Passenger numbers

corktina wrote: »

Given that you have to ride a bus out to the ship anyway, perhaps the solution is a bus transfer at Wexford, running direct to the ship via customs and immigration.

Sure why not go all the way and run a bus from Greystones then? God lads but some of yiz have a terrible hard on for salami slicing the railway.

corktina wrote: »

only a suggestion to address the 46 mins situation and free up paths and stock.

Here's a positive and realistic suggestion - fence off the Wexford Quayside line, time trains with all the ferries and reinstate the link to Waterford and run those trains straight to Galway via the WRC.

man98 wrote: »

Irish Rail's "Service" was laughable. In the mornings 3 days a week a train from Enniscorthy ran down to connect with it, with no return connections in the evening. Secondly (and this is relevant to passenger numbers) I rarely saw ticket checkers, which meant anyone who didn't board in Waterford or Rosslare Strand couldn't pay for their tickets quite often. This is probably why numbers fluctuated. I saw 70 onboard in Campile (first station from Waterford) and 65 at Ballycullane, and 50 at Wellingtonbridge. This is quite a bit higher than 25, as Irish Rail said. This makes me wonder if other lightly travelled routes have the same situation, such as Manulla, Waterford - Limerick Junction and, to a lesser extent, Ballybrophy - Limerick.

Indeed. An inconvenient truth all right.

Suitable rolling stock is available though, it's just IE prefer to use it on Dub-Cork and stored the mk4s. I don't blame Wexford line users for being disgruntled.

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

It was a Monday-Friday service and there was a return connection. I will check to confirm the return service but I am near certain. Irish Rail didn't say only 25 used the service, it was an average of 25 per service on the line.

As one of the few who post here that uses trains - as opposed to chasing them by road to take photographs - I assure you that the Enniscorthy/Waterford service was a complete farce from the outset. I have correspondence with Dick Fearn about it but I haven't the energy to scan it now. Tomorrow perhaps.

At one point the totally unpromoted service was replaced by a bus between Enniscorthy and Rosslare Strand and by another bus between two South Wexford stations - I forget which - due to flooding or some other problem. On the first day of operation myself and another intending passenger (yes there were 2 of us) were locked out of the station and would have missed the train had I not had the signalman's mobile number in my phone. CIE is past its sell by date as is the Department of (Road) Transport.:mad:

end of the road wrote: »

really? providing the same standard of comfort to us that other long distance routes get doesn't make sense? really? it doesn't?



ah yes, we should except a to tier rail system because "thats how it is" cork and belfast will get different stock, galway limerick and so on get the same rolling stock as us, but all of the time, not when IE can spair a unit. the intercity railcars are designed for long distance routes which rosslare and sligo are, the 2900 class are suburban railcars designed for short distance high capacity routes which sligo and rosslare aren't, i'm afraid "thats just how it is" isn't good enough and is no defence for these things being used on the line to rosslare and sligo.



yes, i should be so greatful that i have a rail service at all that i should have to put up with a second class service, no wonder people go to and have gone other alternatives with an attitude like that



your joking right? you honestly think suburban railcars are "wholly suitable for most of the customers who use the line" if that is the case how come passengers have gone down since suburban railcars were introduced on the line back in 2004? thankfully they have come back slightly but if you think glorified dublin bus vehicles are suitable for a journey of nearly 3 hours then i hope you never get a management job in irish rail.

It wouldn't be an end of the road post without a smart comment at the end of it

Face the facts, the Rosslare line is kept alive by those who use it the most ie Dublin area commuters,Does that compute with you? its not the people of Rosslare or Wexford town on the odd trip to the big city keeping the line afloat, its the lads who are using the line day in and day out to commute to Dublin who are keeping the Rosslare line viable. As such, commuter stock is entirely appropriate. We'd all love to have first class carriages, a buffet and a trolley service for all the provincial lines but if the PAX ain't there then there's no point.

As for the 'InterCity' schtick, that's a branding and nothing else. Cork and Belfast are cities, Rosslare and Sligo are not. There are NO major population centres on the Rosslare and Sligo lines once you venture out of the Dublin commuter belt, expecting the same kind of rolling stock as the busy IC lines when most of the paying customers are commuters just isn't logical.

You have to accept that Rosslare harbour isn't important a destination anymore as it was once in the mosts of time, this isn't because of the supposedly inferior rolling stock, but because where possible people will drive to the Port or use easier alternatives such as airports or Dublin or DL ports for their trips abroad, no amount of fancy rolling stock or whining about the lack of a "can do"/let someone else pay for it attitude will change this.

There are plenty of closed railway lines around the country with the same profile of the Rosslare and Sligo lines who's populations I'm sure would be absolutely delighted to have the kind of railway service the good people of Enniscorthy, Wexford & Rosslare supposedly have to endure. Like I already said, be grateful for what you have, who knows what the future could bring