Route for A5 upgrade?

seatzie

don't live anywhere near the A5 but lets face it if its a railway in Northern Ireland its going to be overpriced anyway and be cheaper to go by car - eg Belfast to Bangor 2 adults 1 child £12 return - its a 24 mile round trip - £2 in the car why would you get on the train? - Dublin £32 return each - in my Diesel car £20 return for a full car and save 15p per litre buying Diesel down there, why would you use the train?

sorry hijacking the thread but making the point I don't think trains would ever become the norm here

warmhands.coldheart

I use the A5 on a regular enough basis and I can honestly say I don't think they really needed to go to such drastic measures to reduce journey times by 20 mins...

In my view, all they needed to do was to widen numerous sections of the existing road where possible to dual carriageway. This would have meant no, or at leat very few, houses would have to be knocked down. No massive amounts of compensation for farmers who will be loosing their land, and it would still give cars plenty of opportunity to "overtake" the lorries, tractors and Sunday drives. and it would still have reduced journey times at a fraction of the cost.

I honestly thinks it's madness what they are doing... Such a mad amout of money being spent on a road that there really is no requiremnt for.

There's massive swathes of the existing road that could be widened between Ballygawley & Londonderry/Derry without having to build a complete new road.

Money_Grabber13579

seatzie wrote: »

don't live anywhere near the A5 but lets face it if its a railway in Northern Ireland its going to be overpriced anyway and be cheaper to go by car - eg Belfast to Bangor 2 adults 1 child £12 return - its a 24 mile round trip - £2 in the car why would you get on the train? - Dublin £32 return each - in my Diesel car £20 return for a full car and save 15p per litre buying Diesel down there, why would you use the train?

sorry hijacking the thread but making the point I don't think trains would ever become the norm here

Unfortunately, I think your right, but it isn't helped by road boffin's policies. I'm not sure you can say the train is overpriced. If you want extortionate prices, you need to head to England. And it's going to cost you more than just the fuel to get anywhere. Tyres, brakes and other components don't last forever. And you had to buy the car in the first place!

Money_Grabber13579

Schtum wrote: »

Sorry, but a large part of the "track bed" lies under the present A5.

And as for the state of the current A5, you obviously haven't been on the road between Omagh and Derry in a while. A more efficient road route, rather than the stop/start mess that exists at present is in everyone's interests.

A new railway would be little more than a white elephant - of limited use and with minimal impact on numbers of journeys by vehicle. The only people who would truly benefit would be the contractors.

There will always be a proportion of car users who will switch to using the train. I'm a regular passenger on the Londonderry line, and every night when I'm coming home, it's impossible to get a seat.

If there's that much traffic on the A5 that a dual carriageway is needed, then build the railway, and some of those will use it. Hence a lesser road would do, and could be built much cheaper. If there isn't enough traffic to support a railway, then why are they building a dual carriageway in the first place?!

It just shows the priorities of the people in charge. Instead of a tram network in Belfast, lets have some buses. Which will be competition for the other buses. And the majority of the public during the consultation said they would only use it if it was a tram! It's all a shambles!

mcclim

Personally I can't wait for the new A5 to be built if it reduces travel times to Londonderry it will be a good thing! Remember a train track is limited to carrying passengers only as Translink don't carry frieght anymore, so a road will benefit lorry drivers etc....

It wouldn't matter if they built the best railway line in the world, if it was managed by translink it would never be a success, I sufferred 4 years of train travel and I can say I'm glad I don't have to use it anymore.

BigAl94

I was a regular train user Bangor to Belfast but have gone back to using the car, cheaper, greater flexibility and actually much quicker getting home in the evening and not much difference in the morning. I can park all day for £3 - 10 mins walk from work.

warmhands.coldheart

And so it seems the Plug will be pulled on this Big White Elephant unlesss Stormont can find the £400Million shortfall.. It was never needed..

D.A.

Excellent news! Maybe now they can spend the money on public transport instead. Wouldn't bet on that happening though!

Golden_Anemone

Didn't they already announce a couple of months ago they were taking some of the A5 budget and putting it towards the upgrade of the Derry - Belfast train line?

warmhands.coldheart

Golden_Anemone wrote: »

Didn't they already announce a couple of months ago they were taking some of the A5 budget and putting it towards the upgrade of the Derry - Belfast train line?

:eek: :eek: What!!! There's an actual train line from Derry/L'Derry to Belfast!! :rotfl:
I thought it was a couple of rails and a pump truck!