platform project is costing EUR 23m.

The quoted EUR 300m cost is the combined cost of the double tracking to Midleton project, the re-signalling of the Cork area network project, and the platform project all lumped together.

In the reports it seems that 5 of the 8 new stations will be delivered first with the other 3 depending on more development in their immediate vicinity.

I'd say the 3 that will be deferred pending more local development would be Monard, Water-rock and Tivoli.

Does anyone know exactly the Blackpool station will be?

Regarding Waterock, I would like to see that station go ahead. They have already put in the roads/cycle lanes/bus stops plus the water/sewage infrastructure to service Waterock. With planning granted for many of the sites in the area having the infrastructure which includes the train station makes it more attractive. We may see government intervention to build the apartments like we have seen elsewhere so getting that station built in the next two or three years would be prudent. Tivoli and Monard I agree are longer term prospects.

Sorry I just saw your post. Yep, I think Waterrock stands a chance of coming in the first tranche. Regarding the chicken-and-egg "station first" or "development first", what's happened there is that Phase 1 of Waterrock is allowed to start without the train being in place

That was what I had in mind yep, those three. Ballynoe is well discussed between people in Cobh but I've never seen anything formal outside of the local development plan. Waterrock would seem to be well ahead, from my view of it. Online council documentation gives that impression too:

https://www.corkcoco.ie/en/resident/planning-and-development/urban-expansion-areas

Local people tell me specific development is approved in Waterrock and things are currently ramping up for construction, not sure of actual timelines.