Real rail
Someone, somewhere, is still pushing the idea of reopening the Lisburn-Antrim railway line and building a spur to the Airport. I remember looking into this a little, and discovering that the economics just aren’t there. It is my understanding that such a development would be expensive to construct, and not used enough to be sustainable. In short, the International Airport just isn’t big enough to justify it.
Translink is often criticised for being a bus heavy company, which is running down the rail system. Maybe, but on this one, aren’t they right?
Reader @ 03:39 PM
“If Translink seem to be outclassed in providing rail services at the moment by Iarnród Éireann …”
If? If? If?
The trouble is that NIR is a poor, pawky wee runt of a thing, and has been elbowed to the back of the queue for the financial nipple for decades.
Try for size the 1990 Competition Committee Report on NIR (sections 7.12 and 7.13). In part this refers to Bleach Green, which has already been mentioned in this thread. I believe the substance deserves to be recalled to show just how bad things have been (and in some aspects may still be):
I think that means that routine maintenance had been neglected to the extent that the track-bed was unsafe, and being patched up in some desperation.
Anyone who thinks this is ancient history should take a trip on the rush-hour service between Portadown and Belfast. You might find yourself travelling in carriages numbers 8941 to 8948. These are retreads from the Gatwick Express, which had even then been converted from BR Class 488 stock, and therefore survivals from the early 1970s. You will be hauled by a Class 111 locomotive, which entered service in 1980-81, the same type as CIE’s 071 Class (which have been either withdrawn or are being reduce to freight duties, I believe).
Malcolm you are a true geek beyond compare:
We are re-opening railways
Dewi @ 05:44 PM:
Some are born geeks, some acquire geekishness, and some have geekery thrust upon them.
The Ebbw Vale line is a close analogy to the Knockmore line: in both cases the track is/was still there. The amazing thing is the relative cheapness of such a development: £30M to relay 11 miles of track completely and build/restore half-a-dozen stations. Good luck on getting it extended to Abertillery.
Nice, too, to see the much-reviled Class 150 “Sprinter” trains tarted up so well. However, I can never understand the current mode of purple/puce in railway liveries. I always think the stopping service between Paddington and Heathrow must be sposored by Cadburys chocolates.
on the subject of railways and airports – it always pisses me off at how expensive railway connections are to airports. Look at the Heathrow Express, compare that to Frankfurt or Schiphol where the airport station is part of the network and fares are charged at the same rate as the rest of the network.
Mark McG is right: ………..
Posted by David Ford on Feb 20, 2008 @ 12:24 AM
I find this more worrying than when my wife agrees with me. David, for both our sakes please don’t make this a regular occurrence.
qubol @ 07:33 PM:
Absolutely! Hear! Hear!
It is a peculiarly and gouging British phenomenon (in its most extreme form seen on the Gatwick, Heathrow, and Stansted Expresses).
A couple of years back, I was on the first direct flight (well, OK, since 1945) from Stansted to Dortmund. I was a bit leery about the connections at the other end. Instead, there was a free mini-bus link for the couple of miles to the railway station, a ticket machine that worked with any credit/debit card in sight, and an easily-understood fare-structure. Within minutes I was on a “regional express” to Cologne, sharing the space with some slightly-inebriated elderlies who were on 4 for 1 tickets. Being DBahn, we arrived a minute late, and we received an apology.
So, if Iarnród Éirean won’t take on the job, can we have take-over of NIR by either Deutsche Bahn (who already own EWS, the privatised GB freight operator, with rights through the Chunnel) or a Swiss company?
Though the current most favoured proposal for reopening the Antrim branch, with possible spurs into the Maze and Airport, has the costs offset by a demand for massive exclusive green field planning permissions where a rail proximity levy will be charged to house buyers not passengers.
I’d like to hear David Ford’s view on the Kilbride proposal as most other’s gave it a guarded welcome.
yeah feck IE a takeover by Deutsch Bahn, that would be amazing
“Is it too much blue-sky thinking to imagine a link from Metro North to Donabate or Malahide”
Yes. In fact I believe the alignment beyond Lissenhall is NOT reserved.
If there hadn’t been political impetus to give RPA the Metro project, a DART line could have run from Drogheda through Donabate to Dublin Airport, DCU and the City Centre. Instead we will get an incompatible light rail system (trams on steroids) every 90 seconds (yeah right) which terminates at and causes the digging up of one of one of Dublin’s best known and central green spaces.
Mark McG is right: ………..
Posted by David Ford on Feb 20, 2008 @ 12:24 AM
Sorry Mark.
On the specific topic of a political decision to render services on the Knockmore line useless, thereby providing an excuse to cut them completely a year later, disadvantaging the people of Crumlin in particular Mark McG is right.
On other topics, the above does not apply.
PS On the Sunday afternoon of the last passenger services on the Knockmore line, I travelled Antrim – Lisburn – Antrim in the RPSI carriage used by Liam Neeson as Michael Collins. Happy now?
Planning is about coordinating development with services including transport. In most European countries they regard rail as an essential service. It has many advantages over buses, not least is the fact that it does not suffer from delays caused by traffic jambs.
If you invest in trains people use them.
To look at an Aldergrove Terminal in isolation is a mistake. It is a service that should serve Lisburn, Antrim , Templepatrick etc. We should make it a commuter loop and plan development around it. Do this and it will be well used.
All our Airports should have stations, it would be good for tourism, good for business and good for self esteem. The amount of time I waste going to various Airports to meet people is ridiculous.
Get a good connection into Aldergrove and connect to the Dublin line and we may start to draw traffic from Dublin airport.
“We had everybody telling us before the limerick-ennis section of the western rail corridor. It was so successful that train service had to be doubled and new rolling stock introduced. Now all of this railway all 240kms of it is being reopened”
Er… no it’s not. Nothing beyond Claremorris is committed to, thank god almighty. Even the handpicked Western Corridor Report group couldn’t spin Claremorris to Sligo into something worth doing.
Automated light rail would be nice. Bombardier build the goods, so there’s the possibility of convincing them to keep it local. A South Antrim loop to touch Aldergove and another loop to go through the City airport and cover North Down. Sorted. Better spent on that than a stadium in my opinion.
>>To look at an Aldergrove Terminal in isolation is a mistake. It is a service that should serve Lisburn, Antrim , Templepatrick etc. We should make it a commuter loop and plan development around it. Do this and it will be well used.<<
And don’t forget it could also link to the New Maze Stadium / Truth and Reconciliation Centre / terrorist Shrine / Terror Dome*.
* Delete as appropriate.
gram
Yes it could be made to serve the Maze site, but the problem with that sort of event is the sharp rise that it causes in demand, limits the ability of a rail service to make real impact and most days there would be no demand at that particular station. Yes you can run a few extra trains (if the rolling stock is there and the lines allow) That is one of the reasons why the stadium would be better located in the centre of Belfast at the nub of many transport links and where many can actually walk to the event if they were of the mind to do so.
Train Services need regular and steady use. Peaks at rush hour can be accommodated. This is why you need to integrate rail into Planning and concentrate development around the network. NI must be one of the few parts of Europe where you still have to argue for the obvious.
Dewi – if we’re in the business of saving the planet, the problem isn’t so much how one gets to and from the airport as how one gets from one airport to another…