[Article] Waterford commuter rail link 'would ease gridlock'

jd

http://www.unison.ie/wexford_people/stories.php3?ca=38&si=1701140&issue_id=14734

Waterford commuter rail link 'would ease gridlock'


Wexford Borough Council has called for a commuter rail link between Wexford and Waterford to help people avoid the nightmare gridlock in New Ross.
The proposal came from Cllr. Joe Ryan of the Labour Party at a Council meeting on Monday night. He said that with goodwill on the part of Iarnrod Eireann management, the service could be up and running within months.
Calling on Iarnrod Eireann to investigate the possibility, he said there was a significant number of people who would prefer this service rather than enduring daily gridlock at New Ross.
'I personally dread arriving in New Ross after 4 p.m. due to the delays. Commuters using the N25 spend at least 40 minutes most evenings stuck in New Ross', he said.
Cllr. Ryan pointed out that while Clonmel and Kilkenny are linked to Waterford by a regular train service, it is effectively impossible to travel the 50 km between Wexford and Waterford by train.
The South Wexford line has four stations at Bridgetown, Wellingtonbridge,Ballycullane and Campile. Trains do not link Rosslare Harbour to Cork or Kerry anymore and passenger numbers on the line are modest.
The Labour councillor said it made sound logical sense to link Wexford and Waterford using the present rail infrastructure. Without imaginative intervention to attract new traffic to the line, a question mark must hang over its future.
'I believe imaginative time-tabling would allow the restoration of links to the south west and the development of new ones through Waterford', he said.
According to Cllr. Ryan, rail cars that allowed a quick turnaround at Rosslare Strand could slash travelling times between the two towns to around an hour. 'The track is there. The stations are open'.
This would benefit students travelling to and from Waterford as well as shoppers from rural parts of County Wexford.
'As it is, the bus service to Wexford from rural parts of the county is poor and as a result, a car is a necessity', he said.
'With parking space at a premium and gridlock a regular feature in Wexford due to rising car ownership, extra traffic is not sustainable ito the future.'
Cllr. Ryan commented that Wexford was effectively forgotten by the Government in its Transport 21 proposals and said this was an opportunity to redress the imbalance.

road_high

Unfortuantely IE doesn't share the councillors enthusiaism for this branch line. One service each day between Rosslare and Waterford- such a pity they didn't run the line through New Ross town originally, would have made it far more viable as a commuter line now.
You look at the west and their lobbying for the WRC yet here in this region we have a line already built, all it needs is investment-but government investment in the South east region has never really been a priority . This line has come close to closure on many occassions in the past. The Wexford-Connolly service is pretty dismal too.

As for the reference to Kilkenny- Waterford rail-link, this is a main-line route with infinitely higher passenger figures and yet there is not an early morning link from KK to Waterford, earliest train arrives in Waterford at before 10, too late for workers and students to use unfortunately- this should be addressed in IE's timetabling.

Ham'nd'egger

mfitzy wrote:

Unfortuantely IE doesn't share the councillors enthusiaism for this branch line. One service each day between Rosslare and Waterford- such a pity they didn't run the line through New Ross town originally, would have made it far more viable as a commuter line now.
You look at the west and their lobbying for the WRC yet here in this region we have a line already built, all it needs is investment-but government investment in the South east region has never really been a priority . This line has come close to closure on many occassions in the past. The Wexford-Connolly service is pretty dismal too.

As for the reference to Kilkenny- Waterford rail-link, this is a main-line route with infinitely higher passenger figures and yet there is not an early morning link from KK to Waterford, earliest train arrives in Waterford at before 10, too late for workers and students to use unfortunately- this should be addressed in IE's timetabling.

The line from Rosslare Village to Waterford via Wellington Bridge was left open by IE because it handled the sugar beet in the area. New Ross as a line just serves New Ross, the remainder of it's branch being lifted many years ago. The line has been idle since God knows when, sometime mid 80's I'd guess. As a passenger line, it would look more sensible to have it open as it would link Wexford town, New Ross and Waterford but God knows the commuting times would be awful and the expense of re opening to New Ross would be extravagant, especially just to link two stations.

Victor

mfitzy wrote:

such a pity they didn't run the line through New Ross town originally

Actually there was a second line Waterford-New Ross-Enniscorthy.

dowlingm

Unless the Enniscorthy-New Ross bit handled some intercity service there would be no point I think. It might also offer some alternative routing to Belview I suppose.

As for Waterford suburban there should be trains essentially going Rosslare Town-Waterford-Carrick on Suir rather than all the way to Harbour or to Limerick Junction. With land use planning a reopened New Ross could be contemplated so you would have Rosslare/New Ross-Waterford-Clonmel in a very similar layout to Cobh/Midleton-Cork-Mallow.

jd

you mean Wexford Town rathen than Rosslare "town"?

fricatus

jd wrote:

you mean Wexford Town rathen than Rosslare "town"?

I don't think he necessarily does. There are two Rosslare stations, the harbour and the town (or village if you prefer). The line splits at the town station and one spur runs north to Wexford and Dublin, whereas the other one runs west to Waterford.

The problem with the line being used as a Waterford commuter link is that it doesn't run through the most important towns in the area, Wexford and New Ross. A Wexford - Rosslare Harbour (then back up the line to Rosslare town) - Wellingtonbridge - Waterford service seems feasible, but New Ross is on another line entirely.

The line running to Clonmel is a much better bet for a commuter service, at least at first glance. The line joins all the main towns in the Suir valley - Cahir, Clonmel and Carrick. I even know of people as far away as Tipp town who commute to Waterford.

I have to agree with the earlier poster who compared all the fuss about the Western Rail Corridor with the lack real commuter services on the Limerick-Rosslare line. Here's a perfectly good piece of infrastructure; it just needs to be used correctly.

jd

For this line to have any chance of surviving, it should be Wexford-Rosslare-Wellington Bridge -Waterford. Having it Wexford -Rosslare Harbour-Rosslare -Waterford would kill any chance of it being able to compete as a commuter route between Wexford and Waterford.

If it needs to serve Rosslare Harbour, it should be the terminus. eg
Rosslare Harbour-Wexford- Waterford and vice versa.

dowlingm

Rosslare Harbour is a farce, especially when you consider who owns it (irish rail) and that you can't off/onload freight at its docks. :rolleyes:

fricatus

jd wrote:

If it needs to serve Rosslare Harbour, it should be the terminus. eg
Rosslare Harbour-Wexford- Waterford and vice versa.

Good point. They could build a "bypass" of the Rosslare town junction comparatively cheaply I would say, so the train out of Wexford would go directly towards Wellingtonbridge and Waterford.