Kerry co co – Page 2 – Tralee

Meeting with the CEO and senior engineer of Kerry County Council

Posted on 30th June 2016 by traleefenit

Earlier this week (June 28th) representatives of the Friends of the Tralee – Fenit Greenway met with the CEO and senior engineer of Kerry County Council.

Mike o Neill thanked Ms Murrell for meeting the delegation and asked that an update
would be given on the current status of the Tralee to Fenit Greenway. He explained that
this project had been the subject of negotiation over a long period of time and there was
deep frustration at the seeming lack of progress and the many promises which for one
reason or another were never realised.
Ms. Murrell outlined that the Greenways were a priority and that they understood the
value of such projects. She explained that they had sought funding for the Tralee/Fenit
and the South Kerry Greenways and they had been granted aid for the South Kerry
project. They had therefore allocated their resources to that project. They do not have
the resources to tackle both projects but they should become available before the end of
this year and they would then allocate them to the Tralee/Fenit project.
Secondly. There was a problem with ownership of the land as Irish rail wanted the
council to absorb the cost of ducting the Fenit and North Kerry lines at a cost of a
million plus euro. This could not be agreed to as it would have caused problems when
funding was later sought for these projects.
However this matter was now resolved and the council is now satisfied that they now
own the land. This will now allow them to apply for planning and do an EiS, which may
be necessary. They will do this as soon as the resources become available, which should
be before the end of this year. In the meantime they will survey the land.
Thirdly. In order to secure funding for the project, it will be listed as a priority in their
action programme due to be launched in July and they will apply for funding from the
newly launched Failte Ireland funding for larger projects. They confirm that it is suitable
project for such funding. Should that not be successful there is another avenue which
will be pursued.
Ms. Murrell and Mr Sheehy assured the delegation that Tralee/Fenit Greenway and Fenit
itself were priority projects and they were positive that they would be delivered

Waterford show us what’s possible in a year !

Posted on 26th February 2016 by traleefenit

The Dungarvan Leader report this week that the entire 50km from Waterford to Dungarvan along the CIÉ owned railway will be converted into a Greenway by late summer. This is just over a year since Waterford City & County Council began works on the route which is licensed to them by CIÉ.

This clearly shows the time-line in which projects like this are deliverable within, meanwhile in Kerry we see no developments on similar state owned lines between Tralee and Fenit and on to the Kerry border.

Phase 2 complete, well kind of…

Posted on 20th July 2015 by traleefenit

Phase 2 of the Tralee to Fenit Greenway / Great Southern Trail in Kerry opened late last week and we have posted a few photos of the new route below.
As to be expected there have been ‘issues’ which have prevented the section from the Big River to Rock Street from being completed, this are due to a delay in authorisation from Dunnes Stores for the lowering of the wall of the super market car park bounding the path. It is hoped that this should be resolved and this section of the route completed within the next few weeks.

New bridge looking towards the train station- 17th July 2015

Section to Rock Street, still closed – 17th July 2015

From New bridge river path towards Brewery road – 17th July 2015

New bridge looking towards Rock Street- 17th July 2015

View from Edward Street entrance – 17th July 2015

Castleisland 25 years ago, you could be talking about Fenit today !

Posted on 15th July 2015 by traleefenit

A couple of interesting articles from over 25 years ago have appeared on the Down the Years section of The Kerryman newspaper recently, although the subject is Castleisland the similarities with the current situation with the Tralee – Fenit and the North Kerry line are uncanny:

A community that is crying out for a unused railway to be revitalised.
The land in question is state owned
A project that is part of the county development plan
Owners ( Irish Rail) who want to transfer the ownership to the local authority (Kerry Co Co)
And a local authority (Kerry Co Co) sitting on their hands !

We wonder how that turned out…

The status of the greenway raised in the Dail again

Posted on 28th April 2013 by traleefenit

Arthur Spring TD questioned the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on the availability of funding for the Greenway in the Dáil recently, the reply from Alan Kelly was:

Kerry County Council was provided with funding of €200,000 in 2012 towards the cost of delivering a cycleway from Tralee to Fenit. My Department is currently administering a multi annual funding programme related to the development of the National Cycle Network (NCN) to cover the period 2012 to 2016. Significant investment has already been made in 2012 and 2013 with €7 million allocated to projects across Ireland. This funding, which is provided to local authorities, will help to deliver cycleways in keeping with the objectives of the National Cycle Policy Framework. As this phase of the programme will expire at the end of 2013, it is my intention to initiate a new funding call later this year to provide, through competitive process, a further tranche of funding for the remainder of the years to 2016. Responsibility for completing the cycleway is a matter for Kerry County Council. If funding beyond own resources is required, then the local authority has the option to progress and submit a proposal to the Department under the next phase, once initiated, of the NCN Funding Programme.