Irish Economy and railways investment; post haddington, Trump and Brexit

[jhb171achill]

We read in the papers recently that IE are pitching for a lot more money "or lines might close".

 

The wage claims we have (1) will use money up. Brexit (2) and Trump (3) will do no economic favours for Ireland.

 

(1: I state this as practicality, not a cue for political discussion. 2: I state this in the wake of the certainty of more difficult exporting by Irish exporters to the UK, not a cue for political discussion, and 3: again, not a cue, but the reality that a lot of the American firms employing thousands of well paid people in Ireland will come under pressure to ship out.)

 

So, where will any money come from to fund our railways, and will the same amount as previously necessary be available? If not, what gives?

[Junctionmad]

We read in the papers recently that IE are pitching for a lot more money "or lines might close".

 

The wage claims we have (1) will use money up. Brexit (2) and Trump (3) will do no economic favours for Ireland.

 

(1: I state this as practicality, not a cue for political discussion. 2: I state this in the wake of the certainty of more difficult exporting by Irish exporters to the UK, not a cue for political discussion, and 3: again, not a cue, but the reality that a lot of the American firms employing thousands of well paid people in Ireland will come under pressure to ship out.)

 

So, where will any money come from to fund our railways, and will the same amount as previously necessary be available? If not, what gives?

 

On a simple financial and passagner basis , there is no justification for any intercity rail network in Ireland , and a clear need in the GDA for mass transit rail systems

 

 

In my view we will come to a crunch , when the rising costs of the intercity network mean priorities will have to be decided. A possible privatisation of the network might help , but I think it's too small to work

 

The question will be an underfunded countrywide rail system or a reasonably funded commuter system.

 

As for Brexit or trump , I dont personally beleive they will have any huge impacts on Ireland and in most cases at present we cannot tell the makeup and effect of those impacts

 

 

iR is now back in the cycle of " make and mend " railway operation , but with an entirely less flexible fleet then that time, what's clear is that simply keeping cie away from deaths door is not sufficient. Shane Ross professed preference for intercity bus does not argur well for IE

Edited November 11, 2016 by Junctionmad