Waterford Station closes after landslide!

I hope this is not a calendar fail for April 1st!

Assuming it is legit, with this and the Deise Greenway Waterford rocks.

And I have no ties to the county, I just like it when I visit. It is a lovely spot. A hidden gem that may be less hidden in the future.

Are the derelict houses owned by the Congreve Estate included in the CPO?

Del.Monte wrote: »

Well, something needs to be done with the railway at Waterford, but the cynic in me thinks that CIE will use this as a way to make future reopening to Rosslare even more unlikely. I don't know how but they will come up with something.

they will dispatch the line to limerick while they are at it as well.

ClovenHoof wrote: »

The line to rosslare is dead and history. That will never reopen.

indeed but no harm in raising the issue of access to it from any relocation of the station anyway. same will be done for limerick junction to waterford by any interested stakeholders i should hope. mind you by the time the station is relocated the lot to dublin may be shut and lifted anyway.

ClovenHoof wrote: »

Remember the insane save the line group a few years back? Their entire strategy was trainspotters posting photos of trains and a bizarre ferry day out to Fishguard.

to be fair that wasn't their strategy. there was a lot of behind the sceenes work, but it was always going to be an uphill battle which never would be won.
the couple of people posting pics and talking about days out in fishgard were only 1 or 2 people and they weren't actually part of the group who were working on options for the line, but just people on the facebook page who were sympathetic with the group. i would agree they should have been told to stop the first time but they got board anyway quite quickly as other more appropriate facebook groups came along. they really made no difference in terms of the campaign anyway as the group weren't going to be listened to by IE or anyone anyway. wexford users of any service are seen as the scrapings of the barrel so will be ignored by all and sundry.

ClovenHoof wrote: »

If you do not have a solid case to reopen then you have nothing.

to be fair nothing could help it as CIE wanted the line gone at any cost and they got it as they always get what they want. the same will happen every time they want to lob off more of the network. so we must use and enjoy it while we can.

IE 222 wrote: »

Id rather see the Waterford - Rosslare ripped up there is no business case for it. The track would be better used elsewhere. Newross should be looked at been reconnected using the Rosslare line if the cost is reasonable. The new Waterford plans should they go ahead will attract more people shopping ECT and create plenty of new jobs.

What business case is there for New Ross? Nonsense post.

IE 222 wrote: »

Where did i say there's a business case for Newross.

However there certainly is more potential of running a successful line between Waterford - Newross than the serving the ghost towns between Waterford - Rosslare. Don't get me wrong i don't think its needed and will likely be wasteful but if the line can be relayed using the south Wexford line cheaply and people are going to be moaning and campaigning at least put your energy into something that would be useful rather than reopening a line to fail again.

There is probably more people living in the Newross area than all them towns combined.

not really. the towns along the south wexford are actually quite busy believe it or not. the line actually had quite good usership according to local sources who i have no reason to disbelieve.
the small bit of cwr on rosslare waterford was replaced with old bullhead, the whole track isn't good for much now apart from a 15mph move. neither line will reopen anyway.

IE 222 wrote: »

The track would be better used elsewhere. Newross should be looked at been reconnected

The New Ross line was so twisty that it would compete with Nenagh for the slowest route in Ireland.

If in decades to come, a rail line to New Ross is needed, I would suggest a totally new route.

I believe the new road to the new bridge has severed the New Ross line anyway. Forget it, concentrate on improvements to lines that are still alive.

end of the road wrote: »

the south wexford portion of the ireland cross country railway corridor allowed in theory, different journey opportunities and integration with other services, where as new-ross wouldn't have as the bit to the wexford line had been lifted. i think that's why the campaigners aren't really that focused or interested in new-ross. as said it was quite a twisty line anyway.

Back in the days of the boat train maybe where people passed through. It doesn't offer anything beneficial these days and never will.

The point im making is if rail is to return to South Wexford at least reopen something worthwhile and people will use. Look at the WRC they wont get any future investment in that region again for any new rail projects or reopenongs.

end of the road wrote: »

no, in general it did. boat traffic was only part of the story.


it does but as it's now closed and will remain so it can't.



oh i know the point you are making and i see what you mean.
the west will get investment in the railway if they campaign and fight hard. not in the western railway corridor thankfully but enough pressure can be put to bare to force investment in doubling the main galway line south of athlone. portarlington doubling as well can be pushed for by both mayo and galway.

So did canals 50 or 60 years ago. A canal is the best way of describing the South Wexford line had a purpose before but now is an inconvenience. Its has nothing to offer unless Wexford suddenly see's its population reach a million.

So if given a choice between reopening South Wexford line or New Ross you would more potential in the South Wexford Line.

Main line investment yes and I doubt any doubling of Portarlington - Athlone will a rest of campaning from West on Track. The West or any small communities wont get any rural rail investments again unless it service's a large town.

end of the road wrote: »

it's not the best way of describing it at all, in fact it's hugely inaccurate. it had and still could have a purpose and has a lot to offer. most of the rail network and it's users are an inconvenience to CIE so this particular line isn't any different from the rest in that regard.

What did it have to offer in its latter years??Carrying a few tourist or 10s of people to work each day doesn't sound like much to me.

dowlingm wrote: »

It should be recalled that part of the economics of the South Wexford line was beet traffic, not merely passenger. The Barrow bridge was a big problem because of the maintenance and staff cost of operating it. If the line between Limerick Junction and Waterford can't be kept open when it has four decent towns in Tipperary, Cahir, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir along it, talking about reinstating the South Wexford just doesn't work, and bringing New Ross into it is laughable.

Again im not pushing for the reopening of the New Ross line. What im saying is if there is a argument for reopening A line in the South Wexford area then New Ross would offer the best return in terms of usage. The South Wexford Line offers nothing to the area and would be a complete waste of time and money reopening it.

Taytosnax wrote: »

In its later years the South Wexford line was run as a local connection between Rosslare and Waterford. In reality the line was built to link Rosslare and Limerick. Why weren't trains run direct to Limerick from Rosslare with connections
to Cork? The South Wexford line was part of a wider link from Rosslare to the West, IÉ emphasising the line as a purely local service was always going to lead to closure. Maybe that was the intention.

absolutely correct. originally it was rosslare to cork but once mallow to waterford was shut it changed to limerick. running the south wexford portion of the cross country railway corridor as a local service indeed was setting it up for failure and there are a number who have no doubt it was the intention for that to happen. the whole line to limerick junction, along with anything that runs to the southeast it seems, doesn't fit into the operation IE wants, which only includes the west south and north.

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

that's right, i think it was the late 90s early 2000s when they went? if not then it was probably when loco hauled stock left the line.

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

This was for thirty or forty years, from 1967 to early 21st century.

The South Wexford line served three functions:

1. The Rosslare Express boat connection to Cork with connections to and from Kerry, Limerick and potentially the two GSWR routes to Waterford. Since 1967 this was Rosslare to Cork via Limerick Junction, before being run down to a Rosslare to Limerick service, with connections at Lmk Jn for Cork and Kerry.

2. The beet traffic, from 1930s to Thurles and more recently to Mallow.

3. Local traffic. Anywhere else this would have been replaced by bus decades ago, but the Barrow estuary meant this would have to be by New Ross. Thus it was only fair that a direct train, albeit a very limited service was provided.

With the cross channel traffic changing largely to drive on/off motorists, and passengers using air travel, the first function was largely redundant. Following the closure of beet factories, the local traffic was sacrificed because of the high cost of maintenance and level crossing staff.

It is a pity, but realistically the South Wexford line will never reopen barring some unforeseen development of a massive nature.

Even if a railway was deemed appropriate for the route, a new alignment would have a better chance of competing with road. But enough of my dreams, we need to live in the real world.