All Island Rail Review has been published – but will it hit the buffers?

Regional and rural interventions rail map from All Island Rail Review

Yes, I’m cynical.  You can’t entirely blame me. There is some great stuff in the All-Island Rail Review, published on Tuesday, including some blue sky thinking.  The summary, with my annotations, is below. Short term and decarbonisation Electrify remainder of Belfast-Dublin line, Belfast-Bangor, Dublin-Cork/Galway/Limerick/Waterford (both companies were already working on plans to abolish diesel traction, but NIR I think also intends to electrify the Larne, Portrush and Derry/Londonderry (hereafter referred to as Derry) lines) Increase line speeed to 100mph (currently …

Read more…

Ireland commits to funding Enterprise replacement from 2027 – what about NI?

The Irish National Development Plan is a long document, and I have had little time to do more than skim it, but the key headline spotted by Jonny McCambridge and noted by Mick, one of the concrete proposals in the plan, is the replacement for the Belfast-Dublin Enterprise service by 2027. The branded Enterprise service was introduced by the Great Northern Railway in 1947, and at one time was extended to Cork.  NIR relaunched its side of the service in …

Read more…

“…on which Mr Hazzard in purporting to be offended by a long-standing informational map would do well to reflect.”

Or, catch yourself on!  From the Belfast Telegraph, the operator of the national railway network in Ireland, Iarnród Éireann, with a demonstration of how to respond to contrived mischief-making by a member of the UK parliament, in this case Sinn Fein’s Chris Hazzard, MP.  From the Belfast Telegraph report  A spokesman for Irish Rail said the company had worked “through good and bad times” to provide services between Northern Ireland and the Republic, including “the extraordinarily challenging era when sectarian …

Read more…

“Even in South Armagh, where boundaries of currency and diesel colour may also be blurred…”

Also in the Irish Times, Frank McNally magnificently tackles the recent kerfuffle over northerners non-eligibility to enter Iarnród Éireann’s Euro 2012 competition.  [Does Slugger get a mention? – Ed]  Oh yes…  From today’s An Irishman’s Diary …as someone who grew up in one of only three counties in the Republic devoid of a rail service, I have more than average sympathy for Michael Fisher’s point. After all – leaving questions of national allegiance aside for a moment – I would …

Read more…

“Such arrangements are commonplace in cross-border rail operations across Europe.”

As the BBC reports, Belfast-based freelance journalist Michael Fisher has taken exception to the terms and conditions of an Iarnród Éireann competition “to win an amazing trip for two with a difference to see Ireland’s three group games in Euro 2012 this June”. Well, one condition in particular – “Applicants must be 18 years of age or over, and must be resident in the Republic of Ireland” [added emphasis].  From Michael Fisher’s Border Rambler blog This is a clear case of discrimination, where marketing …

Read more…

RAIU identifies Iarnród Éireann’s contributory failures in Malahide Viaduct collapse

A report commissioned by Iarnród Éireann reported back in March, today the Rail Accident Investigation Unit [RAIU] of the Irish Railway Safety Commission published its own report on the collapse of the Malahide Viaduct in August 2009.  Some of its findings were leaked a couple of weeks ago.  There are 15 safety recommendations included in the report.  The iol report notes the corporate and political reaction, while this RTÉ report links to the RAIU report [pdf file].  From the Executive Summary [added emphasis throughout] The immediate cause …

Read more…