Through the West Ireland countryside with Irish Rail - Galway to Limerick
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 พ.ย. 2022
- Galway was lovely and now its time to hop on the train to Limerick, where the River Shannon joins the sea. Join me as we travel through the countryside of the counties of Galway and Clare, before crossing the Shannon into Limerick.
Departure: Galway Ceannt, Ireland
Destination: Limerick Colbert, Ireland
Distance: 119 km / 74 miles
Duration: 1 hr 57 mins
Cost: Advance adult flexi single €7,49 / £6.40
Date of Travel: September 2022
Operator: Irish Rail / Iarnród Éireann
Motive power: Class 2800 diesel multiple unit. (Tokyu Car Corporation, Japan 2000)
Well this was wonderful to see.
I, as an English teenager use to travel this line every day from Gort to Craughwell in the late 60’s. Bus to school, train back home. I loved everything about that railway, I was saddened to see last time I was in Craughwell that the railway looked sad and uncared for, now I’m thrilled to see its up and running again.
I remember sugar beet being loaded in Gort I think for Tuam. My mate Bernard and I pushing an empty wagon over a roll of caps that we had placed on the line. There was a ticket collector called Jimmy on the train from Limerick who insisted on seeing everyones school travel passes, as if we would travel without one. Even girls who wouldn’t have said boo to a goose were rude to him. A few times the train would come to a halt and the driver and his mate could be seen shooing cattle of the line. I think I’m right in saying that the line was single track with a token system in use. Is this still the case ?
Thanks for sharing those great memories! And yes, it is still single track with passing loops.
Best wishes to you and thanks for watching 👍
The Irish mile (míle or míle Gaelach) as latterly defined measured exactly 8 Irish furlongs, 320 Irish perches, or 2240 yards: approximately 1.27 statute miles or 2.048 kilometres. That's why Sixmilebridge is called Sixmilebridge.
Ah ha! That makes much more sense! Thank you so much for that clarification.
And thank you for taking the time to watch my video. I really appreciate it 👍
I just posted a comment about this and now find you beat me to it by 6 months and with far more detailed information .
I take this train nearly every week from Gort to Galway commuting to University. The train service is fantastic and always on time, it has never let me down. Ocassionaly I go all the way to Limerick to visit freinds or they come from Limerick to Gort. I know I will remember this particular train forever as I have some very fond memories travelling to Limerick or Galway for exams or parties etc. I also remeber being about 9 when the station reopened.
Oh that's lovely to hear. I really enjoyed the ride and I'm so glad you do too.
Thanks for watching the video and also for sharing your experience 👍
Marvellous backdrop. Ireland is very beautiful and peaceful.
It was a lovely morning, after so much rain and gloomy skies for the journey to Galway from Dublin the day before.
There’ll be another Irish journey out next week!
Still can't get over how green Ireland is. Also nice to see what Galway looks like without being in the remnants of a hurricane from the Atlantic.
Nice video!
Thank for for the kind words.
You’ll enjoy next Friday’s video, when I travel back from Limerick to Dublin past more green Irish fields under a gorgeous sunrise.
Plenty of fertiliser its not that green naturally
Oooooh I never knew It, there a Brazilian in Gort 😲🤯 it's blow muy mind! Thanks for this trip! Besta wiches from Brazil 🙋🏻♂️🇧🇷
and best wishes from Exeter, UK! Now you know where to go in Ireland to hear some Portuguese!
Thanks very much for watching and commenting
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Great, time for my Friday morning tea break with a lovely train video. Cheers!
Thank you very much for saying so! I agree, the videos definitely go well with tea and maybe even a biscuit or two. 😀
A smashing watch as always. My other half hails from County Clare and we recently travelled up to Galway on this route for an afternoon. I eagerly await the line being upgraded further and hopefully extended further north as well!
All the best, looking forward to the next video!
Thank you so much for the kind words and the fact that you're looking forward to the next one! I have a few more Irish trips to include, but next week I'll be looking at the GWR HST on its regional service from Exeter to Cardiff.
An Irish mile is 2240 yards compared with an imperial mile which is 1760 yards
Ah yes, that would do it. Thanks for the extra information and thanks too for watching 👍
Thanks for this movie 🤗
Greatings from Hull 🤗
My pleasure 👍
Liked and subbed my friend! Greetings from Cork 🍻
Thank you so much! Greetings to you from Exeter. Btw I still need to get to Cork and Cobh one day in the future!
Was on that exact route over the summer. It was slow , crowded and hot because there was no AC
Ah you do have a point there wrt the lack of AC.
Thanks for watching 👍
Hopefully more of the line in the west will open at some stage in the future! As I usually take the train to Dublin from Galway it is always a bit of a treat to travel this line for a change but always does feel a bit neglected 😊
Well hopefully the all-Ireland review of train travel will be followed through and the line will be extended. we can just hope!
Thank you so much for watching
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As to Sixmilebridge being farther from Limerick , this might have something to do with what my Father used to tell me as a boy about the traditional Irish Mile being longer than the Imperial Mile .
Yes. Others have commented just the same. Thank you for watching 👍
Yes , I noticed that after commenting .@@JohnnyHooverTravels
The only thing wrong with this video is the modern train. The A Class, 121, 141,181 and 071 eras will never be matched.😪
Thank you for the nice comment. I cannot turn back the clock, though I'd love to have experienced those previous train types. My fault for leaving it so late to visit Ireland.
@@JohnnyHooverTravels You're welcome, great video! Yes, those locos I mentioned and the sounds that emanated from them are all embedded in my memories of my childhood holidays in Ireland.
Agree! One thing I notice with Irish Rail though is that they put Commuter trains on this route rather than Intercity ones. Same with the Dublin-Rosslare route as 1 of the 3 services in each direction is worked by a 29000. Beautiful trains and love them, but not for Intercity. They also put the 2600 class on the Cork-Tralee services sometimes (I love them, but they're not Intercity Trains). Minor rant there lol, but beautiful trains and routes nonetheless
You cant beat an ICR 22000 and IÉ 29000
I enjoyed that, so i subbed 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you so much. Welcome aboard. Lots of other journeys to sample on the channel with many more to come 👍
Ardrahan serves the village of Ardrahan in Co. Galway. It is a bit out of the way, as the line doesn’t pass through the Village itself.
Well yes. Except Ardrahan is tiny, compared to the station car park. I reckon everybody from Ardrahan could park at the station on the same day and there'd still be lots of free spaces!
It just seems a bit of a leap of faith to re-open the station when there are so few people living nearby. As you see in the video, the car park is completely empty as we roll on by.
Thank you for watching and commenting 👍
@@JohnnyHooverTravels Sorry I was stating the obvious a bit there, not my intention.
Probably wishful thinking on behalf of Galway County Council, Iarnród Éireann etc. Further down the line in the Limerick direction you have Crusheen Co. Clare which is a similar size and has no station (admittedly its close to Ennis). It would be interesting to find out the thought process.
Enjoyed the videos, hopefully you come over and do a bit more Rail travel here. Always interesting to see an outside perspective on our Network! Mark.
@@sparkyhayes9543 no problem. Thank you for engaging. And thanks again for taking the time to watch.
@@JohnnyHooverTravels Ardrahan had a population of "540" people in the 2011 census (the population would have increased from then to now (2023). I have counted 50 car park spaces at Ardrahan Train Station. So there is a bigger population than the amount of car park spaces at the train station. Ardrahan also acts as a train station for the nearby villages of Kinvarra and Kilcolgan. A lot of the people that use Ardrahan Train Station would dropped off at the train station, they don't generally leave there cars there and I have seen before people walking to and from the train station as well. From looking at your video when arriving into Ardrahan is there not a car parked dropping of a passenger to join the train service? So 1 passenger would have boarded? It is the smallest village on the Western Rail Corridor between Galway and Limerick in terms of population.
@@trainsinireland5063 The car that was there as we arrived was driven off by a guy who got off the train. Leaving no cars in the car park.
The 2019 Irish Rail census shows that the station had 11 passengers per day, which is very few. And, as you say, many of those 11 will not see the need to park in one of the 50 parking places. So we are probably agreed that 50 spaces is excessive.
You're right, my quip that 540 people could use the train and park was slightly off kilter, but it was just a quip. If they car-shared, at least half of them could though 😃
Thank you for commenting. I'm very happy to be queried and corrected about any of my videos, as without such feedback I won't get any better.
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I must take this trip, though for me it would be ennis to galway and back.
Yes you should. It's a lovely run!
Best wishes to you, and thank you for watching and commenting
@Johnny Hoover Travels
I have lived in Ireland for 23 years now, and for the 1st 10 of those years, I watched and walked this long abandoned line. The rails were still there, the sleepers rotten, the stations derelict. I was excited when I read of the plan to restore the line to use, and promised myself to ride the line as soon as it was completed.
That promise still not yet fulfilled.
@@martinlintzgy1361 then I hope I have spurred you on to give it a ride.
Do pop back here to let me know when you do!
Good stuff 👍
Thank you!
They might get more passengers if Irish Rail were to make it a commuter line. Been lots of talk about it over the years.
The old Oranmore station is near the railway crossing.
Wrt the old station: oh yes. I've had a look on google maps and can see where you mean. This happens a lot in the UK. By the time there's a plan to reopen the station, the buildings/land has been sold off years ago.
Well I hope the new one gets more use in the future.
Thank you so much for watching and commenting 👍
...if you never make it to Brazil, Gort is the place to go. There's even a shop where you can get Cachaça...
Well that's very interesting. Maybe next time I'm in Ireland I should overnight in Gort! - although I may have a hangover in the morning...
Thanks for watching 👍
@@JohnnyHooverTravels ... but also John , the famous Burren region is only about 20km away...
Brilliant Journey you Filmed Johnny!😃.Did many board and alight the Train Service between Galway and Limerick?.Was the Train Service busy?.
Thank you!
Yes, it was pretty busy. Not too many made the whole journey, but we picked up more at Athenry and Ennis . Not many pax used the intermediate stations between Athenry and Ennis.
Reverse working at Athenry going on to Galway was very full too.
Great video enjoyed seeing this route . Just wondering Would you happen to have average and top speed info for this route at all as I’d be very interested to see it if you do. Reading one of ur reply to another comment I totally agree that without dual track and faster speeds most people will just stick to their cars as at double the journey time compared to driving it’s just not competitive.
Well it took just under 2hrs to do 119km. So roughly the avge speed was 60km/h or 37mph. I'm honestly not sure what the max line speed is on this run.
Thank you for watching and commenting. Lots more Irish content on the channel and from UK and Europe 👍
Super video! Nice train ride! Thumbs Up & Subscribe 🚂😉
Thank you very much for the kind comment and the sub!
I have never been on a class 2600 or 2800 DMU. It's only ever been Class 22000. I have travelled on a Class 29000 in Dublin though.
I think its fair to say they are OK for shorter hops, but not a patch on those 22000s
Thanks for watching 👍
Liked and sub as well.
Thank you very much! 👍
Honest question as an Irish person, how do Irish trains fare against those of other countries? Especially countries like Germany where they have the ICE high speed ones. I ask an Irish person, as anytime I've got the train here I thought it was a nice ride but i just felt things could have been better.
Irish trains do not compare favourably to InterCity routes in many Western European countries. The good news is that compared to the overall cost of living in Ireland, the price of train journeys is reasonably priced.
However, this is probably due to the low population density outside of Dublin, so there is not enough railway line and much of it is slow and single track.
My advice for Ireland would be to double-track the routes much more which would reduce journey times and increase reliability.
The Class 22000 trains they have on most InterCity routes can scoot along at 160 km/h in reasonable comfort, but there needs to be more places where they can do those speeds consistently.
Unless they can fix that, Irish people will stick to their cars.
@@JohnnyHooverTravels thanks for the insightful answer. Yes Irish people love their cars. I always thought it would be great to do dublin to cork in under 2 hours which I'm sure is possible with the solution you outlined. Hopefully eventually we will catch up haha. Thanks!
@@conorbrown792 I think Dublin/Cork is the only "double track all the way" line for intercity, but the M8 is a more direct route.
In the end rail funding vs road is mostly a political decision. Here in the UK, vested interests do not support the railways either.
Thanks so much for watching. I've got other videos from Ireland and there's more to come. 👍
What app do you use to measure the speed
The Speedometer app for iPhone.
Are there toilets on this train ?
Yes, I believe so.
They aren’t exactly the best on the 2600 and 2800s though