Author: ewan.duffy

The Irish Government has just published a new development plan for the country, proposing investment in many areas of infrastructure and services.

The images on the front cover of the report include an image of a train. However, an unfortunate error has occurred in that the image included is that of an NIR railcar and not a train from the Republic of Ireland.

Rather than the shibboleth of the Republic of Ireland taking over Northern Ireland, it looks like the National Development Plan is proposing the opposite.

The Irish Independent has a video interview with Barry Kenny of Irish Rail, going behind the scenes at Connolly Station. This includes a visit to the Central Traffic Control (CTC).

The Railway Accident Investigation Unit (RAIU) has released a brief report on an incident that occurred in January 2025 at Navan Road Parkway Station in Dublin.

To cut a long story short (full report linked to above), the gates on Platform 2 (citybound platform) at Navan Road Parkway were left locked on the morning of 31st January 2025, resulting in a number of passengers crossing the tracks to exit the station from Platform 1, where the access gates were not locked.

Interestingly, the RAIU report notes that in such instances, those on the line are not trespassers in the legal sense of the term.

I recently had a letter published in the local media, accusing Irish Rail of incompetence, basing this assertion on 35 years of experience of criticising same. It looks like the RAIU agree.

The redevelopment of the North Quays in Waterford is underway. Technically, such a project would be worthy of comment on this site, due to port environments falling under the definition of IH.

I specifically link to this article in the Waterford News and Star as it contains a timeline for the opening of the new railway station in Waterford being built as part of this project and information about the current station.

It is noted that the transport hub will be substantially complete by Q2 2026 but signaling work on the railway will not be complete until Q2 2027. Given the light use of this section of line east of the current Waterford station (freight traffic to Belview), I am at a loss to understand why Irish Rail cannot realign the track and install the associated signalling now.

The article notes that the canopies at the present Waterford station are protected structures and therefore, CIE will be required to keep these (having said that, the ‘care and maintenance’ practiced by Irish Rail/CIE is not something to shout about).

Could I suggest that the present Limerick/Dublin facing bay platform be leased to the Irish Traction Group as an alternative to their present isolated facility at Carrick on Suir? Having their locomotives in Waterford would be a tourist attraction and an appropriate re-use of the platform facilities.