Re: Re: Cork Transport

They have trains that can go anywhere – the real question is if these trains also work as on street trams? Carrigaline is a long way out too – to sustain frequency would require quite a number of trains – which might be viable at a certain scale, but Carrigaline is only 12,000 people.

Essentially, it comes down to what kind of service you want or can afford, if the decision is taken to go with light rail. A mid/low frequency service linking Carrigaline (and Douglas) with the city centre would be one thing, a Luas type system running through the city centre would be another.

From some back of the envelope scribbling, (literally) a Luas line with 26-30 40m trams, running from Douglas to Ballincollig, through the Docklands, Railways Station, UCC, CIT etc, with a P+R at both ends, would cost at least €3-400m (capital costs), and that would only go up if you wanted to extend it to Carrigaline (or the airport). Give that I don’t have access to ridership figures, or likely passenger loadings, its impossible to suggest what IRR a proper CBA would churn out, but I would imagine that the Cork area is probably marginal for a light rail system. Any such system would have to be kept simple first, and allow for upgrading at a later stage.

A good first step might be a proper bus service though.