Great to see the State finds such diverse ways of wasting our money. Well done, much more imaginative way of wasting our money than the usual boring inefficiencies in health and welfare services.
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Train cost tax payer €550 per journey
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Gerry Canning
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Dear Santa,
I want a train for Donegal for Christmas
I want a train for Donegal for Christmas
Brendan Burgess
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It seems odd that so few people use the line.
People from Ballybrophy can get to Limerick or Dublin easily enough on the Limerick Train.
This train serves the people of Nenagh, making it easier for them to get to Limerick or Dublin. One would have thought that there would be more commuters making that journey. But I suppose it's quicker to drive from where you live in Tipperary to where you work in Limerick, than to drive to Nenagh train station and then take public transport from Limerick train station to where you work.
A bus from Nenagh to Limerick would be far more flexible and a lot cheaper for the taxpayer. Even taxis would be cheaper.
People from Ballybrophy can get to Limerick or Dublin easily enough on the Limerick Train.
This train serves the people of Nenagh, making it easier for them to get to Limerick or Dublin. One would have thought that there would be more commuters making that journey. But I suppose it's quicker to drive from where you live in Tipperary to where you work in Limerick, than to drive to Nenagh train station and then take public transport from Limerick train station to where you work.
A bus from Nenagh to Limerick would be far more flexible and a lot cheaper for the taxpayer. Even taxis would be cheaper.
From the report
In 2012, Irish Rail added four extra daily services - at a cost of almost €20,000 per day - to the route which is serving the constituency of the then public transport minister Alan Kelly.
The real question is why does it cost €5,000 to run a train 120 kms. The track is in place, its just the marginal cost of diesel and staff.
In 2012, Irish Rail added four extra daily services - at a cost of almost €20,000 per day - to the route which is serving the constituency of the then public transport minister Alan Kelly.
The real question is why does it cost €5,000 to run a train 120 kms. The track is in place, its just the marginal cost of diesel and staff.
J
jjm
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I see someone said looking at the time table a bus is covering this service I have no way of checking.
Buying each passenger a reasonably priced car would be cheaper!
T McGibney
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Irish Rail is 100% owned by the State and as such labours under the whims and patronage of politicians. What could possibly go wrong?
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J
jjm
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T McGibney .I just get the feeling it is more open to change.They have a store/depo across from where I live . I Get the feeling they are doing a good job,Don't know about higher up. Shane Ross need to make sure that the tax payer saves 5000 Euro for each trip,once the stop the service .The real test for Shane Ross will he stop 5000 euro for each trip and return it to tax payers.
T McGibney
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I more or less stopped using Irish Rail 6 or 7 years ago when they started putting clampers into train station car parks and clamping the cars of passengers when their trains returned late. Of course this coincided with the opening of several of the new national motorways, which would make you wonder about their strategy to attract drivers to switch to rail.
I had occasion to travel on a morning commuter train in the Dublin area recently and it was unpleasantly (and probably dangerously) overcrowded. Part of the reason for the unpleasantness in the carriage where I was standing was a lady who obstinately sat on the floor cradling her fold-up bike, while all around her stood twitching for a modicum of space.
On arrival at Connolly, I alighted the train behind her only to see her wheel her bike through an 'Irish Rail Staff Only' door. That summed it up.
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Brendan Burgess
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Alan Kelly is reported to be opposing the closure of the line. It's hard to believe.
Labour’s Alan Kelly has described calls to close a railway line which services his Tipperary constituency as “madness” and “totally unacceptable”.
The Tipperary TD was responding to a report released this morning which revealed the railway line between Limerick and Ballybrophy is costing the taxpayer €550 per passenger.
In 2012, Irish Rail added four extra daily services - at a cost of almost €20,000 per day - to the route.
The line serviced just over 70 people a day and was generating only €753 a day.
However, Mr Kelly says public transport is not there to make profits.
Labour’s Alan Kelly has described calls to close a railway line which services his Tipperary constituency as “madness” and “totally unacceptable”.
The Tipperary TD was responding to a report released this morning which revealed the railway line between Limerick and Ballybrophy is costing the taxpayer €550 per passenger.
In 2012, Irish Rail added four extra daily services - at a cost of almost €20,000 per day - to the route.
The line serviced just over 70 people a day and was generating only €753 a day.
However, Mr Kelly says public transport is not there to make profits.
T McGibney
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On the other hand there is widespread suspicion around the country that Irish Rail deliberately run down local train services in the hope of scaring away enough passengers to give them a reason to close down routes.
An example is the Wexford to Rosslare route which should have at least some strategic value in terms of passengers going to/from the Rosslare ferry terminal.
Yet in recent years the train service times no longer coincide with ferry departures and arrivals, meaning that it is pretty much useless for ferry travellers.
And now Irish Rail apparently want to shut it down for good.
An example is the Wexford to Rosslare route which should have at least some strategic value in terms of passengers going to/from the Rosslare ferry terminal.
Yet in recent years the train service times no longer coincide with ferry departures and arrivals, meaning that it is pretty much useless for ferry travellers.
And now Irish Rail apparently want to shut it down for good.
And they moved the terminal away from the port so now passengers have to walk half a mile from the station to the ferry terminal.
There's a strong argument for closing most of the train lines around the country.
Keep Dublin-Belfast, Dublin-Cork and the commuter trains around Dublin (maybe around Cork and Galway). Close the rest.
the issue there is that ferries are often delayed. A half hour delay on the ferry = half hour delay on the train. The number of foot passengers transferring onto the train is very small compared with other users of the service particularly in the likes of Wicklow and Greystones, and the train is probably slower than the bus to Rosslare anyway (there's not much scope to improve this either as the line is circuitous and would be very expensive to upgrade).
I'm not going to defend Irish Rail, as they seem quite inefficient in many ways, but it's no coincidence that the 3 most loss-making lines (Limerick to Ballybrophy & Waterford, and the WRC) are the 3 that don't connect to Dublin. Rail needs a critical mass of users to be viable, Ireland doesn't have a lot of cities (only Dublin, Belfast and Cork really - the others are just big towns).
20,000 per day for just the new services added. At 5 days a week for 46 weeks that's 4.6m. Over on another thread we are discussing how to eradicate homelessness. The average house price in Ireland is 315k. The State could instead buy and house 14 homeless families every year instead. Shame on them!
