South East Ireland transport

[Thomas J Stamp]

Why won't Irish Rail run a sensible service?
it must be either
a) pigheadedness
b) running more servces will lose Irish Rail more money, while society gains, the govt doesn't account for this.
c) incompetent management of Irish Rail
d) resources won't allow more services.

well, it's d becasue of c and a.

[Colm Donoghue]

Like running a reverse comuting pattern to Clonmel from Waterford?

I meant there were no trains but there must be actual trains if there's 3 services a day from Waterford to Clonmel. just not at times people want to go at....

actually now that I look at it, the first train from Waterford to Clonmel leaves before the first train from Dublin to Cork....

[purplepanda]

Thanks for the welcome!

One point that comes to mind, thinking about this issue, especially given that there is only one road bridge into Waterford City from Kilkenny, Wexford & Carlow, is that there are no stops on the line between Campile to Waterford & onwards to Carrick on Suir. Or northwards to Thomastown.

With the continued expansion of housing on the Kilkenny side of the city & commuters driving from further away perhaps there could be a case for more stops on these lines if a more viable commuter service was introduced in the future as the city & SE region continues to grow as I think is certainly going to be the case.

Perhaps Park & Ride stations south of Slieveroe on the present line or an stop inbetween between Waterford & Thomastown / Carrick on Suir of similar could be needed in the future.

I suspect that there is very little long term planning regarding expansion of populations & development / infrastructure of cities & major towns by the government agencies judging by the ad hoc growth of Dublin & the nearby counties over the last 10-15 years. Also according to the last census the 5 SE counties population has grown by 9.5 - 13 % from 2002-2006 & apart from the Dublin related growth is the fastest growing region of the country.

Kilkenny suburbs of Waterford City have increased by 61% in the same period!

[Derek Wheeler]

For somebody from London who travels over, you sure have a lot of knowledge about the local situation.

May I ask you why you don't take a plane, as ferries are now just for trucks and cars. (your own admission.)

It must be a very time consuming and gruelling trip from London.

[ACustomer]

Purplepanda: The first step in any rail-based commuting to Waterford would be to use existing stations in Carrick on Suir and Thomastown, where the train would have distinct speed advantages over the clogged roads. Also remember that there will soon be a new bridge over the Suir near Waterford and a fancy by-pass linked to a dual carriagewat allowing fast access from Thomastown, so the rail option might get badly hit by that.

By the way, Slieveroe is nowhere hear a functioning railway. The line which passes a mile or so south of Slieveroe is the old New Ross branch, which is more a linear nature reserve than a railway. Do you mean to refer to the South Wexford line where it runs beside the Suir, near Belview? This is quite a remote area, not much use for park and ride. If the South Wexford line has any potantial it is on the far side of the Barrow Bridge in Co Wexford, and not in South Kilkenny.

[purplepanda]

It's not a bad journey from Euston to Dublin nowadays, a month ago I got a t 11.45am train & was in Dublin port at 19.00 with the fast ferry for £52.00 return pay on the day fare. There's still plenty of passengers from N England Wales & the Midlands going the Dublin ferry routes.

By the time I would have got a train from central London to Stanstead & waiting about at the airport & travelling into Dublin city from the airport I doubt that it would have been much faster? Plus I don't get on planes unless I really have to for much longer trips abroad. If I'm travelling to Western Europe I get the Eurostar over connecting with the high speed services. Usually the plane is very expensive if you book late so rail can still be much cheaper.

Waterford airport fares are very expensive, so I have in the past usually got the train & ferry to SE Ireland although the trains times don't seem to meet up with the fast ferry on the Rosslare route And it is a much longer journey. I think in most cases in the future I would just get the Dublin fast ferry & meet up with friends in Dublin & get a train to Waterford or Wexford later on .

I was talking generally about the expanding Kilkenny side of the river regarding stations & transport links as I've read that some more of the area is up for redevelopment, it would be a long way into the future sometime after the new river bridge / city bypass is built at least before anything happens.

Friend of mine living in Helsinki for 11 years tells me that the nearby airport rail link took 5 years to build from inception, being from Cavan he's saying that the Navan rail link has been talked about for much longer & doubts if it will be built even in the time scale currently being mentioned

Would like to see Waterford win Liam & I think they have a good chance if they get used to Croker, would be cheering for the Yellowbellies as family is from SW Wexford first though! Hoping to be over for the Leinster semi against the Dubs if time permits.

[dermo88]

If Iarnrod Eireann do not want to run it properly, then its time for someone else to go in and do the job.

For all you enthusiasts out there, repaint all the rolling stock on it in GAA colours. Purple and Gold. New brandname D3W Rail Ltd.

Faster times, contractual obligations set in stone, proper connections between Bus and Rail.

10-15 years ago, after all the awful services with single Baby GM's, A Class breakdowns, the staff on this line would welcome this option.

Why pay 50 staff a bad wage, when you can pay 30 staff a better wage and have them wanting things to work better and they will work harder.

I know it sounds mad, but theres the answer.

[Thomas J Stamp]

Originally Posted by Derek Wheeler

For somebody from London who travels over, you sure have a lot of knowledge about the local situation.

May I ask you why you don't take a plane, as ferries are now just for trucks and cars. (your own admission.)

It must be a very time consuming and gruelling trip from London.

I'll say. I travel to Waterford a lot (was there last Friday in fact) and i dont know as much about the place.

But its nice to get an outside perspective on things - maybe i should start paying attention. What does PP think of Waterfords chances for Liam this year?