The North Tipperary Community Rail Partnership has welcomed funding to complete the upgrade of the track on the Limerick to Ballybrophy line.
The Department of Transport has awarded €6.4m which a spokesperson says is a good starting point, after a long campaign for sufficient funds to accelerate the upgrade.
The works which this funding provides for will allow faster speeds and shorter journey times and the NTCRP wants this reflected quickly for users in the timetable.
While this news is welcome the group says it will now continue to push for a public commitment to provide adequate funding for additional rail services to be introduced, starting with a third middle of the day service and a later evening commuter service from Limerick to Nenagh.
They also want to see ring fence funding to allow for the atomisation of all the manned level crossings and a programme to remove farmers’ crossings.
The group will also be submitting their contribution to the Draft Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Transport Strategy, which proposes to overhaul bus and rail services in the region before close on June 10th.
