[05/03/2012] Nenagh, Limerick and Commuter service improvements

[Destructix]

Letters to the Editor
Early morning train to Dublin
Sir - Iarnród Éireann can take a bow for their new early-morning train service from North Tipperary to Dublin. Its first journey, on Monday, was smooth and swift, on board a luxurious, brand-new train. The weather gods even showed their support on its debut day by providing a glorious crisp morning, soon warmed up by unbroken sunshine.
Arrival in Heuston at 8.25am is ideal for daily commuters - and the provision of a direct service, with no need to change trains halfway, makes it easier to put the time to good use. It's your choice: work, study, read, chat - or just go back to sleep. With a table and a power point at most seats, the train is ideal for passengers who travel with a laptop. Folk who claim they can do the journey a few minutes faster by car may be right - much depends on how far from the station you live and exactly where you work. However, what else will they have achieved when they get there? And you can't do much on a bus either.
Of course, critics love to carp about the relatively low speed until the train joins the main line - but that can and will be improved if the service is well used. Curiously, the same critics seem to forget that cars and buses must often crawl the last few miles into Dublin, while the train glides past the traffic jams. And that those last few miles of driving can be stressful and frustrating. And that the time spent on driving, at any speed, is simply wasted.
The ride home was almost as good. Leaving Dublin on the 5.05pm to Tralee, we raced to Ballybrophy non-stop. (Try doing that by car!) There, the local train was waiting to take us on the last leg home. And if 5.05pm is too early for you, there's a later departure at 6pm.
In all, there are now four trains every weekday to Dublin and three back: check with Iarnród Éireann for details. So there may well be a service to suit you.
Moreover, fares are low, contrary to the common myth. For example, a day return from Cloughjordan costs a mere €25.50. There’s no need to prebook: just pay at the station - or on the train if the station is unstaffed. The deal is even better if you buy a monthly season ticket, valid from May 1, it will cost you only about €22 per working day - and much less if you buy it under the Taxsaver plan.
I'd encourage everyone in North Tipperary who travels to Dublin to give this great new service a fair trial. It’s good for North Tipperary, good for the environment, good for your pocket, good for your health - and it could be perfect for you!
Duncan Martin Cloughjordan

Also an article about rural transport another one of Alan Kelly's mad schemes where a community based bus can substitute a Bus Éireann bus scoile. I got bored reading it after few sentences.

[dowlingm]

Google reveals that name to be a member of Nenagh Rail Partnership.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

Nor, for that matter, how many are on free passes!

Probably around the same proportion as the the rest of the mainline railway, although having said that, I can't imagine too many OAPs getting up to take the 0515 !

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

"Is there a big volume of high revenue business at Adamstown then ? As I said there is more than adequate capacity on pre-existing commuter services into Heuston without having to be supplemented by the 0515 from Limerick. Stopping at Hazelhatch and Adamstown also means using the slow line as the platforms serving the fast lines at these stations appear to be mothballed."

Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp

there seems to be, as it gets into Heuston full from having 19 or so at Ballybrophy (including a trainspotter and a CIE rep on the first day).

Yes but the following 0725 from Portlaoise is now half empty !

While Irish Rail probably considers this service to be a temporary irritant imposed on them by their paymaster, one would have thought that it would afford an opportunity to improve other services. For example the 0505 from Cork could perhaps have been altered to run non-stop from Ballybrophy to Heuston, with the Limerick via Nenagh service serving Portlaoise and Portarlington only. There is no shortage of capacity at either Hazelhatch or Adamstown and stopping the new service at these stations is both frivilous and unnecessary.

Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp

well, for 17 people, and we dont know how many of them are off the early trains to dublin from Templemore and Thurles, its a lot of effort. Pity that effort isnt put into having a train going the other way, into limerick, from Ballybrpohy at a reasonable hour instead. Although, that may be the next experiment after this one.

The last time I travelled to Limerick (via Nenagh), the train picked up no passengers for Limerick at the intermediate stations, but dropped passengers from Dublin at Roscrea, Cloughjordan, Nenagh and Birdhill. While there may be some potential for commuter traffic into Limerick, the failure to provide a decent service to/from Dublin is the primary reason for the minimal usage of this line.

[doherty jack]

very good article !! in the paper quoted there!

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by doherty jack

very good article !! in the paper quoted there!

Well I suppose "Arrival in Heuston at 8.25am is ideal for daily commuters" isn't a lie since he didn't actually claim that train makes that arrival time, merely that it is ideal.

[Mark Gleeson]

Its been on time once in 5 days, other 4 days delays vary from 5 to 30 minutes

[dowlingm]

If it was decided to convert the direct service to a shuttle using a 2800 set (since the 2700s are going away), is the Cork facing bay platform available in Portlaoise? I don't think it has a platform number in the pictures I've seen. Apart from the track change it would allow that service to stay out of the way of the ex-Portlaoise service.

[Destructix]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

If it was decided to convert the direct service to a shuttle using a 2800 set (since the 2700s are going away), is the Cork facing bay platform available in Portlaoise? I don't think it has a platform number in the pictures I've seen. Apart from the track change it would allow that service to stay out of the way of the ex-Portlaoise service.

Alan Kelly and the NRP wouldn't like that they wan't a shiny new train. What needs to happen is that Iarnród Éireann has no interference from the Government to be encouraged to roll out stupid services on unprofitable lines like Limerick-Ballybrophy, WRC. Only people who should be able to boss CIE around is NTA.

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by Destructix

Only people who should be able to boss CIE around is NTA.

Yes, but NTA should hold their meetings in public and accept reasonable deputations, as Metrolinx does in Toronto and Translink does in Vancouver.

http://www.translink.ca/en/About-Us/...d-Reports.aspx
http://www.translink.ca/en/Be-Part-of-the-Plan.aspx

http://www.metrolinx.com/en/aboutus/..._meetings.aspx
http://www.metrolinx.com/en/aboutus/...relations.aspx

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

If it was decided to convert the direct service to a shuttle using a 2800 set (since the 2700s are going away), is the Cork facing bay platform available in Portlaoise? I don't think it has a platform number in the pictures I've seen. Apart from the track change it would allow that service to stay out of the way of the ex-Portlaoise service.

I get the impression yes. the siding joins the third track immediately south of the platform and joins the main line at Portlaoise yard. All movements appear possible, unless there have been changes since the map was updated.

[Mark Gleeson]

Cork bay in Portlaoise (Mountmellick bay actually) no longer exists.

[karlr42]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Cork bay in Portlaoise (Mountmellick bay actually) no longer exists.

Indeed, there is just a siding up to the start of the platform.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/finnyus...ream/lightbox/

[comcor]

Originally Posted by Destructix

Alan Kelly and the NRP wouldn't like that they wan't a shiny new train. What needs to happen is that Iarnród Éireann has no interference from the Government to be encouraged to roll out stupid services on unprofitable lines like Limerick-Ballybrophy, WRC. Only people who should be able to boss CIE around is NTA.

To be honest, I think they have to be politically accountable. I am convinced that the reason the last Rosslare-Dublin train is at 17:55 (just before 2 ferries arrive) is because Irish Rail don't want passengers so they can close the line south of Wexford. As long as Irish Rail receive some subsidy, there should be some level of check that the subsidy is properly used. Now, that doesn't necessarily happen (I have heard no comment about that odd
Rosslare timetable), but that is a political failing that we need to look at separately.

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Cork bay in Portlaoise (Mountmellick bay actually) no longer exists.

Without getting into the technicalities more than we have to, would it cost much to reinstate it as a bay to allow a shuttle to drop branch passengers and head back to Limerick as/when convenient? Is there a good reason why they would have opted to forgo the bay with the buffer stops just short of it?

[Mark Gleeson]

Considering the reversal at Ballybrophy it remains the most logical point of change, plus its 16 miles to Portlaoise a 70 mph train on a soon to be 100mph stretch

The option of a connection into the 05:05 was mentioned to Irish Rail before the service started

[Destructix]

Originally Posted by comcor

To be honest, I think they have to be politically accountable.

In some parts maybe like expenditure but not on the day to day running of services. Pat Rabbitte wouldn't go to the ESB and say reduce your prices or try to change the way Bord Na Mona operates. Alan Kelly should have no power to tell Iarnród Éireann to roll out services to his constituency. You think Iarnród Éireann would have learned from the WRC.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

Without getting into the technicalities more than we have to, would it cost much to reinstate it as a bay to allow a shuttle to drop branch passengers and head back to Limerick as/when convenient? Is there a good reason why they would have opted to forgo the bay with the buffer stops just short of it?

It would probably be cheaper to build a direct curve at Ballybrophy and install an additional mainline crossover to facilitate direct access to and from the branch. This work will ultimately be necessary if the Limerick (via Nenagh) line is to survive in the longer term.

Ironically Irish Rail have recently spent a small fortune renewing the dis-functional layout at Ballybrophy, the bulk of which is little used.

The current arrangement at Portlaoise allows northbound movements along the loop approach the exit signal without requiring the points to be set onto the southbound main line.

The bay platform at Portlaoise hasn't been signalled for passenger movements since at least 1976 and has had virtually no function of any sort in recent years.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

Yes, but NTA should hold their meetings in public and accept reasonable deputations, as Metrolinx does in Toronto and Translink does in Vancouver.

http://www.translink.ca/en/About-Us/...d-Reports.aspx
http://www.translink.ca/en/Be-Part-of-the-Plan.aspx

http://www.metrolinx.com/en/aboutus/..._meetings.aspx
http://www.metrolinx.com/en/aboutus/...relations.aspx

Yes absolutely, NTA meetings should be public events - the greater the transparency in the use of public funds and what is delivered for those funds the better.

[Kilocharlie]

The 0725 ex Portlaoise was on a 3-car today and with the 0600 ex Waterford stuck at Cherryville due to a points failure this meant a very overload train...

Did the other half of the 0725 do the Nenagh run?