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LAST UPDATE | 31 Jul 2024
TRAIN JOURNEY TIMES between some of Ireland’s major cities could be halved under a new ambitious rail plan due to be published today.
Allowing top speeds of 200km per hour on routes connecting Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Derry aims to make train journeys significantly faster than travelling by car.
There had originally been plans to allow for tops speeds of 300km per hour.
The All-Island Rail Review was published today by Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Northern Ireland’s Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd.
It sets out 32 strategic recommendations to enhance and expand the rail system in Ireland and Northern Ireland up to 2050.
It includes “significantly” reducing train journey times between some cities with the roll out of new 200kmh intercity trains.
At least hourly services between cities and at least every two hours on regional and rural routes is also to be prioritised.
More direct services between Ireland’s West and South Coasts such as between Galway, Limerick and Cork are to be established, with increased regional and rural line speeds to at least 120km/h.
The report estimates the capital cost of implementing all the recommendations by 2050 would be between €35-€37 billion in 2023 prices.
Speaking today to reporters at Dundalk Railway Station, Ryan said the money will come from the exchequer and added that “we are in a fortunate position because we have a sound public finance system which will allow us to invest in the future”.
He also called on political parties to “show us your colours”.
“Do you intend to invest in public transport? Which one would you scrap? Would you get rid of Limerick Metropolitan rail or Cork Metropolitan rail? Would you not build the Western Rail Corridor?
“I would build it, and that’s a political choice. We have the arguments on our side, we have all the strategy and policy work done.
“It’s down to political decision, and I think the political decision will be to go on public transport, because it’s what the people want.”
The plan details the reinstatement of the Western Rail Corridor between Claremorris and Athenry, as well as the extension of the railway into County Tyrone (from Portadown to Dungannon, Omagh, Strabane), Derry and Letterkenny.
Ryan said this line to Letterkenny would run into several billion euro.
The South Wexford Railway line is also to be extended, connecting to Wexford to Waterford, with the development of a rail line to boost connectivity in the North Midlands, from Mullingar to Cavan, Monaghan, Armagh and Portadown.
Additional capacity is also to be added by upgrading much of the single-track rail network to double-track, with four-track in some areas.
The rail network route length is also set to increase under the plan from approximately 2,300km to almost 3,000km with the reopening of former and new rail lines.
New routes in the North Midlands and North West are to be launched, which would allow some 700,000 more people to live within 5km of a railway station.
The plan, which aims to improve links between the island’s regions and major cities across all 32 counties, aims to triple the number of people using the rail system annually
from 65 million to over 180 million by 2050.
Decarbonisation of the rail network is also on the cards, with ambitions for a net carbon zero rail system, primarily through the overhead electrification of intercity routes and new electric and hybrid trains.
When asked why the plan leaves out Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh as well as large parts of Donegal, John O’Dowd said the report is “open to review every 10 years”.
“There are opportunities to open up the railway in Enniskillen. It is not in the report at this stage, but this is not a definitive end to this story,” said O’Dowd.
However, Ryan remarked that Letterkenny is included in the plan and that “Donegal will benefit from that” and that it was “really important to include Donegal”.
If the review’s recommendations are implemented in full by 2050, the capital cost across the Republic and Northern Ireland is estimated to be in the order of €35-€37 billion in 2023 prices.
For Ireland, if this investment is split evenly across 25 years, then it amounts to circa €1 billion per annum over and above existing plans. For Northern Ireland, the equivalent total capital annual cost is approximately £0.31 billion.
When asked this morning if it was “realistic” for the Government to spend €1 billion a year on rail projects, Ryan replied: “Why wouldn’t we do that?”
He added: “This is not just an investment in transport, it’s also an investment in housing, because 700,000 people will be newly living within five kilometers of a railway station and will start to have a really sustainable housing solution as well as a transport solution.
“This is about, are we willing to invest in housing, not just transport, and the costs come down when you see it in that way, and the investment makes all the more sense.
“This is the future of our housing strategy as well as our transport strategy, because if we go the other route, where it’s all along motorways and sprawled development, the housing doesn’t work, congestion is a huge issue, this is the only way forward.”
The minister said he would like to see the recommendations actioned as soon as possible, stating that with European Investment Bank assistance, the plan can move forward.
O’Dowd said the review has been an excellent example of joint collaboration on cross-border priorities, which is key to realising its ambitions.
-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper
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Possible Flooding in South East France and nothern Italy next weekend, if ventusky.com weather forecast predictions come true.
@P. V. Aglue: nothing on the local forecasted for South East France shows anything abnormal so far. Next Sunday forecast is for 4 to 10 mm of rain.
@P. V. Aglue: forewarned is forearmed David, Fri 7 the sat 8th. Buy wheat futures too!
Climate change modelling is an outrigger of the scientific method, which is based on Newton’s clockwork solar system modelling. That awful perspective has a central principle that the Earth doesn’t turn once in 24 hours and a thousand times in a thousand 24-hour days.
The topic of how to demonstrate a round Earth was brought up a number of days ago, and unfortunately, readers once again were unable to affirm the correct equatorial rotation velocity, which affirms that not only is the Earth round, but it is also a sphere.
A pizza is flat, but it can also be round, so the more developed perspective of the Earth as a sphere supersedes the crude flat vs. round choice. The Earth’s rotation demonstrates its shape.
@Gerald Kelleher: So you’re saying it’s the far right, right? Just don’t vote for them, whatever you do! It’ll be floods a go go if you do do.
@Ray Dunne: I doubt ChatGPT is capable of that.
Not funny though, those floods in Germany… (the actual article we’re commenting on)
@Jerry LeFrog: To demonstrate that the Earth is round and a sphere rather than round and flat ( like a pizza), only the maximum equatorial rotation velocity based on the maximum circumference is required.
The basis of all scientific method modelling, including climate change modelling, insists that the value is 1674.4 km/h for a circumference of 40,075 km.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
Clocks and Longitude, including the GPS, base the actual rotation value at the Equator as 1669.8 km/hr.
The day/night cycle, which includes sunrise, noon, and sunset happens once every 24 hours due to one rotation. The academic community denies these facts.
“Owing to the difference between solar and sidereal time, the Earth rotates once more often than 24-hour days in a year” NASA.
@Gerald Kelleher: Same ‘copy and paste’ nonsense every day
@Trevor McCormack:
I had to respond in another article.
@Ray Dunne: I see through thumbs-up approval that most Journal commenters refuse to accept that the sunrise/sunset cycle every 24 hours is not also one rotation of the Earth.
That more than anything demonstrates how easy it is to convince society of the need to control the weather/temperatures (climate change modelling).
@Gerald Kelleher: Again, not all puzzle are created equal. As I pointed out before, some may be square. And calzone better not be flat …
The Earth has been turning and creating the day/night cycle long before humanity appeared on Earth, long before the dinosaurs, and long before life on land and in the sea, so it is the oldest observation people have and perhaps the most precious and immediate experience of a moving Earth.
What could be more beautiful and inspirational, and so what if I am the only person to affirm the connection between the rotation and Earth science?
If people choose a ridiculous notion through a misadventure with timekeeping, these pizza earthers ( round and flat earth) might believe they are in some way superior to others; they are best left to their own devices.
Climate change modelling, like natural selection, will fade without being dealt with properly. They are symptoms rather than the disease
@Gerald Kelleher: You believe in the heliocentric spinning ball in a vacuum MODEL. Flat earthers don’t have a model and don’t think earth is a pizza in space.
@Science: It is late as my location (and me with it) rotates into the dark hemisphere for a number of hours before rotating back into the light hemisphere and the radiation of our parent star
Only scientific method modellers dispute this intimate experience, and they are the foolish people promoting climate change modelling.
Cowardice before basic facts is the worst so you believe what you need to, people need to be courageous and considerate and not silent.
@Gerald Kelleher: If you brought all the theories and counter theories of climate change modelling and all the facts and figures and dropped them on top of the flood in Germany would they be enough to soak it up. If anyone has a spare opinion or theory feel free to add to the pile .
These regions were always prone to floods, and the investment to prevent this and maintenance is discovered often not matching what should have been done. Nothing to do with the end of the world BS climate change
Ha, ha, pięknie…
Mam tego tyle już, że… Że… Żebyście zmiękli
Spróbuj powiedzieć to, nim uwierzysz, że
Nie warto mówić kocham
Spróbuj uczynić gest, nim uwierzysz, że
Nic nie warto robić
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Musisz odnaleźć nadzieję
I nieważne, że nazwą ciebie głupcem
Musisz pozwolić by sny
Sprawiły byś pamiętał, że
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Moja i Twoja nadzieja
Uczyni realnym krok w chmurach
Moja i Twoja nadzieja
Pozwoli uczynić dziś cuda
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nie pomoże
Nic nie pomoże
Nic naprawdę nie pomoże
Nic…
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże
Jeśli Ty nie pomożesz dziś miłości
Nic naprawdę nic nie pomoże…
Oni sobie poszli i nie powiedzieli nawet do widzenia
W ten oto sposób dobiegliśmy końca
Dla niektórych nareszcie, dla niektórych szkoda
Pewne, że jest to koniec
Dziękujemy, że przyjechaliście, naprawdę
I… I za wszystko dzięki, zobaczymy się może w przyszłym roku
Jak Bóg da
have your say