Re: Re: Limerick Transport
colognemike
The renovation of the Patrickswell to Charleville section of the old Great Southern will probably appear in the next NDP if not before. In addition to reducing the journey time on the Limerick-Cork line to just 1hr by some accounts it would also mean rail access to Limerick for Charleville, Bruree & Croom. The City Council would prefer people not to commute at all and to move to the city centre to work but I believe ‘total journey quality’ is the way to go wtih quality intercity/regional rail links serving train stations in cities, light rail networks serving the main spine(s) of cities and a range of buses from imps to double deckers radiating out from the centre and other strategic locations serving all the other neighbourhoods and areas of the city. Well planned quality public transport is imo the only way to attract owner occupiers esp. families into the c/cs because cars aren’t really an option in the middle of a city, at least not 2 per family. Many Londoners don’t have cars and don’t miss them.
I had a look at the city centre strategy yesterday and in fairness to the council they do recognise the land in the Hyde Park area is underutilized and ripe for development. What they intend doing about it to attract developers in is another thing. It ought to be a priority imo. The right sort of development there could also stimulate regeneration of the Georgian quarter .(v. important). It will need to dovetail in with the planned regeneration of B.Weston & Southill aswell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauban_(Freiburg)) ).
Dan
Interesting plan. Nice to know there’s somebody else in Limerick seriously thinking about this. I guess you’re opting for a tram-train solution. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to go. The existing rail alignments skirt round the city and don’t really penetrate the heavily populated areas so I’m not sure if you’d get the ridership to make it viable here. Also I’m not a big fan of single track and passing loops (even though I suggested employing them myself) because they’d slow the system right down. Trams every 15 minutes! No other trains, like freight trains or future Cork intercity trains could use this piece of track with that kind of burden on the line. And you don’t have any route for the north of the river either. Why not?
That said I certainly agree the route must come into contact w/ Colbet station and the city centre. There’s no way of avoiding Charlotte’s Quay either which is a pity because that pinch pont at Baal’s bridge won’t accomodate 2 lines of track (my plan) and heavy orbital road traffic as well.
