News
Bullet train for Killarney on Council agenda
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EXCLUSIVE
By Sean Moriarty
A Killarney councillor is calling for a Japanese-style 'Shinkansen' high-speed train – otherwise known as Bullet Trains - to link towns like Killarney and Tralee to Dublin.
Cllr Michael Gleeson, who is also the Cathaoirleach of the Killarney Municipal District, will put this proposal before Kerry County Council on Monday of next week.
Gleeson says that proper rail links between the west of Ireland and the capital will help revitalise rural Ireland.
“The largely uncoordinated and piecemeal expansion of Dublin has been hugely to the detriment of much of rural Ireland and its self, in the process, become a nightmare place in which to live,” he told the Killarney Advertiser.
He feels that a high-speed service would encourage people who work in Dublin to live in a place like Killarney.
“People do not wish to live in that chaotic and overcrowded city,” he said. “This relocation can never be realistically achieved using cars or airport. The only really viable way to do this would be through the development of super-fast trains.”
According to intermodal travel website rometorio.com, the rail journey between to the two stations is 259km, 41km shorter than going by road.
The current journey between Killarney and Dublin Heuston takes 3hrs and 18mins.
In Britain, a high-speed rail line between Birmingham and London, a project of around half the distance between Dublin and Killarney is costing over £33bn, including Compulsory Purchase Orders (CPO) for nearby lands.
“The only constrains would be an inability to think positive and think big,” added Gleeson. “Millions and millions of euro are being spent on travel infrastructure in Dublin, much of it seeking to undo inadequacies in the orignal development. Far better I believe to think of projects such as this that are keeping pace with what is really needed in Ireland as an entire country.”


