Reopen the railways

[Eamonnca1]

A lot to unpack in the All Ireland Rail Review. Some ambitious goals there, which is nice to see. Plenty of fodder for the "it will never happen" crowd but that's inevitable.

People have got to understand that a lot of these dormant routes remain untouched. Most of the tunnels, cuttings, embankments, viaducts, and even a lot of the bridges are still intact. A lot of the cost of building a railway is flattening the land, and this was already done for us over 150 years ago. Reopening lines like Portadown-Armagh and Portadown-Derry via Omagh are entirely achievable. It wasn't so long ago that there wasn't many miles of motorway in the south, now there's a whole network of them. Governments are well able to deliver big infrastructure projects when they put their minds to it.

They'll be able to reopen the stop the Athletic Grounds in Armagh

That Armagh-Keady line should be reopenable, and it would indeed go right beside the Atheltic Grounds where you could put in a halt. Most of the old route through the middle of Armagh is surprisingly clear. It'd be a bit tricky to get a new route past the houses on Rock Rd that were built on top of the old alignment, but not impossible. Might be better to just pick a new route to Keady, but it would be sensational to see modern trains running on the Tassagh Viaduct.

[Tony Baloney]

Googled the location of the Armagh to Keady and Clones lines and some bloke called Eamonn seems to have made some useful YouTube videos. 

[Eamonnca1]

Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe!

[armaghniac]

That Armagh-Keady line should be reopenable, and it would indeed go right beside the Atheltic Grounds where you could put in a halt. Most of the old route through the middle of Armagh is surprisingly clear. It'd be a bit tricky to get a new route past the houses on Rock Rd that were built on top of the old alignment, but not impossible. Might be better to just pick a new route to Keady, but it would be sensational to see modern trains running on the Tassagh Viaduct.

That line was one of the last to open and the section to 'Blayney was only open for 12 years. So it was probably the least feasible line in Ireland. However, I think the Tassagh viaduct was one of the first concrete railway viaducts in Ireland. If you reopen it then you'd have have a slight problem getting into the stand in the Athletic grounds.

[Eamonnca1]

That Armagh-Keady line should be reopenable, and it would indeed go right beside the Atheltic Grounds where you could put in a halt. Most of the old route through the middle of Armagh is surprisingly clear. It'd be a bit tricky to get a new route past the houses on Rock Rd that were built on top of the old alignment, but not impossible. Might be better to just pick a new route to Keady, but it would be sensational to see modern trains running on the Tassagh Viaduct.

That line was one of the last to open and the section to 'Blayney was only open for 12 years. So it was probably the least feasible line in Ireland. However, I think the Tassagh viaduct was one of the first concrete railway viaducts in Ireland. If you reopen it then you'd have have a slight problem getting into the stand in the Athletic grounds.

Correct, I think it was the shortest-lived line. Times are different now though. There's a tourist industry that wasn't there when the line was operating, so connecting Armagh to Dublin via Dundalk would have more value today.

[armaghniac]

That Armagh-Keady line should be reopenable, and it would indeed go right beside the Atheltic Grounds where you could put in a halt. Most of the old route through the middle of Armagh is surprisingly clear. It'd be a bit tricky to get a new route past the houses on Rock Rd that were built on top of the old alignment, but not impossible. Might be better to just pick a new route to Keady, but it would be sensational to see modern trains running on the Tassagh Viaduct.

That line was one of the last to open and the section to 'Blayney was only open for 12 years. So it was probably the least feasible line in Ireland. However, I think the Tassagh viaduct was one of the first concrete railway viaducts in Ireland. If you reopen it then you'd have have a slight problem getting into the stand in the Athletic grounds.

Correct, I think it was the shortest-lived line. Times are different now though. There's a tourist industry that wasn't there when the line was operating, so connecting Armagh to Dublin via Dundalk would have more value today.

You could rebuild the line through the Lisummon tunnel and hope that the trains can go up the hill nowadays.
How many tourists go on the train from Dublin to Kilkenny each day?

[trailer]

A lot to unpack in the All Ireland Rail Review. Some ambitious goals there, which is nice to see. Plenty of fodder for the "it will never happen" crowd but that's inevitable.

People have got to understand that a lot of these dormant routes remain untouched. Most of the tunnels, cuttings, embankments, viaducts, and even a lot of the bridges are still intact. A lot of the cost of building a railway is flattening the land, and this was already done for us over 150 years ago. Reopening lines like Portadown-Armagh and Portadown-Derry via Omagh are entirely achievable. It wasn't so long ago that there wasn't many miles of motorway in the south, now there's a whole network of them. Governments are well able to deliver big infrastructure projects when they put their minds to it.

Time to think big again, and this time do it for rail. There's not enough room in cities for cars and the days of building everything around them need to come to an end.

Yes of course we are. In the north alone we can point to such fantastic infrastructure projects such as Not the A5, Not the North South interconnector, Not the expansion of waste water treatment and Not Casement Park.
We are in such a strong position to deliver this. In reality we'd get more use out of the 35b if we just set fire to it.

By the time they complete all the archaeological digs, toad surveys and evacuation plans, trains will be obsolete again anyway.

There's an entire network of motorways radiating out from Dublin that wasn't there 30 years ago.

In the North there's the Broadway underpass where a surface-level roundabout used to be, the A1 at Newry which is looking more like a motorway in all but name compared to what was there in my day, the Dungiven bypass that was opened lately, and plenty more. There's always plenty of money for roads. Ever notice that?

Dungiven bypass - late and over budget... 30m over budget
Underpass at Broadway was part of a larger project to connect M2 and M3 at the end of the Westlink. Unfinished and the traffic jam merely moved up the road.

But granted yes they have built a few roads, over budget and late.

Above all though, we don't even have a functioning government to sign this off!!

So? Big public works projects often go over budget and run late. They still built it, didn't they? You can drive on it now. Does it matter that it was late and over budget?

They did. But this is a different level altogether. But we've two glaring problems even above our incompetence is that
1) We have no government
2) We simply don't have the money or at least we don't have railways as a priority over other needs

[Orior]

But Boris Johnson's bridge...

[seafoid]

That Armagh-Keady line should be reopenable, and it would indeed go right beside the Atheltic Grounds where you could put in a halt. Most of the old route through the middle of Armagh is surprisingly clear. It'd be a bit tricky to get a new route past the houses on Rock Rd that were built on top of the old alignment, but not impossible. Might be better to just pick a new route to Keady, but it would be sensational to see modern trains running on the Tassagh Viaduct.

That line was one of the last to open and the section to 'Blayney was only open for 12 years. So it was probably the least feasible line in Ireland. However, I think the Tassagh viaduct was one of the first concrete railway viaducts in Ireland. If you reopen it then you'd have have a slight problem getting into the stand in the Athletic grounds.

Doomed Railways like the GNR lasted until the mid 50s. The logic went over to cars. Now petrol is toxic.

[LeoMc]

A good resource to show where the old railways run. Looks like most of the route through Omagh is now part of the by-pass so it would be a new route needed there.

https://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php

[AustinPowers]

But Boris Johnson's bridge...

That must be  finished by now,  is it not?

[Jeepers Creepers]

But Boris Johnson's bridge...

That must be  finished by now,  is it not?

More chance of it being built than these railway lines !

[Eamonnca1]

A good resource to show where the old railways run. Looks like most of the route through Omagh is now part of the by-pass so it would be a new route needed there.

https://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php

Reopening the Derry-Portadown line through Omagh would mean building the part of the A5 dual carriageway that bypasses Omagh.

[Eamonnca1]

A good resource to show where the old railways run. Looks like most of the route through Omagh is now part of the by-pass so it would be a new route needed there.

https://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php

It's a great resource. Also shows canals, trolley bus systems (Belfast was the only city in Ireland to have them), and military airfields. https://www.railmaponline.com/

The historic ordnance survey maps are more accurate though, but it takes a while to get the hang of using the viewer: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-proni-historical-maps-viewer

I find it fascinating to look at the lost roads around Lurgan and Portadown that were wiped off the map by the new city. It explains a lot of the strange little dead ends around the place.

[markl121]

But Boris Johnson's bridge...

Can I just shock you, I liked the bridge, I wish it was being built