[Media] Vastly improved rail service for Wexford

jd

From the Wexford People.
Good to see they are looking at a Waterford-Wexford Service.
The last train to Wexford is quite early (6.30 pm), so I'd hate so see Whacker Nolan's suggestion to have it depart earlier implemented, unless there was an extra service afterwards..

Vastly improved rail service for Wexford

Irish Rail chiefs have given a commitment to vastly improve Wexford's train service with brand new rolling stock, and five daily return journeys to Dublin by the end of 2008.
Michael Power, the service planning manager for Irish Rail, outlined the plans for the Wexford-Dublin line at a meeting of Wexford Borough Council on Monday.
An early bird' train, which could hook up with the existing 6 a.m. commuter train from Gorey was also touted as a possibility by the Iarnrod Eireann executive - but, would only be at the expense of the existing 8 a.m. service.
The company are also looking to have a day return connection between Wexford and Waterford in operation by May of next year.
Speaking to the meeting, Michael Power said that it wasn't his intention to come to Wexford to do a PR job' for the company.
Iarnrod Eireann have come in for ongoing criticism at the Borough Council for what the members have viewed as an ongoing downgrading of the Wexford line.
We will have all new trains on the line by the end of 2008. These trains will be of the exact same standard as trains on our other service and will have a very high specification for customer comfort,' he said.
He added that the company intends to increase the number of services from three return trips a day to Dublin to five return trains by the end of 2008.
I will look at the possibility of starting the trains earlier to get people into Dublin before 9.30 a.m. instead of 10.40 a.m.,' he said.
He said that Irish Rail had spent a lot of money in the last seven or eight years doing invisible work', improving the tracks, installing automated signalling, and extending platforms to cater for new rolling stock.
We have renewed all of the track from Rosslare to Dublin,' he said, noting that the continuous weld' track will protect the line for the next 50 years.
The next key piece of work is the renewal of the signalling system between here and Dublin,' he said, adding that all manual signalling will be replaced by automated signalling by the end of the year.
We will move now to the next phase of development, to provide a higher frequency of service and provide new trains,' he said.
Concerns raised by Councillors at the meeting included the need for an early train, to get commuters to Dublin in time for work and hospital appointments.
Cllr. Paddy Nolan also asked that the evening train leave Connolly a little earlier, so that the train will be on time for people to catch the evening ferry sailings.
A frequent service from Wexford to Waterford was also highlighted by Councillors as a necessary improvement, fitting with Wexford's hub town' status, while improved wheelchair access and the possibility of a commuter train stopping at Pearse Street instead of Connolly Station were also suggested as areas that Iarnrod Eireann should examine in the near future.

MLM

A good idea would be to continue the Western rail corridor from Limerick to Rosslare Harbour and give the whole line (Rosslare Harb. to Galway) a wider catchment area, and a greater chance of being successful.

jjbrien

They should also think of linking up the trains with the ferrys at Rosslare Harbour at present they dont really link up.

jd

There are very few foot passengers on the ferries these days. It is much more important to provide a suitable service to the residents of Arklow,Gorey,Enniscorthy and Wexford Town. I think opening services to Wexford Town is probably the only hope for the future of the South Wexford Line. If Rosslare Strand and Harbour have to lose this services, well, so be it.

Victor

MLM wrote:

A good idea would be to continue the Western rail corridor from Limerick to Rosslare Harbour and give the whole line (Rosslare Harb. to Galway) a wider catchment area, and a greater chance of being successful.

/brain [url=https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/2160/41765.jpg[/url]

Subtle point of it being on the east coast, an existign railway, with running trains and a population base.

KC61

jd wrote:

There are very few foot passengers on the ferries these days. It is much more important to provide a suitable service to the residents of Arklow,Gorey,Enniscorthy and Wexford Town. I think opening services to Wexford Town is probably the only hope for the future of the South Wexford Line. If Rosslare Strand and Harbour have to lose this services, well, so be it.

This train can take a connection off the Dublin bound service at either Rosslare Strand and Wexford.

Rosslare Strand won't lose any service as the South Wexford line passes through that station!

popebenny16

This has been announced a few times already... it'll parallel the Sligo/Waterford/Limerick template of a train roughly every two hours.

The 6 am service will be a good idea..... but it'll more than likely be a Gorey service pulled back and the idea of getting people in before 9.30 am is as much of a no brainer as 10.30 am - they should be aiming for hitting the city centre around 815 to 8 45.

Yet again, the hub and spoke nature of Irish Rail's future plans are being revealed. Makes sense. Problem (there always is with people like me, isn't there?) is that over the network the expansion in inter city capacity is still only 8% post introduction of the new railcars and there a 10% year on year demand increase. It don't add up, Rodney.