There was an advertisement today in connection with the RPA seeking a light railway order to encompass the Broadstone Line trackbed.The cretins have won out over the more sensible heavy rail proposal from Irish Rail.
Ireland - the country that never learns.
I am in Chicago currently and have noticed that a considerable part of their Metro system runs above ground elevated on metal girders (think the Loop Line all over Dublin).
As an efficient use of space, it is second to none, requires less disuption to traffic to build and provide visually appealing public infrastructure.
I can only imagine the response of Frank McDonald of the Irish Times to my suggestion. Probably give the man a heart attack. Of course, that could be seen as an ancilliary benefit!
Went into Dublin today to do some shopping and as I usually do, I parked in Rialto and got the LUAS over. Having tagged on with my smartcard, I got on the citybound tram. There were 3 CSOs on the tram, one issuing a penalty fare and who then proceeded to escort another person off the tram at Heuston Station.
One of the other two CSOs them came down the tram and asked for my ticket. No one between me and where he had been was checked. Why was I singled out? Sorry to have disappointed you by having a tagged on smartcard. Fill your quota on someone else.
Every once in a while Irish Rail does something right, or more correctly, someone in Irish Rail does something right. And then what is done is not updated such that it quickly becomes wrong. The fare calculator section of their website is a case in point, not having all stations in the Dublin suburban area listed.
Separately, there is a section on Irish Rail’s website giving station information. Except that it does not to appear to be kept up to date. Whilst they managed to add the new station at Clongriffin on the DART line, Carrigtouhill and Midleton in Cork not to mention the stations on the Ennis to Athenry line are not listed. In addition, the statement describing Hazelhatch & Celbridge station as being 1km from Celbridge village is blatantly wrong. I measured it using the site www.mapmyrun.com. It is 2.25km. Must do better.
In May 2009, I spent a night in the above hotel in Co. Kildare. I was surprised by what I came upon in an area of the hotel grounds under development. Photos here. Apparently, MKIII Internationals No. 6203 & 6205 are also on site somewhere.
This is a headline I wanted to see, 4 years ago, before gobshite rail wasted over 400m of our money on this unnecessary project, adding fuel to the building bubble that has now burst. The Sunday Tribune has reported that the project is now being mothballed
Unfortunately, the cancellation leaves an unused station and two unused tracks between Cherry Orchard and Hazelhatch and at least one family evicted from their home to allow this dick extension to be built - a dick extension that will not now be used. If Anglo Irish Bank is the representation of the Bertie Bubble era, the KRP is its manifestation in Irish Rail.
Not as significant as the Glounthaune to Midleton line reopening in my opinion, but a welcome development nonetheless.
The real significant reopening will be Dunboyne.
Translink have announced a “new” transport hub for Belfast based on the existing bus/rail stations behind the Europa Hotel. So how, exactly, will this new hub do something that the present station doesn’t? Full story on the Irish Independent site.
And for once it is not Irish Rail. The Belfast Telegraph has reported on how a musician was removed from a train in England after listing the tracks his band were going to play at an upcoming concert, one of which was by “The Killers”.
RPA 1, Public 0
But that hardly surprises me.
The story here (from RTE) is a couple who took the RPA to court over the noise of the LUAS at the end of their garden. Two points in the judgement of Justice Mary Laffoy are worth commenting on as they show why the public have no rights in this country, only the duty to pay the bills of cretinous organisations like the RPA.
She stated that the noise issue was covered in the Railway Order. Anyone with a brain knows that Railway Order inquiries are a sham and ultimately unconstitutional as they reject anything that would require the submission of a new order by the requesting body (the failure rate of such inquiries must be at the same level as planning permission rejections, otherwise the State is failing to treat all equally or not at all).
The second point is that the RPA have failed to comply with a requirement to set daytime and nighttime noise levels, but her learned justice stated that this does not prove a nuisance. What happened to the old common law requirement of approaching equity with clean hands?
Justice Laffoy is another stuffed shirt in an ivory tower. Maybe one day, the Irish people will elect a Government that will revoke the administrative sanction of all Quangos (including the RPA) and then we will see Frank Allen & Co squirm.