[Colm Moore]

http://www.southeastchambers.ie/page22.html

Open letter to Iarnrod Eireann from South East Chambers of Commerce

The Irish people (through the government) entrusted the railway system to you to manage on our behalf. Implicit in this trust was the expectation that you would organise and manage this highly valuable part of our national infrastructure in an efficient, professional and effective manner to transport passengers and goods all over Ireland. This obviously means having a rail network reaching out as far as possible all over the land.

You have failed us in many respects. You closed down railway lines with great enthusiasm during the middle of the last century, including the beloved Waterford/Tramore line which was actually showing a profit and the callous closure of which the local people are unforgiving. It was part of our life.

The Rosslare/Waterford line is also part of our life but is of even greater magnitude because of its strategic importance as part of the national rail network connecting all parts to the Europort at Rosslare. Is this to suffer a similar fate? If so, shame on you. Instead of exploiting the asset entrusted to you, you ran it down and practically ignored it. One train each way on weekdays only is not a proper service and even this paltry service was never promoted. We have one of your ads dated twelve years ago dealing with the rail services in County Wexford and it refers only to the Rosslare/Dublin line with never a mention of the Waterford route. The ignoring of this line goes back that far and way beyond.

Then in 2002 you decided you wanted to shut down the Waterford/Limerick Junction line and effectively leaving the large town of Clonmel and all South Tipperary without a railway connection. This was vetoed by government (when Seamus Brennan, RIP was Minister for Transport) and you were rightly sent packing and told to get on with running a rail service to connect the south east with Cork, Limerick, now Galway and many other places. You seem to be doing this with severe reluctance, again with no promotion and no Sunday or public holiday services whatsoever. The inevitable consequences of this lack of enthusiasm are that this part of the line is also lightly used and you have recently cut back the schedule from four round trips on weekdays to three (25% reduction). Is this another part of your covert plans for further closures?

This whole approach makes absolute nonsense at a time when such great strides are being made to modernise the railroad with vast amounts (of taxpayers money) being invested in reopening lines around Dublin, Cork and in the west – lines that you abandoned years ago. Indeed, one of the justifications for reopening the Western Rail Corridor was to connect the north west with the south east, with Rosslare Harbour a particular target as it is the closest port to the European mainland and therefore the main access point by sea to Europe. Trains can only run where there are tracks and there is no sense in opening up tracks in one direction while closing them in another. It is a national system.

We totally reject your proposal to substitute busses. This is not acceptable. Road transport is subject to traffic delays and is therefore less reliable. Rail is the preferred mode of public transport. Look at the great success of the DART and LUAS and you will see how properly managed rail transport attracts a greater volume of passengers than busses. The substitute bus service now proposed requires very little investment which could mean very little by way of commitment and the proposed service could also be contracted after a period. Wear and tear on the roads from a HGV like a bus is immense while the rail lines would be lying idle. Environmentally, the proposals also fly in the face of Ireland’s commitment to the Kyoto protocol to reduce carbon emissions. Greater use of rail should be the objective if we are to go anyway near our objectives as regards reducing carbon emissions. Rail is quite simply more green friendly.

What do we want? Let us explain.

We obviously want an end to this reckless foolishness. Instead, we want you to consult with the public and regional stakeholders (something you have never done in any meaningful way) and design a service with a minimum of three round trips every day. This service will have to connect with the ferries where we are informed there is a growth in foot passengers and also with inter-city trains, e.g. at Waterford. It will have to cater for the needs of the people of south Wexford who traditionally commute to Waterford. It should link the hub town of Wexford (pop. 20,000) with the gateway city of Waterford. It should also link closely with the Waterford/Limerick Junction portion of the line that serves Clonmel, the rest of South Tipperary and from Limerck Junction many other towns and cities.

The infrastructure needs to be upgraded to allow for quicker trains and shorter journeys, so as to compete successfully with road transport.

Management of the undertaking needs to be given to a qualified talented person based in the south east. Management from an ivory tower in Dublin has not worked. What is needed is an effective person who is empowered to develop and sustain the business and ideally we would see this person being recruited from outside the company.

Promotion of the line would involve creativity, e.g. the Rosslare Strand station is 100 yards from the wonderful beach and seaside specials could be run to bring passengers from South Tipperary to the sea for the day, while shopping trains, and theatre trains are just some other initiatives that proper management would undertake. There is no management of this nature at present.

We are serious about this and we will be shortly placing our case before the National Transport Authority and the Minister. We have consulted with the various local authorities and they also are opposed to your reprehensible proposed action.

Needless to say, we would be very happy to meet you to discuss productive ways of making full usage of this very valuable piece of infrastructure. The Chamber of Commerce movement represent the business community of the South East and we are adamant that this vital asset is not just saved from closure but is put to optimum use.

South East Chambers Access Task Force
(info@southeastchambers.ie)
24 May 2010

South East Chambers
Press Release
30th April 2010

“Stand Up and Fight” for the South East

Sporting legend Mick Galwey was in New Ross last week to support the launch of Access: South East, a major new initiative by South East Chambers aimed at improving access to vital services and infrastructure for business in the South East Region.

Mick had some sound advice for everyone in the South East: “One thing I have learned from my years on and off the pitch is that you have to work together as a team if you want to win. When everyone on the team is pulling together, anything is possible.”

Access: South East project leader and director of Waterford Chamber, Orm Kenny, explained the background to the initiative: “The South East is a great place to live, work and do business and we have seen some significant investment in the region in recent years. The new M9 will shortly connect Kilkenny, Carlow and Waterford with Dublin, some rail services to and from the region have improved and Waterford Airport is now easily accessible by road for passengers throughout the South East following the completion of the N25 bypass and the Waterford outer ring road. However, there are other areas where the region has been very poorly served: The recent decision by CIE to discontinue rail services between Wexford, Rosslare and Waterford is one current example of the South East being overlooked by decision makers in Dublin. We urgently need to identify and pursue a new set of priorities for Access in the South East and work together as a Region to ensure that all our communities benefit from the right strategic and targeted investment in the years to come.”

The first phase of Access: South East is an online survey managed by Kilkenny based market research firm Market Dynamics, which will be issued on May 11th to every member of every Chamber of Commerce across the South East. Commenting on the survey, Kenny continued: “I am delighted that Fiona Macrae of Market Dynamics has kindly donated her company’s time and expertise to manage the online survey. Their involvement means that people can have absolute confidence in the confidentiality and professionalism with which the survey will be managed.”

Tony Hennebry of Green Biofuels Ireland, said “We are delighted to be part of this important initiative and I would call on all Chamber members in the South East to take part in the survey and show the country that the South East is a force to be reckoned with.” Derek O’Connor of Bam Building Ltd. commented “It is vitally important that we work together as a region so that the South East can fulfil its potential. Bam Building Ltd. is very pleased to support the Access: South East project through which we can all help make this happen.”

South East Chambers is an umbrella organisation representing the business community in the South East and is made up of individual Chambers in Carlow, Clonmel, Dungarvan, Enniscorthy, Gorey, Kilkenny, New Ross, Waterford and Wexford. Eric Barron, Chairman of South East Chambers, commented: “In these challenging times, it has never been more important to promote the development of the highest quality infrastructure throughout our Region so that everyone can get access to key services, customers and suppliers. South East Chambers is calling on every Chamber member in the region to get behind this project, complete the survey, and help ensure that the South East has a strong, united voice that cannot be ignored by central government.”

Ends