!

[Donal Quinn]

solution for WRC?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5034912.stm


highlight:
"These tracks are generally disused because they go to places that people don't want to go to," said Roger Ford, industry and technology editor of Modern Railways magazine

[Thomas J Stamp]

"But some users of disused railways do not support the scheme."

that's more like it!!!

[Mark]

Neat idea re: the renewable side of things. Cant see it used for heavy rail without the rail safety laws being involved.

[Mark Gleeson]

Of course the good Mr Ford points out the track has been lifted in many cases so this doesn't work

Given the WRC is a single track how do vehicles pass each other?

[Kevin K Kelehan]

They don't surely you can see that the road would only be used by returning emmigrants who would only use the railway once they moved to the City of the Sacred Heart and in the interim plenty of these dangerous bend ahead signs would be required

http://www.athlone.ie/AboutAthlone/Transport/RoadTrafficSign.aspx

[sean]

That's actually out of date

http://www.athlone.ie/images/sites/1/fe6a4b18-ba9f-43f7-81ee-49b3298f99f6.gif

:D

[Mark]

This would probably do quite well in train loading yards.

[Derek Wheeler]

http://www.lookwest.ie

Apparently its great over there regardless of the WRC. I wish they'd make up their minds.

[ACustomer]

I love it: the LookWest site has a heading "more space - less traffic". So what do they need a railway for then: plent of road capacity.

[Derek Wheeler]

A quote from the Look West web site.

"It's often said that time is our most precious possession. So why waste it staring at the bumper of the car in front?

75% of people in the West spend 30 minutes or less getting to work
Only 1 in 20 spend more than an hour
Average commute time is about 20 minutes
1 in 7 people in the Dublin area have to travel for over an hour to get to work each day
In the West you can actually move — rather than sit in traffic — for most of your trip to work. Or, if you want, you can afford to live close enough to walk or cycle.

So if you move West the only thing to worry about is what to do with all that extra time! Why don't you check out West Leisure for a few ideas?"

Considering that this web site is backed by the Western Development Commission (WDC) does it not strike you as somewhat unusual that the WDC were one of the many advocates of the entire WRC/We need it to survive and develope school of con jobs. The above statistics actually undo the need for the WRC.

This is how it looks to me. The WDC realise that the GDR is in traffic meltdown, so they want to encourage people to move west. Fair enough so far. However, they also insisted on the reopening of the WRC, which lead to a political campaign that delivered. But once again, we must face the facts that it delivered at the expense of the region they are trying to entice people from. I saw no mention of Cork, Limerick or Waterford on their web site.

The fast tracking of GDR projects has been shafted by the WRC, as predicted.

Lets not forget that it was the WDC who kick started the WRC campaign.....

"WDC and County Development Boards Rail Seminar
Response to SRR"

"Following publication of the SRR, the WDC and the Region’s County Development Boards convened a seminar of key stakeholders in the Western Region. The purpose of the seminar was to discuss the recommendations of the Review. At this seminar, concerns were expressed in relation to the content and recommendations of the Review.
Key conclusions of the seminar included:
The Review does not address balanced regional development, as outlined in the National Spatial Strategy;
Continued investment in rail infrastructure is crucial to achieving the national goal of balanced regional development; ease of access to, and within regions, is essential to attracting investment;
The full details of the base case used in the cost benefit analysis of the WRC should be made available by the consultants so that the benchmark against which it was measured can be considered by regional interests;
The issue of privatisation of rail freight in Ireland needs to be debated at national level;
The work that exists within the Region in relation to rail infrastructure development must be acknowledged and used to progress the WRC further. "

This in turn lead to a seminar out of which West on Track was formed. Fair enough we say. Everyone has the right to campaign. However, reasoned argument was not presented at any stage. The campaign was heavily influenced by Fianna Fail TDs in the west. The T21 announcement actually side lined the Governments own working group and its findings....The McCann report.

In a pot where the money and resources are plentiful, I'd say fair game, lets do it. But when I see the Midleton reopening being put through hoops, the Navan line being long fingered,no DART for Kildare or Drogheda, Interconnector being placed on a long list and a simple project like the Phoenix Park tunnel being ignorded, I cry STOP. Considering our resources and T21, I find the WRC project to be the greatest waste of money ahead of anything I mentioned above. I haven't even mentioned services south of Bray or commuter services in Limerick or Waterford.

The WRC is nothing more than politics. That is not the way to dictate developing our Railways. I fear it will never change and my opinion on the WRC, within the context of resources, will not change either.

[ACustomer]

Just to amplify matters: here is a direct quote from Look West:
"It's often said that time is our most precious possession. So why waste it staring at the bumper of the car in front?

75% of people in the West spend 30 minutes or less getting to work
Only 1 in 20 spend more than an hour
Average commute time is about 20 minutes
1 in 7 people in the Dublin area have to travel for over an hour to get to work each day
In the West you can actually move — rather than sit in traffic — for most of your trip to work. Or, if you want, you can afford to live close enough to walk or cycle. "
And these tossers give out about Dublin getting too much priority in public transport investments

[Kevin K Kelehan]

The WRC is nothing more than politics.

It is often said that politics is cruel game and in this case I believe that the WRC will disappear sometime in July 2007; this will be a travisty to the region as without the Athenry to Ennis link Galway will remain marooned from the rest of the populated west coast which as far as Cork will remain inaccessible.

The Western Reps have done themselves no favours with this by making a very cheap project cost a multiple of what was required to carry 95% as many passengers. :(

[Thomas J Stamp]

Is it open season here again on the WRC? I thought we'd decided to be diplomatic?

[Derek Wheeler]

Ah its the canteen. We can talk about these things on our break.:D

[craigybagel]

Diplomacy only goes so far and it works both ways and they seem pretty oblivious to the views and needs of the rest of the country :(

[Thomas J Stamp]

Watching test the nation last night, showing the opening of Knock airport, brings it all back (up)