A guided tour of the ghost train (article on Limerick Jct - Waterford line)

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0512/1224246310684.html

Irish Times, Tuesday, May 12, 2009

On the train journey from Limerick Junction to Waterford, the (very few) passengers say the service is good and the value even better. So why is this the least-used rail route in the country?


IT’S EARLY MONDAY morning, and all that’s missing is the tumbleweed and creaking signs. I’m heading east on the 8.50am train from Limerick Junction to Waterford, officially the least-used intercity rail route in Ireland.
This modern two-carriage train can take up to 105 passengers. This is the first service of the day on this route, which has four return trains daily, and there are only five passengers on board. Iarnród Éireann figures show that 54,000 passengers use this line annually – an average of 17 passengers per trip.
In contrast, the Cork-to-Dublin intercity line carries more than three million passengers a year. First stop on our ghost train of sorts was Tipperary town, where two of the five passengers got off. Apart from several Iarnród Éireann workers in fluorescent jackets, the station gave little indication it was still in use.
Of the passengers who got on, local man Michael Kinane, his wife, Noreen, and their two children made up the majority. They were on a family day out, travelling to Waterford. I asked Michael if this stop is always this quiet?
“I wouldn’t have a clue, as I haven’t been on this train journey in decades,” he says. “I pass this station on the way to work twice a day, for the last 35 years, and this is my first time on it in that time. My little boy here wanted a trip on the train, and I’ve been promising him for the last year or so. I should be working today, but I’ve taken the day off for the kids.”
It’s well-known locally that this particular service is under- utilised, adds Michael, and by way of reinforcing his point he relays an anecdote about the route. “I heard it said by someone once that if Iarnród Éireann took all the passengers who use this journey off it, hired a limousine to take them to Waterford and back, and then paid for their dinner, the company would still save money.”
Part of the problem, he believes, is that the route isn’t actively promoted locally. If more people were made aware of it, then the service might pick up.
“People going in the other direction use it as a link to Dublin via Limerick Junction, but very few people travel to Waterford or Tramore. I think it’s a terrible shame,” he says. “We got on at the station with less than half a dozen people. It needs to be promoted, because the service is very good and the value, at €5.95 return to Waterford, is great. It’s down to telling people. There are no signs around Tipperary telling people. I’ve only seen two ads for the line since the service was rescheduled two years ago.”
The Limerick Junction-to-Waterford line is what Iarnród Éireann calls a “lightly used line”. Despite improvements to the timetable and cleaner, more efficient, carriages, this line remains the least-used in the country.
REGIONAL MANAGER Jim Meade, a company man for almost 30 years, met me at Cahir. The station is one of several throughout the country now unmanned. The original station house is used for storage and one-half of the long platform is closed to passengers. Not so long ago, this would have been a bustling stop-off, with goods unloaded at the far end of the platform amid the hiss and screech of steam and steel.
Improvement in the road network and the development of larger vehicles over the last three decades has meant increased competition not only for commuter rail travel, but also for commercial rail freight.
“All these stations would have been hives of activity in bygone years, because everything moved by train,” says Meade as we tour the derelict outbuildings. “There’s an old goods store over there. The likes of cement and fertiliser would have been delivered here and, if you go back far enough, cattle would have been transported from here, too. It’s all locked up now. We use it for storage. The old station house is locked up, too. We maintain the buildings, but still, it’s sad really. But, I suppose, you have to move with the times.”
Meade says that while this route has never quite taken off, unlike say the Ennis-Limerick service, the last few months has seen a downturn in numbers overall on the rail network.
“I think a lot of the discretional travel has stopped and business travel is also less,” he says. “Some lines though, despite increased frequency and better rail stock, are still a challenge.”
At Cahir Station, I changed trains and headed back towards Limerick Junction. The return journey was just as under- populated, with 11 passengers on board. Among them was a woman travelling from Waterford to Dublin. She said she usually drives to Cahir and takes the train from there to Dublin. From Cahir, she explained, the return ticket to Dublin is €24. However if she travels from Dublin to Cahir the ticket is €58 return.
“The pricing is bizarre and might be turning people off taking the trip. It’s always this quiet. Often I’d have the carriage to myself.”
She said Iarnród Éireann has yet to grasp fully the Ryanair model of differential pricing, which could help fill otherwise empty carriages.
The difference in pricing by Iarnród Éireann reflects the demand in each direction. So far this year, the company says business is down 10 per cent.
“It’s a challenge,” says Iarnród Éireann spokesperson Barry Kenny, “but everyone is being challenged at the moment. We’re not alone, and others are suffering a lot more than we are.”
Hugh Chaplain, an expert in rail travel, says Iarnród Éireann could learn a lot from the UK experience during the 1980s.
“In the 1980s, British Rail saw a huge reduction in patronage,” he says. “What happened was that plans to increase the number of trains were shelved. When the economy began to grow again, the rail service was unable to cope. I hope in Ireland you can avoid that. Journeys, whether it is Cork to Dublin or Limerick to Waterford, all benefit from capital spend. After that, it’s a matter of getting the frequency and marketing of the route right.”
ARRIVING BACK INTO Limerick Junction, there were noticeable signs of the continued investment in both the station itself and the modern rail stock servicing it. The waiting area has been revamped with improved seating and refreshment facilities, as well as newly- refurbished toilet and ticketing areas.
“We have more induction loops and markings for the visually impaired and have generally made the stations more user-friendly,” says Meade. “This station alone is over 150 years old and almost a mile in length, making it one of the longest platforms in Ireland.”
Not everyone, though, is pleased with the modernisation of the Irish railways. New track and modern rail carriages have meant that the sound trains make while travelling on tracks has changed. There are only a handful of older lines left that have the distinctive rhythm of journeys of old. Some customers find the move to modernity something of a discomfort.
“The clickety-click of the train signifies when we are on the old jointed track. Now we have what’s called ‘continuous welded rail’, so we have no joints and it’s much smoother,” says Meade.
“We had one letter of complaint from a man who said that because the line is much more continuous, he couldn’t sleep on the trains. So you can’t please everyone.”
Down the line: passenger journeys with Iarnród Éireann
The total number of train passenger journeys last year was 44.6 million compared to 34.5 million in 2004.

Most heavily used:

Drogheda-Dublin Commuter: 6.581m

Maynooth-Dublin Commuter: 4.639m

Cork-Dublin Intercity: 2.885m

Kildare-Dublin Commuter: 2.135m

Galway-Dublin Intercity: 1.521m

Belfast-Dublin Enterprise: 1.172m

Limerick-Dublin Intercity: 827,000

Cobh-Cork Commuter: 594,000

Tralee-Dublin Intercity: 540,000

Most lightly used:

Ballybrophy-Limerick Commuter: 36,000

Limerick Junction-Waterford Intercity: 54,000