Irish Rail will not run an extra Wicklow/Wexford train

[Traincustomer]

On 1st June the Rosslare line is dealt another blow with the introduction of a new bus route (with up to nine services in each direction daily) by a private operator Gorey - Arklow - Wicklow - city - Airport.

Business has already been abstracted in my opinion (and that of many others) by the Local Link bus at the Rosslare end.

The NTA come across as increasingly pro-bus and clearly appear to have no will to improve rural/regional rail.

Closure by stealth?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Traincustomer

On 1st June the Rosslare line is dealt another blow with the introduction of a new bus route (with up to nine services in each direction daily) by a private operator Gorey - Arklow - Wicklow - city - Airport.

Business has already been abstracted in my opinion (and that of many others) by the Local Link bus at the Rosslare end.

The NTA come across as increasingly pro-bus and clearly appear to have no will to improve rural/regional rail.

Closure by stealth?

Bit difficult to add trains when there’s damn all spare rolling stock. I think you may be engaging in a bit of hyperbole here.

The Local Link services are an important addition across the country and frankly should have happened years ago.

I’m not sure how you think Wexford Bus can be stopped from adding a commercial bus service?

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by berneyarms

Bit difficult to add trains when there’s damn all spare rolling stock. I think you may be engaging in a bit of hyperbole here.

The Local Link services are an important addition across the country and frankly should have happened years ago.

I’m not sure how you think Wexford Bus can be stopped from adding a commercial bus service?

I'm sorry if IE really wanted to add another service they could find rolling stock however its currently to costly to add an extra service but its not impossible.

[Inniskeen]

The N11 corridor has become a very busy commuter route. Sadly the railway is now barely relevant due to poor service frequency, limited seating capacity and tediously slow journey times especially on the portion of the route shared with DART. It appears more likely to be partially closed than developed.

What is the strategy for the line ? Does either the operator or the NTA have any vision or ambition for the future ?

The contrast with the Belfast/Derry line is instructive, similar length, similar infrastructure. One is booming, the other limps on with little promise of improvement.

[Eddie]

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

The N11 corridor has become a very busy commuter route. Sadly the railway is now barely relevant due to poor service frequency, limited seating capacity and tediously slow journey times especially on the portion of the route shared with DART. It appears more likely to be partially closed than developed.

What is the strategy for the line ? Does either the operator or the NTA have any vision or ambition for the future ?

The contrast with the Belfast/Derry line is instructive, similar length, similar infrastructure. One is booming, the other limps on with little promise of improvement.

I'm not sure I agree that the infrastructure is similar. I traveled on the Derry / Belfast line just over a year ago. My recollection is that Belfast to Coleraine is double tracked - about two thirds of the distance, allowing a 30 minute service. This section was very busy. This is like double tracking the distance from Dublin to Enniscorthy. It also didn't have an additional suburban service blocking the line. The section from Coleraine to Derry is pretty straight, with just 2 stops. The whole Belfast to Derry journey takes about 2 hours.

It would require a massive investment to upgrade the line to Rosslare to double track it as far as Enniscorthy and avoid being slowed down by the DART.

People make pretty simple travel decisions based on what they know about the available options. If there's a quick train option into Dublin, they will use it. If it's quicker to go by road they will do that instead.

[ACustomer]

Eddie: Belfast to Coleraine is single track from about 6 miles outside Belfast. (It used to be double as far as Ballymena). What makes the present service on the Derry line so good is the absence of a very intensive and slow suburban service like the DART getting in the way of everything.

[Eddie]

Originally Posted by ACustomer

Eddie: Belfast to Coleraine is single track from about 6 miles outside Belfast. (It used to be double as far as Ballymena). What makes the present service on the Derry line so good is the absence of a very intensive and slow suburban service like the DART getting in the way of everything.

Apologies, in fact looks like there's an hourly service, Belfast to Coleraine (not every 30 minutes as I first thought) with a connecting service to Portrush which makes a single line possible.

That means you just need 30km of single track to be laid between Dublin and Greystones (with the odd passing place), cutting the investment required significantly to get the significant benefit improvements to the rest of the line.