Let the train take the strain

I can accept where the government is coming from when they say that the national roads program will see no new starts in 2010. The logic of not building new roads as demand is now dropping contrasts the argument that building now gives you better value due to reduced costs.
I make these points because a High Court case will soon decide the future of the New Ross bypass. At a price tag that is about €500M I’d imagine that Finance officials may well be hoping that the case will be appealed to Europe whatever the outcome as it would postpone another payment (if at all) and be one less drain on the limited amount of cash. I wonder how a by-pass of a large provincial town can cost so much. Is there a worthwhile benefit to the national economy of cutting a few miles off the journey time to Waterford at a cost in excess of the school building budget? Can a cheaper by-pass be built closer to the town?

The answer of course to many of our transportation difficulties is right before our eyes. It’s the train. We still have a viable rail network that connects Waterford to Wexford and all the main towns in the region. Where is the commuter service? Last October I put a motion to WBC that we write and ask the CEO of Irish Rail what he intended to do about links to Waterford. Alas the commuter service ended in November and while you can go to Waterford from Wexford in the train we have the farcical situation that you cannot return on the train! The Greens have gone to ground on the matter and the response to my motion read at this weeks WBC meeting did not address the substantive issue of my motion. It seems that they are only interested in public transport in the Dublin area. Outside the pale we don’t matter!
Anyone who needed reminding of the lack of vision need only have watched RTE’s Nationwide this week because all week they featured Ireland’s railways. Friday night’s final piece saw Damien Tiernan on the Rosslare Waterford red-eye special talking to commuters about the service.

There remains a loyal passenger base. What is needed is extra services on the line. It’s crazy to think that when the commuter train arrives in Waterford it waits a few hours before continuing on to Limerick Junction. When the Western Rail services starts in March it will be possible to go from Wexford to Galway by train. However the journey will take 13 hours, requiring long stopovers at Waterford and Limerick. After all that investment who’s prepared to spend a whole day travelling less than 300 Km when you can comfortably do the same journey in 4 hours by car?
Surely there’d be a better return on the money spent on the Western Rail corridor by integrating the services at Limerick Junction? While the speed restriction on track can’t match that achievable on a motorway, what about the public transport alternative?

In the short term we need a return service between here and Waterford three times a day and we need promotional fares as well as promtion of the service itself. Few people knew it was there, what business man would establish a service and not promote it? As someone discussing the present government said to me only recently “if only there was a party with a commitment to public transport in power”. We may have to wait however by the time Labour does get into power will the decisions have been taken and will the unsustainable progress of the car have seen off the rail network in the south east?

Heuston, we’ve got a problem

When I started this blog last year the first issue I raised was the lack of public transport in Wexford. I focused on rail because the county still retains a lot of its rail infrastructure unlike many other counties and its something I want to see developed in terms of passenger and freight.
So the forthcoming rail timetable is a document I pour over as closely as a programme for government. I want to see how my town is affected for good or for bad. A timetable reveals what management believe is important. Publishing a timetable outs the management to the travelling public. The forthcoming timetable sees increased trains to Wexford from Dublin. I welcome that and it’s good to see that. Wexford is becoming a destination which allows a speedy turn around and return. Trains only take in revenue when they run, so keep the train moving is my motto. Which is why I’ve always pressurised management to run trains to Waterford. When I came to Wexford in the mid 90’s there were 3 return trains between Rosslare and Waterford, now we’re done to one train. The south Wexford line was particularly busy with sugar beet, now it’s a quiet back water since the demise of that industry.
The absence of freight presents huge opportunities to Irish Rail. To be fair to them they introduced a connection between the town and Waterford in response to my lobbying. I've travelled on the train myself one morning last year. Imagine my surprise when the train stopped in the middle of nowhere, the driver got out, crossed the road, opened the gates, drove the train across the road and the dismounted oncemore to shut the gate before resuming the journey to Waterford. But next month will see the retreat from Wexford as the service is scalled back.

The new timetables for implementation in September shows that while Irish Rail will provide a commuter service to Wexford to Waterford there will be no return service in the evening. While trains will leave Rosslare Europort as the connecting ferry service is docking at the pier making it impossible for passenger to connect as the rail company re-located the rail station about 600 M from the ferry terminal. The new timetable as a total mess.
The new timetable fails not just to integrate trains with ferries but even trains with trains. It’s incredible, a child could do better. Irish Rail has failed to promote in the local media the Wexford Waterford commuter link even though the return fare is cheaper than Bus Eireann. Next year rail services to the west will be extended but the chance to integrate to Wexford has been lost. Students who wish to commute to Waterford IT will find themselves marooned at Rosslare Strand on the return journey having missed the last connection to Wexford by 20 minutes. As a timetable it’s unworkable and will result in fewer passengers taking the train. When I heard about the potential cutbacks to train service I wrote to the 2 Green Ministers and the Transport Minister Noel Dempsey. The best response I got was that it had been referred the matter to Irish Rail who replied from Hueston Station to advise that the CEO was on holidays!

I’m also astounded that Irish Rail spent over €30K in 2008 taxiing train crews from Rosslare Europort to Waterford rather than running an evening service back to the city from Rosslare Europort. Given the low customer base in South Wexford, incurring such a high overhead on staff transport insured from the outset that the Rosslare Waterford rail service could never be viable, cutting the service in half insults the travelling public. This is a service that was set up to fail. Coupled with the severing of the New Ross line from the network, I wonder what is the commitment to the future of rail services out of Waterford? When will Irish Rail learn that we all don’t want to go to Dublin?

Model Trains, boats and planes in Wexford

Wexford’s best known train driver Donal Fallon has been a busy man for the last few months. He single handed organised a model exhibition over the Easter week-end in St Josephs Club in aid of the Autism unit at Scoill Mhure, Coolcotts and the RNLI. The inaugural exhibition had exhibitors from Wexford, Dublin, Cork, Laois as well as trade stands form Belfast and Dublin. The models include planes, boats and pf course trains. Donal spent most of Holy Saturday setting up the exhibition. That meant putting in crash barriers, displays as well as awaiting the arrival of HK075. HK075 is a non de guerre of a well known rail gricer Dave. Dave is a railway man to the core. The first time I met him he showed me his RMT badge within minutes of talking. Next he told me that his dad was from Arthurstown. Technically Dave is from Wolverhampton but forget the accent he’s on home turf as his dad is a yellow belly!

The exhibition was opened by Mayor Ted Howlin who congratulated Donal on his initiative on launching the exhibition. Donal was however delighted that the wet weather drove plenty of punters indoors and into support the exhibition. I went along and I was really impressed by the attention to detail in the modelling.

One model stands out as impressive and it has a local significance. It shows Wexford’s famous Kerlogue arriving in Cork Harbour laden down with a human cargo of WW2 German navy survivors from a sinking. The Kerlogue was launched in Holland in 1939. The rescue was one of the most dramatic during World War 2 when a Wexford vessel the Kerlogue was diverted in December 1943 following a request by a German aircraft to the scene of a sunken German vessel whose crew had abandoned ship and were in the waters of Biscay. The Wexford vessel took on board over 168 sailors in rough seas over a 10 hour period and ignored RAF instructions to make for the UK but continued to land at Cork Harbour. The survivors were landed in Ireland and spent the remainder of the war interned but alive. The last surviving crew man Tom O’Neill of the Kerlogue died a few years ago but at his funeral was one of the men he helped rescue. The crew were interned in the Curragh until the end of the war. While the story of the German rescue is well known, what is less often acknowledged is that rescuing at sea was part of the maritime DNA of the Kerlogue as the ship had rescued British seamen previously.Inset is a model of the original navel corvette the Macha which served as the first Irish naval vessel. The Macha is almost a constituent of mone as it snagged a tow rope on the way to a breakers yard and sank off Tuskar Rock about 50 years ago!

Other exhibits that stood out were Gerry Byrne’s display that he’s building at home. Wexford Modelling Club moved their display from Rathaspeck to St Josephs for the week-end. Usually I visit the club at Halloween when they have their open days. Their display goes from strength to strength. I’m not surprised how popular they are each year. Some photos are attached her but check out Youtube channel Menapia1 for video footage of rail models in action. Well done Donal, I hope we’re all back again next year!