Light rail alternative to think about?

The man behind Cork city’s derailed tourist train has a new idea which he says could be an alternative to light rail, the Cork Independent can reveal.

Pat Flynn has submitted, under his Street Train Services (STS) business, an e-TramBus proposal for consultation and consideration in the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy.

Mr Flynn told the newspaper that the submission deals with the proposed €1 billion light rail system linking Mahon and Ballincollig.

He said: “The e-TramBus proposal sets out an alternative methodology for the delivery of rapid passenger transit on the route by means of rubber tyred rolling stocks that eliminates the disruptive need for the costly bidirectional rail installations that are used in traditional tram installations.

“STS estimates that a consideration in favour of the e-TramBus proposal would provide savings for that element of the transport strategy in the region of half a billion euros. There are many operational benefits that e-TramBus can provide for. In addition to the cost saving, it can be equipped and enabled to use all the modern infrastructures of an intelligent urbanisation.”

He hopes that it could be a successful public private partnership if it was considered.

Mr Flynn was the operator of the halted tourist train before issues arose between himself and Cork City Council. These issues related to the pick up location at Union Quay, which Mr Flynn has stated in the past is not suitable to attract tourists and thus, he believes is not commercially viable as a location.