Clonmel station

[richiek]

Probably discussed here before but would a direct Dublin-Clonmel service using the Waterford Line not be an idea to achieve some sort of usage on at least some part of Waterford-Limerick Junction Line. Clonmel is a reasonably sized town (Approx 18,000), certainly being the biggest on the Waterford-Limerick Junction route. For a relatively small amount of investment, if some was needed at all, a direct service could be trialled. In my opinion, it may offer more potential than the Nenagh Line currently does at present.

Just wondering has this been considered before abd if not, why?

[Inniskeen]

Would imagine Dublin to Clonmel (direct or otherwise) would be faster via Limerick Junction.

[ACustomer]

Its not just imagine: Clonmel-Dublin via Limerick Junction wins hands down.
1. Clommel - Waterford and Clonmel Lim Jcn are more or less the same time and distance.
2. Lim Jcn to Dublin is more or less every hour: Waterford-Dublin more or less every 2 hours, so the connection opportunities with the former are much better.
3. Lim Jcn- Dublin is 90 to 110 minutes at present: Waterford-Dublin is 120 to 150 mminutes for the most part.

No contest.

[Sealink]

There used to be a Clonmel - Heuston service on Sundays many years ago, iirc.

[dowlingm]

If a train could be based in Clonmel overnight with local crew operating then the last train out of Waterford to Clonmel to stable for the night could offer additional connections to late Dublin trains. Long shot I know.

If the rumours are true that trains are going to start connecting to Limerick in Thurles then that's a bit of a double whammy for Tipperary town, since they will lose some of their local service and heading over the road to the Junction will mean fewer service choices than hitherto.

[Mark Gleeson]

Saying it for ages but what you need is a train every two hours from Galway to Waterford via Limerick, provides way more opportunities

It looks like Dublin Limerick every 2 hours might be coming back which would make anyone traveling to/from points between Thurles and Heuston change at Thurles for the intermediate stops

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

If a train could be based in Clonmel overnight with local crew operating then the last train out of Waterford to Clonmel to stable for the night could offer additional connections to late Dublin trains. Long shot I know.

If the rumours are true that trains are going to start connecting to Limerick in Thurles then that's a bit of a double whammy for Tipperary town, since they will lose some of their local service and heading over the road to the Junction will mean fewer service choices than hitherto.

Thurles as a connecting point for Limerick doesn't make a lot of sense for a number of reasons

Limerick trains would have to use the mainline platforms at Thurles thus re-creating a Malahide style mess on the Cork line. (admittedly at a lot quieter location)

Signalling headways between Thurles and Limerick Junction are of the order of 7-8 minutes thus increasing the interval which would be required between the arrival/departure of Cork and Limerick trains at Thurles as compared to Limerick Junction.

Thurles might make some sense if trains were to split/join although there would still be issues in regard to signalling headways.

[Destructix]

According to staff in Thurles they did hear about this but don't know if it is happening or not. Just got to wait for the new timetables I guess.

Was talking to my cousins partner who works in IÉ. He told me that last week there were a few of track operatives measuring that old siding near platform two in Thurles. Something is happening. Maybe they are building another platform who knows. That would come in handy for the GAA specials they could use that and platform 3 with separate exits and not cause delays for other passengers using the station.