Thread: Monasterevin
View Single Post
Unread 04-02-2008, 17:40   #59
stevetee
Regular Poster
 
stevetee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Monasterevin
Posts: 34
Unhappy But will we got more trains stopping at Monasterevin ?

Press release from IE
"Last Updated: 04/02/2008 17:10 New rail fleet 'greenest in Europe'

Ireland is swapping the oldest trains in Europe for the newest under a significant investment in the railways, it was claimed today.

Iarnród Éireann said the new €400 million Intercity railcar fleet being rolled out this year will transform services.

It also claims the 183 South Korean-built carriages will be the "greenest" diesel train fleet in Europe already meeting future standards for fuel emissions.

"The transformation of our rail service is extraordinary," said Dick Fearn, chief executive, Iarnród Éireann, officially launching the new fleet in Sligo.

"We have totally rebuilt our network, we have dramatically expanded commuter capacity, and now we are completing the task of a total renewal of our Intercity fleet."

The first of the new railcars are already running on the Cork-Dublin, Sligo-Dublin and Limerick-Dublin lines.

Other routes to get the new carriages this year include Rosslare-Dublin, Waterford-Dublin, Westport-Dublin, Tralee-Dublin, Tralee-Cork, Galway-Dublin and the Carlow, Athlone, Portlaoise commuter routes.

Iarnród Éireann said the investment will see significantly higher frequency and capacity on all Intercity routes with improved accessibility for mobility-impaired customers.

The new trains will have automatic PA and information display systems, electronic seat reservation displays for web bookings, full air-conditioning and an internal CCTV system.

A record high of more than 46 million journeys were made on the country's rail network last year, according to Iarnród Éireann. "

Hats off to IE, they've given the publicity bottle a good spin. Sounds impressive on TV/raaaadio/internet but the litmus test for myself as a now-only-occasional-train-user and the rest of the commuting population of Monasterevin who currently drive ( that requires rail users to use their Cars Mr Fearn) to Portarlington or Kildare is increased services stopping at Monasterevin train station. Intercities are of no use to us. We just see them whizzing by at an even greater speed than before. Nor will the Kildare Route project directly impact on us. We've been over all this information a million times and still there is no change.

Will the advent of the Portlaoise depot assist the regularity of service stopping at Monasterevin ?

Incidentally I heard from a very well placed source in IE that the passenger footfall for Adamstown train station at present is lower than that for Monasterevin. If you factor in the Monasterevin commuters using Kildare and Portarlington, the discrepancy is probably even wider and yet the population of the town has been IEs main argument against improving the service. And yet the Adamstown service + the spin on future services to that City-As-Yet-To-Be-Built would have you believe the demand for trains is sky high judging by the service they get.

Farkin ell Mr Fearn, whats the story ?
Unhappy

Steve
stevetee is offline   Reply With Quote