Cork Transport

@Angry Rebel wrote:

…..and they can use the improved commuter facilities and new stations on mainline rail. Why waste money duplicating…?

I forgot they had plans for railway stations at kilbarry, monard and blarney.

@THE_Chris wrote:

Heres my phase 1 concept. Personally, I think it is far better than that puddle of electioneering the Greens have thrown at us.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v458/THE_Chris533976/corklightrail1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v458/THE_Chris533976/corklightrail2.jpg

Thoughts?

You certainly have one thing right there compared to the Greens. The line to CIT should continue to Ballincollig. It would be idiotic to go to Ballincollig and not provide a service for people heading to CIT.

Looking at the Greens proposal, it stinks of wanting to repoen old rail alignments rather than serve the current population centres.

I’d also have an issue with where they are planning to cross the river. If you’re coming from the South East, Parnell Bridge is your last realistic crossing point.

With your maps, I’d have some doubts as to whether a tram could make it directly up the hill to the airport. It would probably have to come across at an angle to reduce it. A service that ran through Douglas and Grange or through Bishopstown and the upper parts of Togher would be more practical.

Would it make sense to extend an airport LUAS to Carrigaline instead of going up from Mahon?

From to-day’s quondam Cork Examiner:

03 May 2007

Last stand by defenders of a Gaelic clan fortress

THE ‘peasant mentality’ of the vandalism at Tara (Letters, April 30) is hardly adequate to describe the destruction proposed by the NRA at Carrigaphooca Castle Demesne near Macroom in Co Cork.

There are two registered national monuments and a protected structure within its demesne and part of the landscape is listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage category on historic gardens and designed landscapes.

Much more importantly, however, is the fact that Carrigaphooca Castle is the symbolic reference point for the Irish Brigades, as Prof John A Murphy has pointed out. It was from this castle that Justin MacCarthy, Lord of Muskerry and Carrigaphooca, led the first Irish brigade to France with troops from the castle’s hinterland.

A lieutenant-general of France, Justin MacCarthy commanded an estimated 30,000 men in the Irish Infantry Regiment of King Louis XIV (1690). The troops were drawn from the hinterland of Carrigaphooca and Macroom, Cork and Kerry. These legendary Irish brigades fought in every great European war. In 1792, the farewell banner of the Irish brigades was presented by Comte de Provence to Col Edward Stack of the Dillion Regiment at Coblentz. Col Stack was a descendant of the MacCarthy Mór of Carrigaphooca Castle.

It is within this Muskerry/French intellectual aristocratic circle that Edmund Burke (whose mother was a Nagle from Mallow) and Daniel O’Connell (nephew of Count O’Connell) honed their philosophies and political ideals.

Now the setting of Carrigaphooca Castle, this evocative symbol of the dispossessed, is condemned to a compulsory purchase order for a new super Euro route highway when there are two alternative routes.

Gone forever will be the evocative picture of the castle where, in the mist, you can imagine the flying flags of the Irish regiments and soldiers marching on foot. The evocative atmosphere at Carrigaphooca Castle, stone circle and manor house is a tangible reminder of these Irish brigades. The NRA is proposing now to obliterate the entire setting of the castle, the remnants of its bawn and its associated manor house by placing a four-lane highway and two flyovers less than 200 metres from the castle door.

Thus the visual amenity of the castle, which has stood for 800 years, is utterly destroyed for future generations.

Carrigaphooca Castle was built by Dermot MacCarthy, brother to Cormac Láidir, who built Blarney Castle. As Prof Murphy reminded us, it is on route to Muckross Abbey and Kilcrea Abbey both built by the MacCarthy Mór clan. This is the Gaelic royal route of our chieftains and should be preserved as a heritage trail.

WB Yeats included a story from Carrigaphooca Castle in his collection of Irish Fairie Tales.

We are, indeed, a petty people.

Eileen Stack Shanahan
Carrigaphooca
Castle House
Macroom
Co Cork

@THE_Chris wrote:

I understand (and support) all the bypasses and new roads being built.

But for the sake of a couple of million, reroute the things away from archaelogical sites.

Carrickmines, Tara, and now this.

Four lane highway though? I didnt think the Macroom bypass was going to be dualled, just Wide S2.

Considering the hassle caused whenever roads have gone near historic sites, it would probably be a case of saving a couple of million…

A fraction of building a single carriageway that gets held up in litigation for years

10 May 2007

Bus Éireann launches €18m investment plan for Cork

By Eoin English
BUS ÉIREANN willannounce an €18 million package today to transform public transport in Cork over the next three years.

The company is also planning to test European-style bus trams in the city in the coming months.

The investment package, which is targeting areas of rapid population growth, will see the delivery of dozens of new buses, new services to the suburbs and towns, and increased frequency across services.

The investment is expected to attract up to four million extra customersbetween 2007 and 2009 — displacing one million car journeys a year to 2016.

The plan provides for the delivery of 56 new buses for the fleet — 36 replacement vehicles and 20 extra buses.

Some 32 of these havealready been approved by the Department of Transport under Transport 21 and will be in service within the year. All buses will be wheelchair accessible and bio-fuel compatible.

The fleet will facilitate 138 extra departures and three new routes on city services and 38 extra departures and two new routes on commuter services.

New routes include:
A new 10A service between the city and Mahon Point, via Boreenmanna Road.
A new number 16 service between the city, Rochestown, Mount Oval and Maryborough Hill.

Frequencies will be boosted on:
The number 5 service from CIT to Kent Station via the city centre.
The number 7 service from Ballyvolane to the city and Donnybrook.
The number 8 service from Bishopstown to the city and Mayfield.
The number 14 service from CUH, Togher and the city.

Existing routes will be expanded, including the number 3 service from Ballyphehane to Lehenaghmore.

Frequency will be boosted on the Cork to Glanmire, Carrigaline and Crosshaven, Passage and Monkstown, and Blarney and Towerareas. A new town service (Route 229) is planned for Ballincollig, earmarked for introduction in 2009.

A new Mallow Rail Feeder service via Mitchelstown and Fermoy, and a new Cork to Whitechurch service, are also planned.

The Cork to Macroom and Ballyvourney service will be extended to Kenmare, both morning and evening, and improvements are promised on the Cork to Watergrasshill, Rathcormac and Fermoy service, the Cork to the airport and Kinsale service, and the Cork to Midleton and Ballinacurra service.

Click here for irishexaminer.com stories before this date

It costs a lot more than €1m per kilometre but two factors need to be considered firstly the business case i.e. revenues vs costs and secondly the costs of the do nothing option in the form of negative externalities i.e. the existing traffic congestion which is very bad as it stands.

Whilst you can build roads outside the City you can’t inside on the basis of land acquisition costs given the massive land take required to build dual carriageways and lets fact it anything less than a DC would fill up using 1995 levels let alone 2015 predicted flows. I am confident that at least one line from Mahon to Ballincollig via the City Centre could be justified. With the airport being a future target in conjunction with a master plan for the docklands being successfully implenented on a phased basis. Much of the cost could be recouped in development levies which if higher densities were offered developers would I’m sure take on the chin.

You just don’t see people with money using the bus

From this morning’s quondam Cokr Examiner:

11 May 2007

Able-bodied people also have difficulties at airport

I WRITE in response to Donie O’Leary’s letter regarding Cork Airport (Irish Examiner, May 7).

He makes his point in relation to wheelchair users’ ability to use the new airport.

The approximate percentage of people with disabilities is between 9% and 15%, depending on the level of severity of disability included — but my point is that one does not need to be disabled to have difficulty using Cork Airport.

As a mother who travelled with three children, one of whom was in a buggy, I encountered similar problems.

After disembarking from the plane, I had to wait at the bottom of the steps for my buggy. I then had to, as Mary did, get to the terminal but first had to stand outside in the rain as the lobby is not big enough to hold all the passengers.

The lift was not accessible at this point, due to the crowds. I then could have faced two storeys of steep steps if the lift had been unavailable or out of order.

Approximately 5% of the population are under 14 and 17% are over 65. Of the 78% remaining, around 50% are women, some of whom will be pregnant. The range of limitations at the airport for non-disabled people is wide and varied, although not as difficult as those experienced by Mary in Mr O’Leary’s letter.

Cork Airport fails to cater for all its citizens equally.

Linda Horgan
9 Court Cairn
Model Farm Rd
Cork