Tipperary community rail partnership welcomes All-Ireland Rail Review recommendations

North Tipperary Community Rail Partnership has welcomed the All-Ireland Rail Review published last week by the Government.

“We will be pushing for the delivery of the recommendations as they meet many of our own aims,” said Partnership Chairwoman Virginia O’Dowd from Nenagh.

She said that there were many recommendations in the review but three in particular would impact on the Limerick to Ballybrophy line, which covers Nenagh.

One of the recommendations is to ensure regional and rural lines have at least one train every two hours.

“We strongly support this recommendation and have been in talk with Irish Rail to deliver on this,” said the former town Mayor.

She said that this would open up the possibility to link with more frequent services at Ballybrophy or Limerick.

Another recommendation is to increase line speed to at last 120km/h.

While there had been had an increase in line speed on the local line, Ms O’Dowd said that there was a need for the automation of level crossings and upgrading of signalling to increase speed further.

The Partnership has had meetings with the NTA on this and will be campaigning further on it, she said.

The final All-Ireland recommendation is to integrate bus service and rail service timetables to connect communities where direct rail access proves to be unviable.

“We see the need for this integration right along our line. There are increases in Local Link services coming on stream next year that could link with current and any increase in services. This would be particularly attractive for stations such as Cloughjordan, Birdhill and Nenagh where this integration is not happening,” said Ms O’Dowd.

The partnership is calling for an integrated transport hub at Nenagh railway station where rail, bus and Local Link services can work out of, with clear signage and timetables displayed.

“This would make the public transport experience more attractive and easier to use,” she said.