Old Blarney Posted May 29, 2015 Posted May 29, 2015 (edited) Port of Cork welcomes permission for Ringaskiddy plan. Interesting! Might this mean there is no longer any hope for reinstating a railway service for goods/freight to be shipped by railway from Cork and its environs? Looking at the map of the area around Ringaskiddy, it would appear there is no possibility of a railway served service to this proposed expansion of the Port of Cork! Might the Port Waterford endeavour to claim their ability to "Saving the Planet" by providing the infrastructure for the transhipment of "Rail Bourne Traffic" to and from Ireland? They are railway connected, just about, thanks to the recent rationalisation of the track through Waterford Station. What next for Dublin Port? The justification for this expansion at Ringaskiddy is, supposedly, the need to service larger vessels. This being the case, then the future of Dublin Port must be open to question? There were proposals made some years go to relocate the Port of Dublin. Are these plans being discussed again? Deep Water Requirements! Foynes Port has the required depth of water to accommodate deep draught vessels. Extraordinary? Our politicians continuously lecture us, the voters, on how we must save this planet from Global Warming. However, they, the politicians, continue to inflict upon us, decisions that make little sense of the fact there is a need to have a co-ordinated network for the transportation of goods/freight, and people in this world! Once upon a time there was a railway that served this area. We closed it. Cork Blackrock and Passage, latterly a narrow gauge railway but it was constructed as a broad gauge line. Edited May 29, 2015 by Old Blarney Quote
Liverbird81 Posted May 29, 2015 Posted May 29, 2015 I get what your saying imagine if the Northern Irish government banged there heads and maid use of the port of Larne, it has a station that not many people use nowadays with 90% of foot and car passengers now use the stenna terminal in Belfast harbour. Think of the loop at greenisland being relayed it would be a direct freight route to North Coast/Derry from Derry by road to Donegal surely it's a no brainer Translink should take the next step in the Re-investment in railways the DRD save money on the maintenance of roads/potholes as the big beasts won't be on the roads. But governments never learn (example) in the 80's a stretch of road in Co Antrim about 4.5 mile long would of cost 70 odd million maybe less now for the near exact same road plan as before cost The NI government and EU funding 300 million I mean that is why governments never see sense so so odd Quote
Riversuir226 Posted May 29, 2015 Posted May 29, 2015 Geography is the major obstacle for a rail served decent sized container terminal in Cork harbour. Even if the Passage line had survived it still wouldn t be suitable as it doesn t go near Ringaskiddy, no connection to the rest of the network ie city railway didn t go to Albert rd and even if it did the city streets wouldn t entirely be freight friendly especially with Cork city's road network. As for Belview its been relaid with secondhand track panels, yes its situation isn t ideal with the current track layout but with the huge new glanbia plant, fyffes bananas, dfds, biomass, rail & rolling stock, timber plant has also been expanded theres plenty of existing and potential freight flows. (Yes i know timber is handled via sallypark). Foynes has huge potential as does Dublin port but unless theres a huge change in Cie (Irish Rail) policy ie removal of all container handling there won t be any need for any more rail served ports Quote
Liverbird81 Posted May 29, 2015 Posted May 29, 2015 Or re-introduce crossborder freight and make use of the line between Lisburn and Antrim as a means of freight to Derry/Donegal. Three big work hoarse GM's that owe NIR nothing now, they have paid for themselves many times over could take up some of the slack on the cross border freight service only night traffic movements would be a possability so as not to infringe on passenger traffic, freight movements from Larne harbour and Lisburn moving a lot of freight north reliably safely and into Donegal would require Hugh investment I would presume but if it works in Scotland England and Whales then why not across the whole of Ireland surly with the support of the Irish goverment and NI Assembly/Westminester plus EU Backing it could be achieved Quote
Riversuir226 Posted May 30, 2015 Posted May 30, 2015 (edited) Theres plenty of non push pull capable 201's rotting in Inchicore and quite a few container flats rusting in mallow as well. Sligo could easily serve Donegal and surrounding counties. Getting back to Cork, i would have thought having the port on the eastern side of the river would have made more sense. Theres a better road network and rail is there too, surely the old Marino point or Jerome shipyard sites would have been better? Edited May 30, 2015 by Riversuir226 Quote
tuby Posted May 31, 2015 Posted May 31, 2015 Would'nt worry too much about Cork as a port. Relative to the rest of the country it is not a bit convenient and the road network around it is poor.The old Tivoli container terminal was never really that busy with import/export traffic and the port has a very mixed history with it's shipping services. Quote
GSR 800 Posted May 31, 2015 Posted May 31, 2015 Shipping seems to have increased around cork in the last few years but it's shipping facilities aren't great for larger ships so there would be a lot of development needed before even thinking about a container port.If they were going to build a container terminal maybe a artificial terminal and port might be an option although that would be pretty far down CIE and cork city councils list of "to do's" and would only be necessary if it was a large project. Quote
Liverbird81 Posted May 31, 2015 Posted May 31, 2015 I think u missed my point riversuir226 I meant if freight in Ireland is to be successful ever again then surly regardless of port the two governments and two railway providers need to look at an island length freight network which could be achieved I mean running real from the bottom to the top at night must surly be more economical and has to be a positive thing for employment for more financial income it's quicker and more effective. Quote
burnthebox Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 Gentlemen, far be it from me to burst your bubble with your hopes for an economical, practical passenger, freight rail service operating in this Country, now or in the near future. On a much smaller scale, let me give you an example of a very recent personal experience I have had which involved city engineeres, town planners, the kind of people we rely on to get the infrastructure of this little country right. As you may know I'm a wheelchair user & while in town recently I managed to find a vacant wheelchair parking space. Heaving parked my car appox. 4ft from the pavement in order for me to access my wheelchair, having done so, I then discovered there was no ramp for me to access the pavement. Such is the planning by the many "genious'es past & present so called engineer's in Ireland. Quote
Liverbird81 Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 I suggest you check out the video on you tube/disabled parking badge sign on double yellow lines you will love this typical city council in England and the traffic warden whom they employ. But yes you are probably rite hence me stating how our two governments should bang there heads together Quote
Liverbird81 Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 And for once the light bulbs might come on and stay on for longer than 5 seconds Quote
Garfield Posted June 1, 2015 Posted June 1, 2015 And for once the light bulbs might come on and stay on for longer than 5 seconds Just a reminder not to delve further into political chatter, as it's a topic of discussion which isn't allowed here. Cheers! Quote
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