A Man on a Train

[Kirley]

Some memories of a rail trip to Dublin, Westport & Ballina.

 

 

 

 

[Junctionmad]

this reminds me, how come IE can make Ballina work as a freight depot and basically no where else !

[DiveController]

Different companies, greater distances, larger populations, more densely populated urban centers, larger loading gauge, etc etc but if you have 7-8 minutes to peek at the start of this video, it's interesting to see this freight yard in operation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhp3TdeLvdM

Edited October 8, 2016 by DiveController

[Mayner]

this reminds me, how come IE can make Ballina work as a freight depot and basically no where else !

 

The EU Emission Trading Scheme or the modern equivalent of the South Sea Bubble.

 

Ballina Beverages admitted that they mainly use rail because of the lower carbon emission costs compared to road transport.

 

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/index_en.htm

 

This provides a subsidy to high energy sectors such as mining, power generation and heavy industry to use rail, which is not available to light industry and the service sector.

 

Coca Cola & Coillte/Smart Ply Europe are likely to be classed as major energy users and are required to buy carbon credits or offset their emissions if they exceed their quota or allowance.

 

It my be more profitable for a cement company to offset it excess Irish emissions by building an energy efficient plant in a less developed country than return to rail in Ireland.

 

Possibly explaining CRH expansion into Eastern Europe, India & Asia during the last 8-10 years

Edited October 8, 2016 by Mayner

[MOGUL]

The EU Emission Trading Scheme or the modern equivalent of the South Sea Bubble.

 

Ballina Beverages admitted that they mainly use rail because of the lower carbon emission costs compared to road transport.

 

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/index_en.htm

 

This provides a subsidy to high energy sectors such as mining, power generation and heavy industry to use rail, which is not available to light industry and the service sector.

 

Coca Cola & Coillte/Smart Ply Europe are likely to be classed as major energy users and are required to buy carbon credits or offset their emissions if they exceed their quota or allowance.

 

It my be more profitable for a cement company to offset it excess Irish emissions by building an energy efficient plant in a less developed country than return to rail in Ireland.

 

Possibly explaining CRH expansion into Eastern Europe, India & Asia during the last 8-10 years

 

Nope, don't think that any of the companies using rail in Ireland are involved in Carbon credit trading.. On an international level their energy usage is miniscule compared to say a steel works or even the likes of Aughinish Alumina in Limerick..

 

Tara mines uses rail as it is a planning requirement for the operation of the mine, but the fact is that the rail operation is more efficient than using trucks, for example after the viaduct in Malahide collapsed they had to resort to using road haulage.. To replace just 1 train(they operate 3/4 a day) would require 25 trucks.. So 75-100 trucks per day Mon-Fri, 50 weeks a year, all of them heavy.. I don't think they roads of Meath, Louth and North Dublin would stand up to that for very long!

 

The Ballina operation is a perfect example of what students of geography would call the agglomeration effect.. Ballina has managed to attract enough volume of cargo to make the operation of 3 different rail services viable, to a point where the three services benefit from the presence of each other..

 

For example, IWT operates a reachstacker on their site which substitutes in the rail head when the IE reachstacker is being maintained/ out of service etc. If it was only the DFDS service operating still, then they would be 100% reliant on the IE reachstacker..

 

Similarly the DFDS and Timber service operate on shared paths to and from Waterford, with the drivers swapping between the 2 trains halfway.. If there was only a DFDS train or a timber train travelling then the drivers would still have to travel to the halfway point which is a cost.. So by having both trains operating, the costs of drivers are shared between the services..

 

And as a final point, the economics of rail freight in Ireland aren't as marginal as enthusiasts/train spotters etc seem to think.

I think that because of what happened between 2003-2008 with IE closing large parts of their own network, people think "IE couldn't make it work, therefore it doesn't work".. Yet we still have 4 seperate private companies, that are making rail freight work, day in day out. The fact that companies can point to rail freight as part of their green agenda is one reason that we have some of the services we do, but it is by no means the only reason..

[StevieB]

Other factors favouring freight to and from Ballina must include such as the lack of motorways in that part of the country and the sheer length of the journeys involved.

 

Stephen

[Junctionmad]

 

And as a final point, the economics of rail freight in Ireland aren't as marginal as enthusiasts/train spotters etc seem to think.

I think that because of what happened between 2003-2008 with IE closing large parts of their own network, people think "IE couldn't make it work, therefore it doesn't work".. Yet we still have 4 seperate private companies, that are making rail freight work, day in day out. The fact that companies can point to rail freight as part of their green agenda is one reason that we have some of the services we do, but it is by no means the only reason..

 

while this is positive , it doesn't explain why the success story of ballina isn't being replicated elsewhere

[MOGUL]

Ballina is a bit of a quirk in that all the right conditions conspired to make a viable rail service.. I would see these as

1) Volume of freight allowing a frequent service, reducing the inherent inflexibility of rail freight..

2) Distance from nearest Port meaning rail is cost conpetitive

3) Nature of the cargo being carried (dangerous goods and heavy tank containers).. This also feeds into 2 as both of these add to cost of road haulage

4) The right freight companies being involved and their customers supporting their efforts! This is for me the biggy, there are lots of places that could have a rail service if the right freight forwarders were carrying the business.. Sligo, Ennis and Galway spring to mind

5) continuity of operation, meaning IE never got to "rationalise" the infrastructure needed for operation of freight trains without needing a large upfront investment.. This is probably the sole reason that Cork doesn't have a freight service

Edited October 8, 2016 by MOGUL