Irish Rail is to accelerate upgrade works on the Ballybrophy-Limerick rail line in the coming months while services remain suspended.
The North Tipperary Community Rail Partnership, which is calling for increased services, says it has got the commitment from local management recently.
The works will see an extra nine miles of track upgraded to modern continuous welded rail in the coming months in north Tipperary.
Brendan Sheehan from the community group says they’re increasingly confident that the future of the service is secured into the future with such investment.
“About 70% at that stage of the entire line should have been upgraded to continuous welded rail. We’re making a very strong case that that should improve the speeds. Iarnród Éireann are resisting that suggestion and saying that there are other considerations – and fair enough they’re professionals and they need to look at every aspect. But we know the speeds in the past have been considerably higher than they are now.”
