Midland Railway Action Group

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1906 Irish Rail Infrastructure.....
1906 Irish Rail Infrastructure.....

Midland Railway Action Group was established to improve the internal infrastructure of the Irish Midlands, in particular, Mullingar,[1] Tullamore, and Athlone, the Midland Railway Action Group (MRAG) is a pressure group striving to have the Athlone to Mullingar rail line re-opened, in order to serve the Midland Gateway[2] towns of Athlone, Tullamore, and Mullingar with a much required passenger and transportation corridor that answers the future and current requirements while remaining, Kyoto friendly. More generally, other towns positively impacted by the desired re-opening of the Athlone -Mullingar rail link are, Cavan, Clones, Longford, and Monaghan from the MRAG.[3]
Willie Allen is currently the M.R.A.G. spokesperson.[3] [4]

Contents

[edit] Rail Track Costings (at 2004 prices)

Infrastructure, Capacity / Soil-occupation, Rail or Motorway comparisson
Infrastructure, Capacity / Soil-occupation,
Rail or Motorway comparisson

Priced per kilometre

  • Normal one track (no via-ducts nor bridges) = 5 to 10 M€ [5]
  • Bridges and Viaducts priced per kilometre = 30 to 50 M€ (one of two tracks is 0.6 of total [5] cost)[6]
  • Tunnels for 21 century needs at 270km/h mono-tube or one track per tube 100m square 30M€ to 50M€[5]
  • Tunnels that exceed 500m to 1km, special security furnishings, 45M€ to 75M€[5] (averaged to 1km for 3/4/7/10km tunnel)
  • TER Typical 21st. century costings for regional rail transport are also available here.

[edit] Political Commitment

The minister of Finance Brian Cowen,[7] proposes in his speech of 2nd March 2007 mentions an allocation of 300M Euro for the best and most Suitable projects. According to the Indecon Strategic Development Framework for the Midlands Gateway, It is essential to invest seriously within the significantly insufficient infrastructure.[8] Refer to this, detailed on page 124 125.
An Irish Rail spokesman said the services on the WRC would be operated by commuter rail-cars rather than Intercity trains. In fact, the only line being campaigned for which could see the use of Intercity carriages is the Athlone-to-Mullingar[9] line, which was once part of the main line to Galway.
While local campaigners have focused on the line’s potential as a commuter route, some believe it could cut half an hour from rail journeys between Galway and Dublin.
Although the 2003 strategic rail review found that restoring the line would cost €154 million, this estimate has since been cut to €84 million.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dudge$$Xml
  2. ^ Midland Gateway Ireland Athlone Tullamore Mullingar tullamore Offaly Ireland tullamore chamber online westmeath offaly tullamore
  3. ^ a b Rail line re-opening goes off the tracks - Westmeath Examiner
  4. ^ Shannonside - Northern Sound News Archives » No Firm Committment From Transport Minister On Midlands Railway
  5. ^ a b c d http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGV Est européenne
  6. ^ Structurae [en]: Large-Scale Projects: Project types: High-speed rail line
  7. ^ Seanad Éireann - Volume 183 - 30 May, 2006 - National Development Plan: Statements
  8. ^ http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/3230-0.pdf Strategic Rail Review_Booz_Allen_Hamilton
  9. ^ http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/developmentPlan/documents/SEA/SEA%20Maps/Material_assets.pdf


[edit] For Irish Rail Transportation, See also