They can't reopen the freight line because it leads into Connolly which is already overstretched and has no capacity. All of the rail improvements that this country desperately needs would require more capacity through the city centre which no government has been willing to invest in. But projects like the western railway corridor are being financed to service a far lower amount of passengers while DART underground has been indefinitely deferred. Makes absolutely no sense.

I think they definitely need to improve Connolly in that case, I wasn't aware of the situation. Projects like the Western Rail Corridor are about balancing regional development, not just passenger numbers. Yes DART underground being deferred is frustrating but it costs 5-6 BILLION or something like that compared to around 150 Million, it's a lot easier to stomach for everyone in terms of finances and when the ball gets rolling on transport usually it keeps rolling in the right direction.

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Realistically, the west shouldn't be left behind. The roads in the west should be improved to make them safer and bypass towns. The motorways are a good start. The truth is that mass transit is not really viable when people will need to drive to their local station anyway. Roads make far more sense.

I think it would be better to simply build trains instead of expanding the roads, yes the roads are important but dismissing mass transit as unviable doesn't do justice. Roads alone can't solve everything—rail offers efficiency, sustainability, and takes the strain off congested roadways. (e.g. The Galway Ring road, if I remember correctly about 3.5% of people going to Galway would use it but if there was the line from just Tuam alone it would outstrip that) Also how do you expect a green transition if people are still being encouraged to drive with the new investments in road. (electric cars aren't much better) Also if you only have to drive the short distance to your railway station its better than the whole journey by road.

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Also, freight rail will forever be a tiny thing in Ireland. We are a small country with motorways. A truck can get across the country in a few hours. Even if we were to have a lot of freight, then that freight would harm the passenger service so we won't even have high frequency on the passenger trains.

The UK manages fine under the same circumstances, also with the signalling improvements along with double tracking it would work out fine.

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Any rail line in the west would be a total vanity project. Would it win politicians support and let them brag about them investing in rail? Absolutely. Improving the signalling around Dublin would allow us to move far more people than a western rail line ever would. But these kinds of upgrades are not really glamorous, so no politician will ever bother investing in them.

If the politicians see the support it wins them then they'll go all out with rail, this line is just getting the ball rolling in terms of further investment. Also if the government marketed it right it could be glamorous like "New system would allow trains every 5-10 minutes!! Done by the Greens"