quote:… The final report from the All-Island Strategic Rail Review sets out a vision up to 2050 and was jointly commissioned by authorities north and south.
The cost of implementing the 32 recommendations in the review by 2050 is estimated to be between €35-37 billion. Among them, a plan to increase the rail network across the island from 2,300 km to almost 3,000 km, with the opening of new lines and the reopening of former rail lines. If all the recommendations were delivered, an additional 700,000 people would live within 5 km of a train station.
New routes in the review would bring trains to the north midlands from Mullingar to Cavan, Monaghan, Armagh and Portadown, and also to the north west from Portadown to Dungannon, Omagh, Strabane, Derry and Letterkenny.
The Western Rail Corridor between Claremorris and Athenry, and the South Wexford Railway connecting Wexford to Waterford would also be reinstated.
The vision also includes plans to connect Dublin, Belfast and Shannon Airports with the rail network, and upgrade much of the single-track network to double tracks. New 200 km/h intercity trains would see journey times reduced, and in some cases halved. They would also be more frequent, with hourly services between cities recommended. For regional and rural routes, services at least every two hours are recommended.
The review provides for decarbonization, with the provision of a net carbon zero system through overhead electrification of intercity routes and new electric trains. …
I see the so-called Western Rail Corridor is not intended to be reinstated in its full form, with the segment from Claremorris to Sligo omitted. But reinstating Athenry to Claremorris will at least reactivate the segment that has Ballyglunin station, which posed as “Castletown” station in the movie The Quiet Man.
Plans for extensive electrification have existed since at least the late 1960s/early 1970s; the Dublin-Cork line has been a candidate for electrification for at least that long.
Also quite funny that they are looking at rebuilding the line between Inny Junction (just west of Mullingar and Cavan, as well as to Monaghan. I read on some Irish rail forums that much of the right of way for that line may have come under the ownership of the farmers whose land it used to traverse; however, with the way farmers are treated under EU law, anything is possible.
The line between Dunboyne and Navan is not mentioned in this article; that would have made the most sense, but instead they built the M3 motorway, severing that line east of Dunboyne and damaging the Hill of Tara which is one of Ireland’s most important historical sites (JFTR, it should of course be a false dilemma to choose between the two modes).
The only way to connect the airports is to use the general railway network. The current plans for Dublin’s Metro (also on the drawing board for decades) are for using low-capacity light-rail-like vehicles that are not suited for the general rail network, however; and the only rail line currently planned to serve Dublin’s airport is the ever-changing northern metro line whose terminus would be at Swords, just north of the airport. I cannot see how Shannon could be connected to the rail network, except for a spur off the line between Limerick and Athenry (Galway).
Sending trains to Letterkenny would mean that at least one part of County Donegal would see rail service again. Some kind of rail service is still needed around that rather large county, particularly connecting to Sligo and Dublin.
I do not see a mention of any of the West Cork lines, or any of the former “light railway” systems such as from Cork to Passage West or the former lines to Macroom or even Blarney. More than enough money was spent on reinstating service between Cork and Midleton that could have reopened the line all the way to Youghal, too. Not to mention, the South Wexford line used to run through Waterford to Mallow on the Dublin-Cork line and also directly connecting to the line to Killarney and Tralee; Waterford is a dead end.
200 km/h is of course 125 mph, a benchmark that the UK achieved in 1975 when the Class 43 HST hauling Mark 3 cars came into service. So by 2050, Ireland’s intercity rail service will have reached the late twentieth century… 🤬
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