Travelling to Dooblin this weekend

Disappointing to see members railing against Iarnrd ireann.

The way they used to barefacedly use suburban trains to get you from Dublin to Limerick was astonishing. I think Colbert won station of the year in 2006.

Remember when the (surprise, surprise) Cork train drivers went on strike a few years ago because they didn’t want to train ( :clap: ) in new drivers? I remember there being figures like 60 and 70k being bandied about as the wages of a train driver on the route.

This myth of overpaid public sector workers is still about is it? God forbid the truth should get in the way of good propaganda.

Ok a quick google shows I was exaggerating abit but I still think 52k a year to shovel coal into a fire is a bit much.

The national rail network is a strategic state asset. It is a piece of crucial infrastructure that should not be hijacked by a small bunch of malcontents in Cork’s Kent Station. It is about time the consumer came first, rather than the present nonsense of our railway company pussyfooting around a few workers who have decided to hold the place to ransom.

Let’s deal with the issue here. These train drivers get paid 52,000 a year. This is just over 30pc above the average industrial wage. They are working in an expanding business and their terms and conditions of work – as measured by the 177m spent on new trains for the Dublin to Cork line alone – have improved. Passenger numbers are up on the line by 15pc this year and, with a new Cork to Midleton service due to start next year, opportunities for drivers are increasing.

People might use the railways if they weren’t now slower than they were in 1940. I hope the Western Rail Corridor will be a success but going on Irish Rail’s track record, I doubt it.

Another interesting fact. The train from Cork to Dublin at end of the seventies was quicker than the current one. The reason no one uses the fucking thing is because its too expensive. They’d want a class in economics. Drop all train fairs between the cities of Ireland to €20 return and they would be long increasing passengers

Edit: Beat me too it SS. Didn’t know it went as far back as the 40’s

The Western Rail Corridor has been scrapped hasn’t it?

Who’ll pick up the balance?

I think plans to construct it have been derailed due to economic down turn. Bit of a farce that all the major cities in Ireland are not connected by train.

I thought the Cork to Galway line was nearly imminent. I’d say the extension to Sligo will be quietly forgotten about though.

They’d increase passenger numbers enough to make it profitable. Sure the majority of trains are half empty anyway

Supposedly Ennis to Athenry was being opened in mid-July but no go yet anyway. The rest of it won’t happen. The dismantling of the British built rail-infrastructure in this country was the greatest act of vandalism in thei history of the state. One way or another it’s going to have to be re-built in the next fifty years but by fuck is it going to cost.

Ah come on. source?

capital costs are proportional to the no. of trips undertaken, age of the fleet and the quality of the rail line.

trips are small in number, southern half of the country is essentially served by 4 lines, the dublin-cork route (extending to kerry, limerick) dublin-galway and a few interconnectors (limerick-waterford, limerick-ennis, mallow-killarney)
I’ll grant you the lines are a state, mainly 1950s/60s era and very recently upgraded (although not all)
the line from dublin to cork (including kerry, limerick, etc) has a section incapable of supporting the newer transport 21 trains that craig doyle is so fond of. somewhere around portarlington i believe. trains can’t go at top speed for fear of derailing.

if we don’t have the population density to support routes limited to the main urban centres, what are we at having a rail service at all?

You’d have to hope so. there’s no political capital in it yet though so I can’t see the politicians doing anything about it. Not as long as the automobile and construction industries remain big campaign contributors.

The train is a great way to travel. It should go more places.

[quote=“treaty_exile”]Ah come on. source?
[/quote]

Gordon, P., and Richardson, H.W. (1989) Gasoline Consumption and Cities: A Reply, Journal of the American Planning Association

It makes me think about places I know I’ll never see.

Limerick Junction is the most lonesome cunt of a place in Ireland

:thumbsup: