TRAIN TRAVEL times of less than two hours between Dublin and the regional cities of Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Galway are being proposed by Iarnród Éireann.
The move, in response to faster travel times on the State’s new motorways, would see work get under way on the development of high speed services to Cork and Galway beginning next year.
The plan is subject, however, to Government approval of an additional €175 million in funding – or €35 million a year between 2012 and 2016 – to improve speeds to Cork and Galway.
Phase two of the plan would tackle speeds on the routes between Dublin and Limerick and Dublin and Waterford.
Iarnród Éireann believes the move is necessary because currently it cannot compete with the shorter travel times offered by new motorways.
Decline in passenger numbers is inevitable without faster services to compete with car journeys already taking about two hours to Galway and less than three hours to Cork.
Iarnród Éireann has told the Government it wants to cut about 30 minutes off rail travel times to Cork and Galway as the first phase of its initiative.
At present just 50km of the 263km Dublin to Cork route is capable of the desired 160km/h inter-city speed.
None of the Dublin to Galway route is capable of running at 160km/h. The maximum speed between the cities is 130km/h – and that is available on just over half of the route.
Phase one would also have knock-on benefits for other services to and from Limerick, Kerry and Mayo as major sections of these journeys (Dublin-Limerick Junction for Limerick, Dublin-Mallow for Kerry, and Dublin-Athlone for Mayo) would see line speeds improve.
The company has estimated the cost of the 2012-2016 programme at €175 million, or approximately €35 million per annum.
The phase one works would lead to journey time improvements on each route as follows:
* Dublin to Cork would see an improvement of 25 minutes, reducing typical journey times to about two hours and 20 minutes.
* Dublin to Galway would improve by 33 minutes to under two hours and seven minutes.
* Dublin-Westport/Ballina would see knock-on journey time improvements of 22 minutes to about three hours and five minutes.
* Dublin to Limerick journey time improvements of 16 minutes would lead to travel times of about two hours.
* Some 20 minutes would be shaved off the almost four-hour journey from Dublin to Killarney/ Tralee.
* Dublin to Waterford journey time improvement would be seven minutes, bringing the trip down to about two hours and 13 minutes.
The company said its long-term goal would be to reduce speeds further, bringing all inter-city travel within the two-hour time frame.
The new Intercity fleet – 67 CAF Intercity carriages operating on the Dublin-Cork fleet, and the 183-carriage Intercity railcar fleet on other routes – is capable of 160 km/h speeds, so no further investment in fleet would be required.
