The Waterford Rosslare line exists not as a passenger route but primarily as a freight line to haul Sugar beet from Wellington Bridge to Mallow (and previously Thurles) thanks to the EU that is now gone, that somewhat explains the timetable which was laid out to run the beet trains and a token commuter service
The costs are exceptionally high as its all manually signalled, all manual level crossings and the Barrow bridge is hole where money is just poured
There is talk the line will be resignalled in the next few years which will slash running costs. Rosslare ferry foot passenger numbers are down which was the principle source of traffic in Rosslare.
Of course the fact the minister for transport lives in Waterford and has a fear of travelling by train probably is the biggest issue, he loves busses though.
The big question is how to deal with the Waterford - Rosslare - Wexford triangle, direct Waterford Wexford has merit but leaving Rosslare out is a problem since a more frequent service could pick up a lot of business off the ferry since Stena have some excellent through ticketing options, so you can't win and even with an expanded service the numbers wouldn't even come close to justifying it, the capital costs to lift the status quo to full modern spec are huge, that said like almost every existing line which is open its probably a lot more realistic than the WRC
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