The official view about ferry connections has always been that numbers of foot passengers have declined so much that it’s not practical to provide trains for them. I don’t believe this. Any time I travel on a ferry, there are plenty of foot passengers. I reckon that IE has just ignored the market. They will need to be pro-active in co-operating with the ferry companies and British rail companies.
But how can we substantiate this? Has anyone any hard evidence to use in the debate? To me, the most obvious point is the large number of successful introductions of trains on other lines, where previously they had argued that there was no demand for them.
Turning to timetable improvements in general on this line, I would certainly be in favour of a train every two hours between Galway and Waterford, without changes. I’m not quite sure whether all of them could continue to Rosslare. Planning a timetable for boat trains has its own complications. I don’t mean it can’t be done – but it might not fit easily into a regular two-hourly pattern. But perhaps if a two-hourly service would mean that if ships are late, or their timetables change, there will always be some connection, even if not immediately. The Stena ferries, however, should have proper connections, since they are rail connected at the Fishguard end.
Another idea for improving local traffic would be to pick one or two stations in South Wexford – perhaps Campile and Wellington Bridge – and make them park-and-ride stations for those who want to go to Waterford, but not for the whole day. All new daytime trains would stop here.
Sometimes I like to work out timetables to see what can be done. I have looked at this line and it’s difficult! Some of you are good at this – are you interested in my ideas? Or are timetable compilers two a penny?
A starting point would be to use the existing Limerick- Limerick Junction service, which is approx. hourly, and extend trains both ways. North of Limerick, this means crossing at Ennis and Athenry, but south of the Junction we run into difficulties. Trains from Waterford and from Limerick would have to arrive at the Junction about 27 minutes past the hour, but not leave till about 50. Not ideal, but this is needed to make connections both ways. A two-hourly pattern becomes virtually impossible, unless we allow every second train to arrive about 35 and miss the connection to Dublin.
So to answer the question “what can IE do now to improve things?” I have improvised a timetable based on extending the existing Galway-Limerick trains. Departures from Waterford would be about 06.45, 08.45 (07.00 from Rosslare), 11.45 and 15.50. Trains from Galway would leave the Junction for Waterford about 09.50, 12.50, and 15.46 (to Rosslare), and then the existing 18.45 would come through from Ennis at 17.15. All this can be done using the same number of trains as at present. Some crossings are at Tipperary, which isn’t ideal. But it means the boat runs all the way to or from Galway. Of course, there would still be delays at Limerick as at present, but at least people can stay on the train.
Adding one more train, based in Limerick, would allow a commuter service to Waterford from the Suir Valley, and whatever number of daytime trains is considered appropriate on the Waterford-Rosslare section. Extending the 06.45 from Galway to run to Rosslare would connect with the Sea Lynx service in the summer.
If a Waterford crew is still to operate the 07.00 from Rosslare, then the positioning runs would still be useful as boat trains, though the 05.45 from Waterford isn’t ideal. The 19.15 Rosslare-Waterford would be the restoration of an old service.
So this is all about IE putting their eggs in several baskets, not just the dodgy one of local commuters. Another possible egg-basket is the connection from Waterford to the east coast. I’m more doubtful about this one, because even with good connections the route is much longer than by road. It would be a matter of running trains to meet the other two requirements, and adjusting them when possible to connect with trains on the Rosslare-Dublin line. Any views on this?
Properly, of course, the aim should be to have at two-hourly clock-face service generally throughout the country. Has anyone tried to work out a pattern that would maximise useful connections? (There would be more than one right answer.) Such a service would need crossing loops every 55-60 minutes’ journey. From this, we could make a list of minimum additional works such as extra crossing loops.
If it’s any encouragement, I think we are better prepared this time round than the protesters of the 1970s were. When the Western Corridor closed originally in 1976, or the Suir Valley line nearly closed in 1977, the objectors hardly mentioned their strongest argument – the bad timetable. They used more vague arguments such as a station giving status to a village, or that they should have the newest trains (then the Mark IIs). This time, everyone has pointed out the poor timetable, and the taxi story was mentioned in a letter to the Irish Times recently.
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