Galway-Claremorris

[skinner75]

Came across this today - may be no more than wishful thinking, but still

https://www.galwaybeo.ie/news/galway-news/closed-irish-rail-line-track-8448347

[leslie10646]

Thanks for bringing this up Skinner. Speaking as an enthusiast, of course it would be good, but the practical part of me asks - "Is there a dual carriageway road paralleling the route?" If so, where is the traffic?

[DoctorPan]

9 minutes ago, leslie10646 said:

Thanks for bringing this up Skinner. Speaking as an enthusiast, of course it would be good, but the practical part of me asks - "Is there a dual carriageway road paralleling the route?" If so, where is the traffic?

Speaking with the day job's cap on, there's is a potential set of traffic flows that could open up with that section opening up in conjuction with what is being done further south with Foynes. Dublin Port is growing busier and with the reopening of Foynes, Ballina liners could be diverted down the WRC and down to Foynes, saving paths on the congresed Port- Athlone section and having to run around on the mainline at Kildare for Waterford liners. 

 

Again highly dependant on IWT and XPT switching ports to Foynes but who knows...

[Broithe]

With any potential project like this, you either do it too early or too late, there is either not enough traffic or not enough capacity, according to the general observers.

I can remember the opinion that I often heard about the LUAS, before it started running, there was a widespread opinion that it was a pointless vanity project that would be so little used that it would become a financial liability.

Etc.

[MOGUL]

2 hours ago, DoctorPan said:

Speaking with the day job's cap on, there's is a potential set of traffic flows that could open up with that section opening up in conjuction with what is being done further south with Foynes. Dublin Port is growing busier and with the reopening of Foynes, Ballina liners could be diverted down the WRC and down to Foynes, saving paths on the congresed Port- Athlone section and having to run around on the mainline at Kildare for Waterford liners. 

 

Again highly dependant on IWT and XPT switching ports to Foynes but who knows...

Very hard to see Foynes going back into handling containers, it's in the wrong place and doesn't have a big enough market to justify regular calls from a container vessel.. It was tried back in the early 2000s with parts for DELL in Limerick as the base load and didn't work out.. Even less likely to work out now that DELL is gone..

If anything we have too many ports handling containers, with Waterford suffering from it's proximity to Dublin and Cork, and recently Rosslare also now that it handles containers and has a regular service to/from Belgium which Waterford lacks(big missed opportunity for them).. 

To be honest, doubling all the way from Galway to Portarlington and from Kildare to Athy or even Carlow should happen before any more of the WRC gets built.. 

 

 

 

[Darrman]

The railway enthusiast in me is naturally in favour: last time I took a train to Westport from Cork involved changing from an intercity to a commuter train at Portlaoise before waiting quite a while at Portarlington for a connecting train, plus it's that bit more track to cover. But Cork-Westport isn't really a journey that would be made often, so time to take a look at things more rationally.

Galway-Westport appears to be the most sensible service for this section, in my (rather uneducated, admittedly) opinion. I can't see the current Limerick-Galway trains being adjusted to skip Galway and head straight for Claremorris, but maybe one or two trains might run from Limerick to Westport. Tuam is the only town of note. Milltown and Ballindine are smaller than Ardrahan and Ballyglunin doesn't even have a Wikipedia article, meaning those stations probably won't reopen. According to Google Tuam is about a 40 minute drive from Galway, so the railway would have to be at least that fast to have any real chance. Timings vary: the 6:25 Galway-Dublin reaches Athenry in 16 minutes, while on the other extreme the 17:50 Galway-Limerick is allowed 29 minutes (with a stop at Oranmore). About 20 minutes is the usual, with a minute or two off whenever Oranmore is skipped. Athenry is 13 miles distant from Galway, while Tuam is about 16 1/4 miles further away. Reaching Tuam in 40 minutes doesn't seem impossible, but doubling Galway-Athenry would be a must to improve frequency and cut journey times. Easing congestion here would also help Limerick- and Dublin-Galway services. (I've heard talk about a loop being built in Oranmore, which is a start.)

Beyond Tuam, Claremorris is 1:05 by road and another 17 miles by rail: if Tuam is doable in 40 Claremorris should be doable in an hour, but as far as I know beyond Tuam the line's littered with level crossings, which would pose a problem. If continuing to Westport, the 26 1/4 miles are scheduled to be done in 37 minutes: an overall time of ~1:40 is well behind the 1:20 Google quotes when driving from Westport to Galway. I won't factor Ballina timings in here but if Manulla is to be called at a Ballina shuttle should be waiting: if the frequency requires it a passing loop should be built on the line at Foxford.

These rough estimates assume a service pattern of Galway - Athenry - Tuam - Claremorris - Manulla J - Castlebar - Westport. A useful point of comparison would be the historical WTT and/or service pattern: if anyone knows, I'd be interested.

[226 Abhann na Suire]

On 18/5/2023 at 11:29 AM, skinner75 said:

Came across this today - may be no more than wishful thinking, but still

https://www.galwaybeo.ie/news/galway-news/closed-irish-rail-line-track-8448347

I think Galway/Athenry to Tuam/Claremorris/Westport has great potential opportunity as a railway, maybe not as good as other projects in the country which should get priority, like some of the capacity improvements mentioned already, but I personally think the reopening of the line further from Claremorris to Collooney and Sligo is just nonsense. 
 

The trackbed is much too overgrown and even completely built upon by towns in many areas and the work required to bring it back into use would wayyyyy outweigh the benefits it would have when in use. Yes railways are the way forward, but there’s no point in trying to bring a small number of passengers from a very rural line back to rail when they have a perfect good road already. The amount of people using the line would, I imagine, be very low. 
 

While I appreciate the amazing work that West on Track are doing for this part of our country, I think that some of their plans can be a bit more idealistic and nostalgic than realistic. Doubling of Galway to Athenry and reopening of Athenry to Claremorris would in my opinion be the ideal and most profitable projects. Phase 4 of the WRC (Claremorris to Colooney) should definitely be kept from the greenwaying plague but I just think that at the moment, the market is not there, and money (a rather sparse commodity in this government) could be better used elsewhere. 

[Darrman]

Galway Beo report that vegetation clearance is underway on the line. In addition, the Mayo News reports that Government have agreed to apply to include Athenry-Claremorris and Waterford-Rosslare into the TEN-T network, which would open up funding from Europe.

Not directly related to the WRC but still important is the signing of a contract to refurbish Ceannt Station, bringing Galway from two platforms to five, as reported by the Independent. I've tried to find relevant planning applications, but Galway City Council's website is rubbish and any time you try to search for something it breaks. The significant capacity upgrade would serve Mayo services well.

 

[Darrman]

Galway Beo report Irish Rail are about to apply for planning permission for a passing loop at Oranmore.

The article also reports a councillor's call to build a station in Renmore. Extra stops for locals to Athenry can't hurt, though I wouldn't have any intercities call. 

The only public road leading down to the railway line in the Renmore area is in the left circle I drew. In a world where there are frequent Galway suburban services I'd consider opening a station in Roscam at the level crossing on the right circle, but it might be too close (about a mile) to Oranmore. If old Oranmore's site was used instead it would be an easier prospect, I think. Any such developments should come with double tracking, and I'd have Athenry become the last stop before Galway for Dublin services.

[Darrman]

https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/news/planning-permission-sought-oranmore

Planning permission is about to be lodged for 1km passing loop and platform at Oranmore: construction scheduled to begin autumn 2025. We'll see if they keep to that.

[226 Abhann na Suire]

Credit where credit’s due for the dynamic passing loop though, really will help to slicken service passings at the station. Does anyone know what side the double track will be extending? My grandfather was the chief civil engineer in charge of the N67 Dual Carriageway bridge over the railway east of the current station and demanded that the bridge be built with space for a second track in the future, so I’m just curious if his efforts will be fruitful in this project!! Station plans look stunning, can’t wait to see this finally happen.