Irish Railway Record Society

Irish Railway News  - Journal 156

METRO

Addressing the Dáil on 28 October, the Taoiseach appeared to rule out the construction of the proposed metro line from St. Stephen's Green to the Airport, at least in the short term. He said that the excessive cost of the plan would unjustifiably prevent investment in other initiatives and said that the metro, one of the Government's central transport commitments in its Programme for Government, could not be built before 2007.

The former Minister for Transport, Mr. Brennan, had agreed a cost of €1.2 billion for the line with the RPA. However, this line would have been the first stage in a city wide system, which it is estimated, could have cost the Government €1 billion a year for twenty years.

WESTERN RAIL CORRIDOR

IÉ said the passenger service on the Limerick-Ennis line has exceeded expectations in its first year; with a 40% increase in InterCity journey originating in Ennis and a 30% increase in incoming journeys. It is estimated that 54,000 commuting journeys were taken off the N18 linking Ennis and Limerick during the year. As a result of the success, IÉ has obtained planning permission for an additional 180 car-spaces at Ennis station. IÉ said it would seem to be a "logical step" to connect Cork , Limerick and Galway by upgrading the Ennis-Athenry line. The working group looking at the Western Rail Corridor are expected to report to the Minister for Transport in the spring.

IARNRÓD ÉIREANN

CAHIR VIADUCT

Cahir viaduct, which was badly damaged by a de-railed cement train on 7 October 2003 , was officially re-opened by the then Minister for Transport, Mr Séamus Brennan TD, on Thursday 23 September. Re-building the viaduct to a new higher standard cost €2.6m. A special train from Limerick Junction formed by 2708/07/21/20 broke a tape on the viaduct and a plaque was subsequently unveiled at Cahir station to commemorate the re-building. The special train returned direct from Cahir to Limerick Junction.

An enhanced passenger service re-commenced next day and sugar beet trains started the following week. Passenger train departures from Waterford were at 08.22 (07.05 from Rosslare Europort), 14.15 and 21.16 (20.00 from Rosslare Europort). Departures from Limerick Junction were at 10.40, 13.28 and 16.20 (to Rosslare Europort) (See Timetable Review in JOURNAL 153). All services between Limerick Junction and Rosslare Europort are now formed by 2-car railcars, normally the 2700-class.

Speaking at the reopening, Mr Joe Meagher Managing Director of Iarnród Éireann said ‘we have responded to the calls from the community for more services, modern fleet and we are promoting this service with discounted fares. … We made a commitment to reopen this line for our passenger and freight customers, and I welcome all our customers back’.

INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN

On 17 November, IÉ unveiled details of their plans for an integrated rail service for Dublin and surrounding counties. The plan is to provide additional transport capacity for the rapidly growing population by maximising use of the existing rail network. For example, population growth along the already busy Connolly-Drogheda-Dundalk corridor is projected to increase from 210,000 in 2002 to 307,000 in 2016. The Dublin-Maynooth-Longford corridor is expected to increase from 190,000 to 254,000. Existing rail lines serving both these areas bottleneck at Connolly and there is very limited growth capacity available beyond the increase taking place under the DART upgrade scheme. Projected new lines such as Clonsilla-Dunboyne-N3 Park+Ride are also constrained by the Connolly bottleneck. The lines out of Heuston also serve growing areas. The population of the rail catchment area between Heuston and Kildare will increase from 92,500 to 155,000. Beyond Kildare the population will increase from 93,000 to 124,000. At present Heuston provides a somewhat remote terminus for most commuters and limits suburban rail growth.

The key feature is a proposed 5.2km Interconnector tunnel from Spencer Dock in North Wall to Heuston via Pearse, St Stephen’s Green, and High Street. This would provide an alternative route to the existing Loop line between Connolly and Pearse. IÉ propose Drogheda services would divert via the Interconnector to Kildare via Heuston. Existing southside DART services would operate via the Loop line to Maynooth and N3 Park+Ride. The Interconnector would allow a direct rail service to the city centre from growing suburbs in the west of Dublin such as Adamstown on the Heuston-Cork line. A further feature of the proposed plan is the role it has in easing congestion at junctions where the orbital M50 motorway intersects the N3, N4 and N7 roads. These roads will become under more pressure from the projected population growth. The enhanced rail network would have capacity to move many times the existing traffic levels at these junctions. For example, the infamous Red Cow Roundabout M50/N7 (Cork & Limerick) junction had just over 3,500 vehicles per peak-hour per direction in 2002. In comparison, the enhanced Cork rail line would have the capacity of 12,000 passengers per hour per direction.

IÉ evaluated two different routes to Dublin Airport from the existing rail network. The preferred option is a link from the Dublin-Belfast line under the flight-path direct to the airport. The other option from the Dublin-Maynooth line was estimated to cost €200m more.

IÉ estimates the cost of the full plan at €3.4bn. This is made up of works on maximising the existing network at €700m; the spur to the airport and N3 Park+Ride at €400m; the Interconnector at €1.3bn; ancillary works including electrification at €300m; and rolling stock at €700m. The plan can be delivered in phases depending on available funding.

IÉ Managing Director Mr Joe Meagher said the integrated plan would provide a full link with the Luas lines, make a major contribution to reducing congestion on the M50, help bring down housing costs and reduce harmful environmental emissions from private vehicles.

He said that the business case shows:

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 156, published February 2005.

Copyright © 2005 by Irish Railway Record Society Limited
Revised: November 06, 2015 .