Kiteflying about wholesale closures
 

Two days in a row and two rumours elsewhere about the NTA considering wholesale closures outside Dublin to Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Westport and Tralee. Any substance or is this simply mischief making?

Now that's the biggest load of nonsense I have heard about IE in a long time. Can't believe you have even posted about it, do you honestly believe it?

I'm simply asking a question. Jesus.

Didn't mean to annoy you but come on, seriously? The answer is no anyway besides the usual lines waiting for closure,

It's very disconcerting reading the sort of material Ronald has mentioned that is appearing elsewhere. For one I thought a more mature making a go of things approach was now the plan for the railways. It's very easy to slash and burn but that's not the way forward. Hopefully there is no substance to any of this other than keeping existing operations and lines as cost effective as possible.

And where are these claims?

There will be closures alright but they have to wait for a politician in North Tipp to lose his seat (not long to go now). No main route is at risk

The financial position should stabilize in 2014

Isn't that assuming that government subvention remains the same, which might not hold true at the next budget.

Irish Rail are much less relevant now than even a decade ago given the near total abandonment of rail freight, the reduction in passenger market share and the very significant improvement in the road system.

On a more positive note the cost of running trains (crews, signalling, level crossings) have been much reduced and the state of the infrastructure is relatively good. Irish Rail now need to grow their business and ensure that their services meet the needs of the communities they serve to the maximum extent possible.

The threads on boards.ie look more like a wind-up than anything else.

It's just a load of bs. If there was going to be any line closures how it works is Iarnród Éireann would have to prove whatever line is unviable and doesn't make sense to keep it open and would have to seek permission from the NTA and DOT to close the line not the opposite way. It's not the NTA job to close lines.