[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...312243834.html

Regional rail plan to boost speeds and frequency
TIM O'BRIEN

IMPROVEMENTS TO the speed, frequency and quality of regional rail services ultimately leading to the electrification of the inter-city service, were among development targets announced by Iarnród Éireann yesterday.

Launching its revised development strategy, Rail Vision 2030, Iarnród Éireann acknowledged development will be effectively mothballed until 2016. But chief executive Dick Fern told a seminar in Dublin that a post-2016 round of capital investment was needed to allow the network to compete with new motorways.

He said investment in track renewal was necessary to give journey time improvements of up to 30 minutes on key inter-city routes, including Dublin to Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Galway, Mayo and Waterford, resulting in journey times of two hours from Dublin to Cork; one hour 45 minutes Dublin to Galway, and under two hours for other major cities.

Based on a study from consultants Aecom/Goodbody, the strategy targets investment in speed, capacity and ultimately electrification on regional and inter-city routes, which have been found to be losing out to road traffic.

A number of improvements for the greater Dublin area are also proposed including a large park and ride facility at Fonthill/Clondalkin linking by bus to Dublin airport – followed later by a rail link – as well as Dart underground and electrification of the suburban services.

The study found the best performing route for Iarnród Éireann is the Dublin to Cork line, accounting for more than 35 per cent of total rail passengers. It also competed strongly with road usage.

However, other lines did not fare so well, such as the Dublin to Galway and Dublin to Belfast lines, where slow travel times were experienced compared to the motorway. Strong demand from commuter traffic to Dublin from as far out as Dundalk and Ballinasloe was experienced on these lines.

The strategy recommends doubling the existing single line track between Portarlington and Athlone but an alternative route via Mullingar and Athlone was ruled out on cost. The strategy proposes investment in Limerick Junction station.

The study also found the Dublin to Waterford line fell “significantly short of potential demand, while traffic on the Sligo route has responded well to improvements to frequency and rolling stock quality in recent years. Passenger numbers on the Westport and Ballina lines were “relatively strong” and compared reasonably well with road traffic.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar welcomed the study but remarked that much of the projected demand for the greater Dublin area was based on forecasts of significant growth. “Between the 1950s and the 1980s no growth in jobs happened,” he said. He was not predicting stagnation over the next three decades, but forecasts for growth dating from 2006 were “probably overstated”.