Darrman

Sounds like I dodged a bullet yesterday: the 10am from Belfast was a DD and there was no trouble beyond an obligatory stuck-behind-a-Dart for the last few miles. I had actually booked the 2pm from Dublin to Cork accounting for Enterprise unreliability but I'd have made the 1pm. I must say, the breakfast waffles are very very sweet!

Alright, so I was on holiday for a while, so I'm a bit delayed on the relevant news pieces. The West Highland Line is a lovely sight, but enough about that... https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2025/06/23/legal-challenges-to-dart-expansion-plans-dropped/ The legal challenges on Dart+ West have been dropped, so we should be in the clear now. Contracts to be signed by end of 2026, services to begin 2031. Five years to electrify ~20 miles or so? Just have to make sure the economy holds out until then. https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/06/26/new-cabra-rail-station-planned-near-carnlough-road-junction/ A halt at Cabra has been added to the Dart+ Southwest plans. It's to be located around the old Cabra sidings. (Map from Irish Rail's own piece.) Not covered by the current railway order, but will be constructed at the same time.

https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/about-us/iarnrod-eireann-projects-and-investments/cork-area-commuter-rail And the consultation is here. To provide a somewhat brief summary... 25kV OHLE covering everything south of Mallow, no sign of battery usage. It's mentioned in the documents that batteries weren't reliable enough. Cork Shed won't be electrified. Neither will Kent Platform 1? That has to be a mistake. Trains every ten minutes to Midleton and Cobh. Through running beyond Kent is undecided: either 4 Midleton to Mallow/2 Cobh to Blarney with the rest terminating at Kent, or all Cobhs terminate at Kent and 4/2 Midletons run to Mallow, rest terminate at Blarney. Eight new stations: three between Cork and Mallow, two between Cork and Glounthaune, two between Glounthaune and Midleton, one between Glounthaune and Cobh. GSWR: Blackpool/Kilbarry (old Kilbarry yard), Monard (old Rathpeacon sidings), Blarney/Stoneview (old Blarney station). Passing loop on down line at old Rathduff station. New Blarney is stated to have three platforms: technical drawings are inconsistent, but where the third platform is shown it's also on the down side with appropriate crossovers. 220m platforms, enough for a Mark 4. All other stations 94m long. Cobh: Tivoli (roughly in the centre of the current harbour area), Dunkettle (old North Esk yard), Ballynoe (a bit south of the Passage ferry terminal). Youghal: Carrigtwohill West (within the "Fota Retail Park"), Water-Rock (west of Midleton, currently near fields), depot between Carrigtwohill and Midleton. Extended stations: Two extra platforms in Mallow (west of the current ones). One extra platform in Cobh (rebuilding disused length, then cutting back current platform to build a platform on the current siding). Nothing for Midleton beyond extra crossovers. Closure of Myrtle Hill level crossing. That should be about everything of note. As an occasional user of intercity services, my main concerns would be resilience for those, but otherwise I don't have anything to complain about. Now, knowing this country, I'm sure something frivolous will come up...

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025/06/13/eight-new-cork-rail-stations-to-go-to-public-consultation/ Public consultation for the eight proposed new stations, along with the new depot of "up to 150 carraiges", is set to begin on Wednesday. 150 carraiges is 30 new 5-car Darts for reference, and a whole lot more than the 16 that make up the 2600 fleet.

Nothing to do with the Foynes Branch whatsoever, but I may as well post this for curiosity's sake... https://www.bbc.com/sport/golf/articles/ce9vde77xkno So the dates for the Ryder Cup have been confirmed as the 17th to the 19th of September 2027. Irish Rail have just over two years to put down a platform. Will they? Knowing this country, probably not. Let's assume the signalling work goes as planned and is done in 16 months from now, which would put completion at September 2026. A platform in a year sounds reasonable, but a certain planning board would drag its feet so long the Ryder Cup would be over. For what it's worth, I do think they should put a real platform in Adare - and all the way along to Limerick too.

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41637478.html The front page of the Echo today featured some businesses on the Luas route complaining that there could be construction works affecting their business. It would be a pretty rubbish tram if it avoided every business, but it's not like it will get built anyway...

Derry Dana anyone?

You can, and I do have the full route on my own Open Rails copy. From what I remember, you have to install North first, then when you install South it should recognise it. I believe North needs you to input the serial number as an anti-piracy measure too. From the Enterprise South readme... Of course, who's to say some Windows update didn't break something at some point?

https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/boost-commuters-opening-date-confirmed-31375675 Platform 6 will be opened in a ceremony on the 14th. No immediate timetable recast as far as I can tell, but watch this space. I doubt they'll ever be able to dislodge the cyclists.

There are currently 1,698 (per Wikipedia, citation needed) miles of railway in Ireland. A thought exercise: keep the mileage the same (plus or minus a few miles), but rearrange the places served. For example, closing Portarlington-Athlone to reopen Mullingar-Athlone. I'd close the Nenagh Branch (52 1/2 miles) and in its place reinstate Harcourt Street (10 1/2 miles), the Bandon to Bandon and relevant connections to Kent (21 miles), the Waterford and Tramore (7 1/4 miles, with another half-mile or so to bridge the Suir and flatten half of Waterford in the interest of connecting it to Plunkett), and the County Down to Comber (8 miles). Then I'd close the GNR Navan line if that counts as open (17 1/4 miles) to replace it with the MGWR Navan line (~19 1/2 miles). That's 69 3/4 miles replaced with 66 3/4 miles. Take a mile and a quarter of Kingscourt to have a northern Navan terminus, another quarter-mile to move Rosslare Harbour back to its original site, 3/4 miles of the Drogheda cement branch for a Dart turn back station, and I can't think of anything else to use the last 3/4 miles on.

https://irishbuildingmagazine.ie/2025/03/28/sisk-completes-track-laying-and-next-phase-of-works-commence-on-limerick-to-foynes-freight-line/ Tracklaying has been completed. Providing the signalling and level crossing upgrades are proposed to take 18 months from here.

I notice that destination set as Youghal!

County Cork? Well, there goes my bank account. I've seen the real thing in Cultra, so I'll gladly add this to my collection.

Seeing testing begin on the new Darts is good news. However, I bring bad news from my daily search of Irish Rail. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/legal-challenges-delay-plans-to-extend-dart-from-dublin-to-maynooth/a346743761.html The headline speaks for itself. Construction is delayed until late 2026-early 2027 pending resolution of legal challenges. As for who to blame, I'll just quote the Independent directly: Considering the state of the Irish justice system (it's of a similar calibre to the Irish planning system), I have little faith in this being resolved swiftly. Can anything be built in this country?

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/golf/1745743/rail-boss-issues-positive-update-on-return-of-trains-to-limerick-village-for-ryder-cup-2027.html The prospect of Ryder Cup trains is talked up here. Adare is suggested to receive temporary platforms for January 2027: whether or not the discussions with the National Transport Authority (or No Trains Authority, as some on this forum have dubbed it) will go well is another question. 2027's only two years away and this country's planning system is glacial: I'd be wanting to see boots on the ground before long.

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41586925.html Irish Rail's CEO says Cork should have trains every ten minutes to Mallow, Cobh, and Midelton. "Future-proofing the electrification of the Cork route, with all trains electrical within the next five years" is mentioned: presumably this implies replacement of the 2600s with new battery units. They're hardly going to replace the Mark 4s with battery units considering the GSWR's main line has a grand total of zero out of 165 miles electrified. Maybe they'll try something silly with a bi-mode vehicle. However they go about things, I just hope they put in a passing loop somewhere south of Blarney to avoid replicating the Enterprise crawl in Cork. In related news, this Echo article says a public consultation (the first of half a dozen probably) will be held in 2025 for the new stations, depot, and some form of electrification. Everything else is on schedule. On a more trivial note, this piece (also the Echo) tells us that as the old silos in the docklands come down, the concrete is being reused as part of the doubling works in Midleton.

Well IRM started (loco-wise) with an A. The C is a smaller A. Add in a few extra bells and whistles and bingo. Probably fails the ambition test, though. If steam, it's probably a preserved loco. The 800s certainly fit the ambition bill in so far as they're the biggest locos out there. The J15s are the most numerous. But if the event's in Malahide, maybe something GNR might fit better. Of the preserved classes, what Wikipedia calls the Q class (131) was the largest at 13 locomotives. So perhaps that one? No electric locos, and I can't see a Dart being produced! With how bumpy the ICR road's been, I don't see any other railcar announcements either. Every chance I end up with egg on my face, of course. Either way, I've been good for... maybe a month. If it ran in the lands of West Cork, I'll buy it. If it ran in County Cork, I'll probably buy it. If neither are true, the odds are decent I'll want to buy it anyway. All will be revealed in time...

https://www.greystonesguide.ie/hourly-wicklow-town-dart-by-2028i/ This piece mostly consists of councillors talking hot air, but a date of 2028 for hourly Dart service to Wicklow (via battery) is given. Platforms at Wicklow and Kilcoole will be extended to fit. Some reduction of the Bray-Greystones single section is mentioned (without details as to how - I'll interpret "Irish Rail will seek to double the track in some strategic areas north of Greystones" as a passing loop between the end of the Bray Head tunnels and Greystones station but don't quote me on that). There's vague statements of Dart+ Coastal South being split in phases (Bray-Greystones being phase 1) and the fate of the Rosslare intercity trains is not addressed.

I've my tickets booked: I'm a Corkman, I'm hardly going to pass up on something starting in Cork, am I? As for the fate of the 2600s, I wouldn't know any solid information, so I'll speculate based on fleet sizes. The first order of new Darts will be made up of 6 electric and 13 battery units, five coaches each. The only place the electrics are going is the currently electrified line. That leaves 13 battery units most likely going to Drogheda at first. The Dart+ North page mentions at peak times wanting 5 Darts, 2 commuters from Dundalk, and 1 Enterprise per peak hour departing from Drogheda. Current Dart services have six trains an hour south of Howth Junction: three to Malahide, three to Howth. Dart+ plans for this to go up to nine an hour during the peak: 5 Drogheda, 2 Malahide, 2 Clongriffin, 0 Howth as it will be relegated to a shuttle. Right now at peak times there's three commuter trains an hour up to Drogheda, and these would be turned over to the new Darts. Some of these extend to Dundalk, though, and would remain under the 29s. Combined with a more regular Dundalk service, might the 29s just end up running there instead? A new Dart is roughly equal to the current 4 car sets, so I wouldn't rule out Irish Rail coupling up some pairs of the battery Darts to have greater capacity. Realistically, those are ultimate ambitions and the first wave of battery units wouldn't reach them. Four 5*2, five 5 with one kept as a spare for eight diagrams? Drogheda-Bray direct trains take two hours, but I wouldn't rule out some Connolly terminators as a temporary measure considering the current service pattern. So with at most about 12, realistically probably about 8-9 29s freed up. This does neatly line up with a 1:1 replacement with the 26s. But they and the ten 28s are still in decent working order. Irish Rail do have the intent of having electric services on Cork commuter lines - this presumably means batteries to pinch a few pennies. Going by the above, they might keep the 26s around until a bunch of Cork electrics (Carts?) turn up. There's 29 29s, coincidentally. Assuming the sheds get lengthened somehow Limerick would take at least 10 29s, probably a few more if they decide to open Foynes to passenger services again. Would it be unreasonable to have somewhere in Waterford for hypothetical South Wexfords or Galway for longer WRC services? Probably. A few 29s would still need to stay in Dublin to handle Longfords and Dundalks that would fall out of electrification range. It would be easier to analyse these with the proper diagrams, but I could speculate all day. Even if there's no great cascade of 29s after wave 1, the next 18 battery Darts in the second wave will largely replace 29s to Maynooth, and that will trigger a cascade. But that won't be for a few years yet, and by then the new Enterprises will have arrived - though I assume the De Dietrichs will have shuffled off to the scrapyard and won't be a factor. The 2600s won't be cascading anywhere. Their replacement will probably be some battery vehicles so they can score some green points as part of the upgrades going on in Cork. Anyway, I'll probably turn up come April with some literature about the WRC and daydreaming about actual service Cork-Galway trains.

The map can be found by searching in-game and downloading the "Ireland 1930" scenario, though I made some changes to it in the scenario editor. I've attached my edited version (it has a few more towns, water features are somewhat crudely added, and I took off indications of jurisdiction so it won't default to naming stations "Dublin (ROI) Suffix". The original scenario can be downloaded on the OpenTTD forums, but the images are broken for some reason. There's a few other Irish scenarios available to download: searching "Ireland" will get most of those. The trains can be found in the "2cc Trains in NML" "NewGRF" as they are called: searching "2cc" in-game should work. You can read more about it here. While I'm here, I've largely recreated the historical Irish network and built some more speculative additions while I was at it. Ireland as a whole. This screenshot mode doesn't annotate town names, though. I made a point to add in most intermediate stations on operational lines, at least. An Enterprise steams away with no heed to the overhead wires on the GNR bypass, as a Dart approaches on the other track. The horse tram in Galway continues to pull its load. The Derry Road may be electrified and doubled, but J15s still appear to rule the roost, somehow. A railcar awaits passengers in nearby Lifford. Two intercity trains pull into Kent Station, while a railcar sets out onto the Cork City Railways. Ireland 1930-modified.scn

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2025/02/significant-milestone-reached-in-modernising-irelands-railway.html Signalling marches on: installation of ETCS level 1 from Greystones to Dundalk is complete, ready for the new Darts to use when they arrive and are tested. I assume going all the way to Dundalk will save Irish Rail some bother when the new Enterprises roll in. Hopefully they get started with wiring up to Maynooth sooner or later: Irish Rail's network statement (see Annex 1, p37) has several track lowering possessions pencilled in. The first one on the M3 Parkway branch has already happened: has anyone spotted any differences?

Johnson's Atlas and Gazetter is the best source for broader data such as station locations, with the caveat that is was published in 1997 so some newer developments aren't represented in it. OpenStreetMap is also a good place if you need to take a closer look at a particular location. The route a modern Sligo intercity train takes is composed of several sections built to access the North Wall before reaching the former Midland Great Western Railway's main line at the site of Liffey Junction, near Broombridge. It follows this as far as Mullingar (the main line used to reach Galway, but the section between Mullingar and Athlone is disused) before it branches off towards Sligo: I've everything relevant listed below. It's worth noting the distances are measured in miles and chains as this is what they were measured in when originally built: there are eighty chains to a mile. Mileages sourced from Johnson, the line speeds from Irish Rail's network statement. Mileage from Islandbridge Junction (at the western edge of Heuston yard) Line speed: 30 mph Dublin Connolly (Platforms 5-7, Amiens Street Junction): 4:61 Drumcondra: 3:28 Glasnevin Junction: 2:53 (mileage change: MGWR North Wall branch, from Liffey Junction) Glasnevin Junction: 0:57 Liffey Junction: 0:00 Overall, the section between Connolly and Liffey Junction is 2 miles, 65 chains long. Mileage change: Midland Great Western Railway, from Broadstone (the original MGWR terminus, now closed) Line speed: 70 mph Liffey Junction: 1:33 Broombridge: 1:67 Pelletstown: ~2:30 (approximation) Ashtown: 3:08 Castleknock: 4:68 Coolmine: 5:56 Clonsilla: 7:08 Leixlip Confey: 10:20 Leixlip Louisa Bridge: 11:20 Maynooth: 14:72 Double track ends here. Line speed: 75mph Kilcock: 18:50 (no passing loop) Enfield: 26:40 (no operational platform at loop, passenger trains cannot stop when using it) Killucan: 41:58 (station closed, passing loop still in use) Mullingar: 50:17 (passing loop) Edgeworthstown: 67:52 (passing loop) Longford: 76:22 (passing loop) Dromod: 87:25 (passing loop) Carrick-on-Shannon: 97:62 (passing loop is located just north of the platform) Boyle: 106:33 (passing loop) Ballymote: 120:15 (no passing loop, second platform still evident) Collooney: 127:56 (no passing loop) Sligo MacDiarmada: 134:16 (two platforms, but only one currently in use; two tracks for a few hundred metres approaching it) Today's Sligo intercity trains travel 135 miles and 48 chains in total. Many stations have been closed along the line: I've omitted them when not of operational relevance. I've similar information for the rest of the country, but it would take a while to properly clean up and make presentable.

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41559028.html Platform 6 completion scheduled for March, signal upgrades and doubling to Midleton on target for 2026 completion.

The Strategic Rail Review has the most hypothetical electrification, and that doesn't get any further than Athlone, and that's well short of Ballina. The Navan branch is just greyed out here, but if Taras ever restart that hypothetical could just use the direct route. Of course, the electrification this mentions focuses on the major passenger routes, not freight. Of course, we all know how long it takes to build anything in this country. Beyond Dublin, electrification doesn't exist, and Dart+ isn't exactly moving at a breakneck pace. (Hopefully they figure out a new depot sooner or later.) As for the 071 modifications, they're getting on in years. If converting them to hydrogen power lets them work better and for longer, then great. If not, then we'll know for the future.