Cork Transport

Just wondering, but with all the recent press interest in the number of the deaths on the roads, is the following true.

As it stands, Ireland has one of the highest rural to urban population ratios in Europe, if not the very highest, meaning that a much higher proportion of people in Ireland live in the country side than any other country.

Due to this fact, people in Ireland would be driving on Regional roads more than in other countries.

Isn’t this an obvious explanation for the amount of crashes on our roads which no-one seems to be seeing ?

I mean, us and New Zealand have exactly the same death rate of 10 in 10,000 while a more urban based country like Britain has only 5 in 10,000

This is from today’s Examiner and it makes interesting reading for several reasons. Firstly, this E139m investment number is the first I have heard of it. It sounds impressive, but I would love to know what exactly it includes since the only major investment is the reopening of the Glounthaune to Midleton line. Surely the line reopening and ancillary works don’t add up to 139m. I know it includes work on other stations, but as far as I know, the railcars will be cast offs from the Arrow network.
Secondly, what bridge built on stilts are they talking about?
And thirdly, one has to love the part about the bees! Methinks the only bees who sting in Cork are the elected representatives…..

Iarnród Éireann plans closure of three level crossings in rail plan

By Seán O’Riordan
CLOSURE of three level crossings and their replacement with a large bridge are planned by Iarnród Eireann under the company’s proposed €139 million new rail network for Cork.

Day two of a the inquiry into the proposed Euro 139 commuter rail upgrade for Cork, heard Iarnród Eireann officials state they wanted to close the level crossings on the Lower Glanmire Road for safety reasons, especially as more trains will be using that section of track when the Midleton line reopens in July 2008.

Objections have been made to the closures by residents in Myrtle Hill Terrace, Bellevue and Woodside Villas who use the crossings to access their homes. Their legal representatives are expected to outline their case tomorrow at the hearing which is taking place in Midleton ParkHotel.

Conor McGuinness, a senior projects manager with Iarnród Eireann, provided the chairman of the inquiry, Pat Buckley SC, with a letter from Mary Molloy, principal inspector with the Railway Safety Commission, which suggested the three crossings be closed.

Mark Kilcullen, a consultant engineer, showed the hearing computer-generated pictures of the steel-arched bridge which Iarnród Eireann is proposing to build across the railway line. Part of it will be pile-drived into the bed of the River Lee.

Andrew Hinds, vice-president of Irish Planning Institute and a senior executive planner with Cork County Council, said the railway project would sustain major population growth.

He said it was vital that part of the Midleton Northern Relief Road — from the Cork Road to Mill Road — be completed in advance of the reopening of the town’s railway station, otherwise serious traffic congestion could result for commuters.

Mr Hinds added that a site had also been reserved for a second railway station to the western side of the town, near Waterrock, if it was needed in future years to serve land which had been zoned in that area for more than 2,500 houses.

Michael Woulfe, who owns Railway House in Midleton, which is right next to the station, said he was in favour of its reopening, but expressed one rather unusual concern.

As semi-commercial beekeeper, Mr Woulfe runs a honey extracting operation at his home and was worried that some bees could escape and sting commuters.

He said he would be able to move his operation to another area, but requested some compensation from Iarnród Eireann for doing so.

Blandcrest and Gable Holdings, which have planning permission for 1,600 houses in Carrigtwohill, expressed concern that Iarnród Eireann was seeking to take away some of their land for an access road. Brian Archer who was representing the developers said this would mean they would be unable to build 34 houses.

Chris White an expert involved in station planning in the UK, who was acting on behalf of Blackpool Developments, claimed that the station in Midleton was being built in the wrong place. He said it should not be built on its former site east of Mill Road. He said the western side was a better option as that was where most of the new housing development would go.

@corcaighboy wrote:

This is from today’s Examiner and it makes interesting reading for several reasons. Firstly, this E139m investment number is the first I have heard of it. It sounds impressive, but I would love to know what exactly it includes since the only major investment is the reopening of the Glounthaune to Midleton line. Surely the line reopening and ancillary works don’t add up to 139m. I know it includes work on other stations, but as far as I know, the railcars will be cast offs from the Arrow network.
Secondly, what bridge built on stilts are they talking about?

7 stations @ 2 million each (using Monasterevin as a guide and costs have probably gone up since)
4 automated level crossings @ 1 million each
7 reinstated overbridges and 3 reinstated underbridges (hard to cost, but 7 figures for structural work on each)
2 new overbridges
10km of line @ a 7 figures sum per km
Resignalling of the entire Cobh line because of the reinstatement of Cobh Junction
CPOs
General Landscaping Work

All these things start to add up to a tasty enough sum eventually.

As for the bridge…

There are some houses across the railway line from the Lower Glanmire Road. Currently, these are accessed by a number of level-crossings. This isn’t ideal from a safety perspective (Irish Rail are currently trying to reduce the number around the country anyway) and, as the frequency of trains on the line increases, will become more and more impractical. The proposal is to build a bridge across the line and an access road on the other side of the line for people who live in the houses. The location is roughly opposite The Marina Power Station.

An image of the proposed bridge can be seen here

http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/projects/RailwayOrderDocumentsCD/04_GMR_EIS/Volume_4_Appendices/Appendix_G_Landscape_and_Visual/Glanmire.pdf

In fact, if you’re interested in the project, browsing through the railway order documentation ( http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/projects/railway_order_documents.asp ) is a worthwhile exercise.

Here’s a map of the proposed extensions to the Cork Suburban Rail network. I got it off Wikipedia but I think that an extra two new stations are to be added by 2009 (one at Amgen in Carrigtwohill and another at Kilnap on the Mallow line).
CSR Map

Also, I never saw it mentioned on here, but just in case somebody didn’t hear about it, Aer Lingus announced a new route to Manchester from Cork, with increased frequencies to Birmingham, Faro and Heathrow.

Excel Airways, one of the UK’s largest charter airlines is to begin operations from Cork to Lanzarote and Bulgaria from Cork in May. The airline has said it would be interested in opearating charters to Florida from Cork in 2008 when new aircraft are delivered.

Any sign of a design for the proposed Blackpool/Kilbarry Station? Isn’t that supposed to open in 2008 also?

Wouldn’t it be cheaper for CIE to issue CPO’s for the houses in Myrtle Hill Terrace, Bellevue and Woodside Villas rather than building the bridge?

@Pug wrote:

Cork Transport Authority required ASAP.

Got to agree with you there.

First and most simple thing to be done

E1.30 for a single ride on one bus route
E1.80 for a ticket that has 1 hours validity on city buses
E2.50 for a ticket that is valid until the end of the day on city buses

It shouldn’t be that hard to sell three different types of ticket on the bus.

@A-ha wrote:

Here’s a map of the proposed extensions to the Cork Suburban Rail network. I got it off Wikipedia but I think that an extra two new stations are to be added by 2009 (one at Amgen in Carrigtwohill and another at Kilnap on the Mallow line).
CSR Map

Also, I never saw it mentioned on here, but just in case somebody didn’t hear about it, Aer Lingus announced a new route to Manchester from Cork, with increased frequencies to Birmingham, Faro and Heathrow.

Excel Airways, one of the UK’s largest charter airlines is to begin operations from Cork to Lanzarote and Bulgaria from Cork in May. The airline has said it would be interested in opearating charters to Florida from Cork in 2008 when new aircraft are delivered.

Station at Ballynoe in Cobh. Good idea. (A GOOD IDEA IN COBH WTF IS GOING ON HERE)

Serves the big horrible estates well, at least the person who suggested it has his head screwed on the right way.

CIE owns the skew bridge as far as I know, and a train company is in no hurry to fix a problem with a main road 🙁

@corkdood wrote:

Also on the buses isn’t it time to extend the city bus fares to places such as Ballincollig. For example you can travel to Curraheen or Model Farm Road on City Bus routes (number 8 and 5) for 1.30 (single) but City Centre to Ballincollig fares are 2.60.

Doesn’t make sense when Ballincollig is arguably closer to the city (and faster to get to if the bus takes the Straight Road route)

I’m sure there are other examples – this is just one that I am familiar with.

There are examples all over the city.

The 6 to Grange and the 7 to Donnybrook travel several miles beyond Douglas, yet even the near end of the Rochestown Road is on the non city bus fares.

Yet, many of the estates in Rochestown have been there since I was a young kid.

Just to re-emphasise how rubbish the buses in Cork are, I’ll give you a story told by my sister.

She was waiting for a number 7 on the Douglas Road (supposedly one every 20 mins). After 40 minutes, there still hadn’t been one and she phoned Bus Eireann. She was told that there had been a crash (We’ll have to take their word for that) and that the number 7 was disrupted. As she said, what really galled her was that around 5 or 6 Carrigaline, Crosshaven, Haulbowline buses etc. had passed her as she was waiting. Now, normally these don’t stop on the way into the city to provide a speedier service, but how hard would it be to stop them in circumstances where they know the normal city buses aren’t running?