(Ireland) Western Rail Corridor future?

[MidnightFlyer]

Digging back through a few emails earlier today I found this article from January about the WRC, its usage (or indeed lack thereof) and future.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0131/365466-galway-limerick-irish-rail-alan-kelly/

The Minister for Public and Commuter Transport has said he wants to see a "dramatic improvement" in the number of passengers using the Galway-Limerick train service.
Alan Kelly said he was concerned about the volume of business on the line, which reopened in 2010 at a cost of over €100m.
He said the costs associated with the service meant there was a clear need to improve passenger numbers.
Mr Kelly said he was hopeful that a commercial plan being drawn up by Iarnród Éireann would encourage people to use the service.
It is understood this will lead to shorter journey times between the two cities and the introduction of online booking for those wishing to travel on the route.
Campaigners in favour of the line have called for the progression of the next phase of the Western Rail Corridor, from Athenry to Tuam, but the minister said due to the financial situation there would be no announcement in that regard any time soon.
Mr Kelly said that it would not be his choice to close rail lines, but there were concerns about usage of a number of passenger lines on the network.
...

I'm sure I have also found one that put its future alongside the Clonmel (Waterford-Limerick) and Nenagh (Ballybrophy-Limerick) lines, alas I cant find it, or I may have misinterpreted the above at the time.

In light of this, has the situation shown any signs of improving over the last few months? Ditto the other two under threat lines? Similarly, what is the future of the further extensions north to the WRC, through Tuam to Claremorris? The campaign's website seemed rather quiet on it.

I can't imagine a 2 year old line closing, but if the usage and circumstances carry on as they have, how long can it hold up for?

Cheers

 

[gordonthemoron]

an improved frequency would be an idea

 

[GM078]

Similarly, what is the future of the further extensions north to the WRC, through Tuam to Claremorris? The campaign's website seemed rather quiet on it.

North of Athenry isn't going too happen any time soon, in fact, I doubt it will happen at all. Even in the best of times I would have been skeptical about reopening Tuam-Claremorris (whereas there might be commuter traffic from Tuam to Galway).

Taking my rail enthusiast hat off and putting my Irish taxpayer hat on, in hindsight reopening Ennis-Athenry was a waste of money that could have been better used on reopening the M3 Parkway branch all the way to Navan. I doubt this will happen any time in the next ten years either; the WRC has done more damage than good to the concept of reopening Irish rail lines.

Quite simply it's not competitive with the equivalent road route, which also has two bus companies offering better times. Most of stations serve sparsely populated areas. As you say though it is newly reopened and it will be interesting to see if the government is brave enough to close it, though granted it was the Fianna Fáil govt. that actioned it and not the incumbents.

I would say Limerick-Ballybrophy will go first, not sure about the Clonmel line but it's timetable does it no favours.

 

[Eagle]

Quite simply it's not competitive with the equivalent road route...

This is true of the entire corridor, to be fair, as the government have been relentlessly pushing to get the entire Atlantic corridor between Sligo and Cork to motorway or near-motorway standard (originally by 2015, but that date has been pushed further and further back due to the financial crisis).

 

[IR-Mark4/ICR]

an improved frequency would be an idea

It had a better frequency but reduced because of no demand.

This line won't close as its a political line.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

North of Athenry isn't going too happen any time soon, in fact, I doubt it will happen at all. Even in the best of times I would have been skeptical about reopening Tuam-Claremorris (whereas there might be commuter traffic from Tuam to Galway).

Taking my rail enthusiast hat off and putting my Irish taxpayer hat on, in hindsight reopening Ennis-Athenry was a waste of money that could have been better used on reopening the M3 Parkway branch all the way to Navan. I doubt this will happen any time in the next ten years either; the WRC has done more damage than good to the concept of reopening Irish rail lines.

Quite simply it's not competitive with the equivalent road route, which also has two bus companies offering better times. Most of stations serve sparsely populated areas. As you say though it is newly reopened and it will be interesting to see if the government is brave enough to close it, though granted it was the Fianna Fáil govt. that actioned it and not the incumbents.

I would say Limerick-Ballybrophy will go first, not sure about the Clonmel line but it's timetable does it no favours.

Thanks for the detailed reply I too thought the further away from Galway and Limerick you got the less viable it would become - I can't imagine there's any market at all out towards Claremorris and Sligo through miles of emptiness (though I would be interested to see if there'd be any potential from Sligo through Co. Donegal and Letterkenny into the North around Londonderry). I remember reading the first month ridership was above estimation, but it has halved (or more) since. It's just occurred to me that if all these closures were to happen (a very slight, slight chance of that!) then Limerick would have just a shuttle to Junction and 7 trains a day to Ennis...

How badly has Clonmel been hit? IE seems to have a timetable change every couple of months nowadays but I recall it went down to 3, then 2 within a matter of months. What was the timetable like before the downturn? Ditto Waterford-Rosslare before that turned to 1 a day?

(Just some more general thoughts: having been to M3 Parkway last year I'm not really sure you could justify Navan either, whether or not the WRC reopened. The economic downturn has obliterated the need for schemes like that - M3P went from 2tph to Docklands to 1tph to Connolly to now just 1tph to the junction of the branch at Clonsilla in about 4 years. When I was there I might have seen 4 people on my train both to and from the branch, no one used Dunboyne at all. I was at Navan Road Parkway that day for 45 minutes and saw not one soul. The day after I went to Hazelhatch and that's just as odd. A railway line quadrupled and every station rebuilt like a palace for an hourly stopper and 2-3 fast trains an hour. Adamstown I think was built to serve a new housing area which never materialised. The Green Line extension on Luas down to Bride's Glen still crosses fields full of cattle were houses were now meant to be. It's so weird to observe.)

It had a better frequency but reduced because of no demand.

This line won't close as its a political line.

It only had 6 trains a day to begin with I believe (more Ennis-Limerick), and went down to 5, so in a sense got off rather lightly! Can only see it going down further though. Does anyone know when the next review is by Irish Rail?

 

[IR-Mark4/ICR]

How badly has Clonmel been hit? IE seems to have a timetable change every couple of months nowadays but I recall it went down to 3, then 2 within a matter of months. What was the timetable like before the downturn? Ditto Waterford-Rosslare before that turned to 1 a day?

I think at most it was 4 trains per day but that reduced to 3 a few years ago. Since January it is 2 daily. The simple reason for this is amount of manual LC. With two trains per day staff operate a split shift. When it was 3 they needed 2 separate shifts. So considerable savings being made. On the + side since April the route is all ICR's operated and not 2800's anymore.

It only had 6 trains a day to begin with I believe (more Ennis-
Limerick), and went down to 5, so in a sense got off rather lightly! Can only see it going down further though. Does anyone know when the next review is by Irish Rail?

I expect that in 2014 it will lose one more daily service but of course politics will see Waterford to Limerick J close well before the WRC. It caused the Rosslare to Waterford service to close and it was less loss making than the WRC.

The next timetable will commence around 20 January 2014 with draft proposals due from October.

(Just some more general thoughts: having been to M3 Parkway last year I'm not really sure you could justify Navan either, whether or not the WRC reopened. The economic downturn has obliterated the need for schemes like that - M3P went from 2tph to Docklands to 1tph to Connolly to now just 1tph to the junction of the branch at Clonsilla in about 4 years. When I was there I might have seen 4 people on my train both to and from the branch, no one used Dunboyne at all. I was at Navan Road Parkway that day for 45 minutes and saw not one soul. The day after I went to Hazelhatch and that's just as odd. A railway line quadrupled and every station rebuilt like a palace for an hourly stopper and 2-3 fast trains an hour. Adamstown I think was built to serve a new housing area which never materialised. The Green Line extension on Luas down to Bride's Glen still crosses fields full of cattle were houses were now meant to be. It's so weird to observe.)

All were started when times were good. Dublin is facing major transport problems in the near future. The M3 Parkway has a direct service in the mornings and evenings every 25-30 minutes. As for green fields in South Dublin it may just explain that the city is very close to running out of housing to meet population demand.

The Quad track at Heuston side was needed and the network couldn't operate without it. The improvement in services since its operational is fantastic. 140 scheduled services daily, freight/tack machines and 20 or so stock movements between Heuston and Laois Train Depot.

 

[GM078]

Part of the problem with M3 Parkway is that it is situated after the toll bridge on the M3... so having paid a toll I can't imagine many would be inclined to part with more money for parking and a train fare...

There are some bizarre features on the Luas green line alright, including a tunnel under a field (in theory there was to be a development over this).

In saying that I commuted from Cherrywood to Sandyford for a while and loadings always seemed quite good.