Does Waterford-Limerick have passenger potential?

[Thomas Morelli]

Does adding a second through platform to Limerick Junction to allow a Cork to Dublin train and a Dublin to Cork train to stop there at the same time bring benefits to the Dublin - Cork service?

[comcor]

The biggest benefit is that it allows for much simpler operation of the shuttle to Limerick. It's worth remembering that a fairly significant proportion of users of the service are actually traveling between Limerick and Dublin. The demand between Limerick and Dublin is much greater than the demand between Limerick and Cork, so by not having the trains arrive at the same time, it can either lead to fairly empty workings or paying drivers to sit around waiting to operate a service.

There are some direct benefits for Cork-Dublin, most notably that a service that is delayed will not cause problems for platform access for a non-delayed train adding in the other direction. In theory, you could probably do things like driver swaps to help with efficiency of rostering, but that has the drawback of needing one train to arrive before the other can leave.

[Thomas Morelli]

Would it be feasible to have two platforms on the Waterford - Limerick line at Limerick Junction, and have Waterford - Limerick trains pass Limerick - Waterford trains there?

[comcor]

There's not enough space for that arrangement in the current complex, but the land alongside it is largely agricultural and shouldn't cost too much to acquire.

You would have to double-track the line through Limerick Junction at least and then construct two platforms and link them to the main platforms.

There is again this problem of stopping trains before crossing the Dublin-Cork mainline, so you would probably have to stop Limerick trains north of the junction and Waterford trains south of it. The Limerick platform would be west of the line and Waterford platform east of it.

Then multiple bridges are required for platform access.

It gets complicated.

[Thomas Morelli]

Do the Dublin - Cork trains have to stop before crossing the Waterford to Limerick line?

[ACustomer]

For heaven's sake, this discussion is a bit ridiculous, considering that Irish Rail cannot even manage to solve some very simple constraints on congested lines (like upgrading the through road platform at Enfield to take passengers).

A platform on the down main line at Lim Jcn may make life easier as far as conflicts between up and down Dublin-Cork trains are concerned, but connections from down trains will no longer be cross platform but would involve climbing/descending stairs/lifts to an overbridge/underpass across three lines. What does that do for connecting times, which at present can be very slick.

This thread is meant to be about the Limerick-Junction to Waterford line, and what is really required is some investment to lower the journey time from 1h40m to about 1h20m. This is mainly a question of better signalling and visibility at crossings.

[Thomas Morelli]

How much will improving visibility at crossings and better signalling cost?

[Traincustomer]

Originally Posted by Thomas Morelli

Do the Dublin - Cork trains have to stop before crossing the Waterford to Limerick line?

Others on here have more expertise in signalling knowledge and the like but if I'm not mistaken the "flat crossing" is signal protected on both sides. The norm is for mainline trains to cross it at low speed.

I would thoroughly recommend taking a trip (if you haven't already) to see the line and set up.