High speed rail... feasibility study... maybe

[comcor]

Is there any practical possibility of getting current lines to 240km/h?

Because that would be a lot cheaper and still make Cork-Belfast possible in c. 2 hours.

Of course you still have to get across Dublin and that is where the real expense would lie.

I can't imagine there's enough demand for a greenfield line to the north and west of Dublin. Could there be enough demand for Cork/Limerick/Galway-Dublin Airport to make this a possibility? Most people would be traveling Cork-Dublin or Belfast-Dublin, not Cork-Belfast or even Cork-Drogheda or Belfast-Limerick. And we know the interconnector, whatever its status hasn't been planned for InterCity trains.