[Nigel Fitzgricer]

Originally Posted by Derek Wheeler

The proposed station between Croker and Dorset st is a joke in terms of serving the Mater.

So it the Dockland in terms of serving the Luas Point line and it still got built.

Glasnevin Jct would be better for the Mater but they seem to have this Croker thing tied in as well and it looks like a shotgun approach to both locations (and Metro North). Which if you ask me is not the worst idea. It's a central axis of a few major destinations and is the only part of the Midland it can be realistically built with street access and so on. A station there would generate plenty of passengers.

Great Ormond Street in London which is considered the best childrens hospital in the world and serves a population of 10 million does not have a rail station within easy walking distance I don't think (but I might be wrong) - nonetheless, I bet most people get there by public transport. So they are walking to it from a tube station a fair distance away? I can't even recall a bus stop outside GOS either now that I think about it. So walking to the Mater from Dorset is not a huge slog for most people visiting or working there from non MetroNorth locations.

Originally Posted by Derek Wheeler

Furthermore, there are no long term plans to use the Midland line, if the interconnector is built. On top of that, Drumcondra will still be closer than any alternative station on the Midland line. Don't forget that the PPT isn't even accessible from the Midland line. I believe your source is wrong.

We will just have to wait and see then. But it was same contact who alerted me about the funding for the Athlone to Midland reopening when it wasn't even on the radar screen and lo and behold it was true. Yeah I know there is an election on and all kinds of plans will be made - but once a politician pulls a cat out of the bag you have something to bug and pester them with. Look how Meath-on-Track does this on their site. West-on-Track do it all the time as well. I have no reason to beleive this is not real either. CIE have also recently hinted that the Docklands station may be retained. They is lots of grey areas still surrounding T21 and it's not as set in stone as much as we are being led to believe. The 2003 SRR said an emphatic "no" to a couple of rail projects which are currently being planned. So there you go.

Originally Posted by Derek Wheeler

Regarding the PPT issue, we'll deal with that our way and it won't be based solely on any letter that John Lynch wrote to Mary Harney.

Well maybe you should reconsider this, because they are two very powerful people who can get things done. Way more powerful than any IE manager.

Originally Posted by Derek Wheeler

Your other remarks about IE bottlewashers/managers are uncalled for because I and other committee members take offense to the suggestion that P11 is wrong to listen to them.

I never said you were wrong to listen to them, so you are taking offense for no reason. However, I know (and so do you) that's it's a mistake to take what they say at face value as they have no control over what CIE and the Government want from them. I really do not think I have to start whipping out decades of evidence to support this either.

IE management's announcements over the last few years alone would win the Booker Prize for 'Best Work of Fiction' mainly because they live in a world of political chicken-eggism of which they have no control over the outcome. In this sense they are bottlewashers doing somebody else's bidding. Same for the RPA/DoT/DTA you name it. Only yesterday you said on another thread that railways are poltically driven in this country.

Matters not who is sitting in the IE boardroom, it's the TDs and high ranking civil servants who have the power and it's Dr Lynch who can throw his own influence in their as well. It's not the lads in Amiens Street. Nothing worng with talking to them at all, pleanty wrong with making the absolute assumption that what they promise is going to manifest into reality everytime. Because you, I and wallpaper knows this is not the case.

Originally Posted by Derek Wheeler

We listen to everyone, including you and everyone else on this forum, but we draw the line at the suggestions made by your comments. I won't waste anymore of my voluntary time explaining why its important to listen to all those who matter as opposed to listening to one faction which may or may not exist) and then articulating it in a secretive manner.

Ah come now, I am just offering a bit of advice which might be worth capitalising on while the iron is still hot and issue is out there now. We all wanna see the PPT brought into use and there is no harm in me or anyone else viewing this as a ray of hope.

Originally Posted by Derek Wheeler

P11s information on this issue comes from IE and the RPA.

Matters not what these organision tell anyone they have boses above them. Politicans panicing can have good and bad results for out of the blue rail investment. This is like the DART greystones job, or Luas Gap, but this one has the advantage of being a positive politically motivated idea for a change.

And yes, I think Dr Lynch is playing an absolute blinder here. I spent years listening to him claim the PPT was a "works tunnel" and now look what he is saying. I am excited and pleasantly surprised he has finally come around. Better late than never. So why not support him. That's all I am saying.