Waterford/Rosslare Strand Railway reaches the buffer stops (again)!

Oliver1985

Do these gaa specials this weekend Waterford to Connolly run along this line or throught the tunnel?

Our man in Havana

Tunnel.

Hungerford

goingnowhere wrote: »

Could only be http://www.parrypeoplemovers.com/ ?

Nope. It sounds like Trampower. The reference to trials in Britain settles it. They are the clowns behind the Gluas plan. They only have one demo tram and even that is banned from Blackpool because it was found to be wired up like a christmas tree.

*Bangs head repeatedly off table*

foggy_lad

Oliver1985 wrote: »

Do these gaa specials this weekend Waterford to Connolly run along this line or throught the tunnel?

given the very serious shortage of trains/rolling stock in irish rail how are they able to provide what must presumably be more than two 6car sets for gaa specials?

L1011

Magic. Same as the extra services and slots to cross the Northern line in to Connolly for the Ryder Cup

save the rail

Members of the committee are heading to Wales on monday for a LONG day of meetings. Interreg, funding crp ect. The policitians might be on holidays but the committee never stop

Hungerford

Meanwhile, in the darkest recesses of Connolly Station, Barry Kenny ignores all sensible advice and continues digging:

But a spokesman for Iarnród Éireann insisted the line was not viable.

"We've sustained heavy losses with the line for four years, we've tried different service offerings with a very low take-up and it's just not sustainable," he said.

"We've objectively looked at other alternatives such as increasing the level of services on the route which showed that it would result in even greater losses.

"We've put our submission forward to the NTA and we anticipate that they will be making a decision in the very near future."

http://breakingnews.ie/archives/2010/0806/ireland/case-to-shut-down-rosslare-waterford-rail-line-flawed-468292.html

Just a quick factual point - among the alternatives drawn up by IE was one which cut the loss by €600,000 by increasing services.

dowlingm

monument wrote: »

Bit of an interesting / strange article in the Munster Express...

Sweet jesus when I said upthread it was probably Trampower I was kidding!!! :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

foggy_lad

just noticed this on the irish rail website http://www.irishrail.ie/your_journey/special_services.asp

Special Services Available to Book.

Please note child tickets are valid for children under sixteen years of age. Proof of age may be required.
No alcohol or glass bottles will be allowed on the special trains.
Student travel cards and other discount cards including Dept of Social and Family passes are not valid on special trains.
Tickets to Special Trains are Non Refundable.

Passengers collecting tickets at Arklow please note that your tickets will not be ready for collection until Friday afternoon.

For our regular scheduled services, please click here.
All Ireland Senior Hurling semi final Waterford V Tipperary
Sunday 15th August
Departing Waterford 08:35 Dublin Connolly 10:45 Sunday 15th August-2010
Returning Dublin Connolly 17:50 Waterford
All Ireland Hurling Semi Final Waterford V Tipperary
Sunday 15th August
Departing Waterford 10:15 Dublin Connolly 12:30 Sunday 15th August-2010
Returning Dublin Connolly 19:15 Waterford

so does the bit in bold mean these trains will be going via rosslare and on to connolly via arklow or through carlow and kilkenny?

highlydebased

foggy_lad wrote: »

just noticed this on the irish rail website http://www.irishrail.ie/your_journey/special_services.asp

so does the bit in bold mean these trains will be going via rosslare and on to connolly via arklow or through carlow and kilkenny?

Via Heuston and the Pheonix Park Tunnel.

Our man in Havana

The timings would indicate going via Carlow.

Hungerford

This is getting increasingly surreal....

RUI are claiming that Stena have made a submission to the NTA to retain the line. They are the co-owners of the notional entity which owns it. Welcome but bizarre.

save the rail

Hungerford wrote: »

This is getting increasingly surreal....

RUI are claiming that Stena have made a submission to the NTA to retain the line. They are the co-owners of the notional entity which owns it. Welcome but bizarre.

Stena Line have made a submission to the NTA, The way it works is that they run, maintain and collect revenues from Fishguard side and IR "run", maintain and collect revenues on this side, neither have a say in how the other manages services.

Our man in Havana

Are these submissions going to be made public at some stage?

save the rail

Haddockman wrote: »

Are these submissions going to be made public at some stage?

Anyone can request a copy under the freedom of information act

Our man in Havana

And pay €15 for the privilege.

Hungerford

Seeing as all the other regular railway posters seem to have vanished, it falls on me to inform you that RUI are now claiming that three private operators are now interested in operating the line. Presumably, that would be Trampower and two more serious contenders.

This may come as a surprise to some but you have to remember that the equivalent route on the Welsh side is doing very well and, if I am not mistaken, looks likely to be expanded soon.

foggy_lad

Hungerford wrote: »

Seeing as all the other regular railway posters seem to have vanished, it falls on me to inform you that RUI are now claiming that three private operators are now interested in operating the line. Presumably, that would be Trampower and two more serious contenders.

This may come as a surprise to some but you have to remember that the equivalent route on the Welsh side is doing very well and, if I am not mistaken, looks likely to be expanded soon.

if this is true i dont see why these operators cant be named and welcomed properly as saviours of the line but it is more likely to be some kind of smokescreen to detract peoples attention from the campaign to keep the line open.

save the rail

foggy_lad wrote: »

if this is true i dont see why these operators cant be named and welcomed properly as saviours of the line but it is more likely to be some kind of smokescreen to detract peoples attention from the campaign to keep the line open.

SMOKESCREEN???? The companies have sent submissions to the NTA to take over the line, apply under FOI if you want to know who they are, The companies have chosen to remain anonymous for their own reasons and we should respect that :cool:

Our man in Havana

There is no such thing as being anonymous when it comes to FOI. I am sure the newspapers have already submitted their FOI requests.

save the rail

Haddockman wrote: »

There is no such thing as being anonymous when it comes to FOI. I am sure the newspapers have already submitted their FOI requests.

All will be revealed shortly so, only takes 3 weeks to get it

goingnowhere

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0013/sec0027.html

And then there is magic black pen

shamwari

save the rail wrote: »

The companies have chosen to remain anonymous for their own reasons and we should respect that :cool:

I agree. Delicate negotatiations are best handled that way.

dowlingm

It's a bit of a classic "I wouldn't start from here" thing though. Allowing a 3rd party to enter the Irish railway network via Rosslare-Waterford is a bit of a "fail to prepare, prepare to fail". Unless IE operations are separated from IE network, access charges and slot allocation are going to be a huge issue and there will be a lack of transparency. Aircoach couldn't compete with BE if BE also owned the roads, determined allowed route times and collected and determined toll charges, and a rail regulator will not solve all the organisational issues.

Hungerford

I'm not so certain. Any third-party could easily run to the European Commission and argue that IE as infrastructure operator is disadvantaging it. It is highly likely that they would win the argument and get a substantial amount of compensation for their troubles.

In fact, it would be extremely stupid if IE was to get in their way if it wants to continue to exist as an integrated operator.

Hungerford

save the rail wrote: »

All will be revealed shortly so, only takes 3 weeks to get it

It's not worth bothering about. The magic black pen will be used to remove any references to the companies before the documents are released. It's a very commercially sensitive situation and I would even suggest that it's one of those situations where any requests seeking their identity should be refused.

A far more profitable FOI operation would be to seek details of this mysterious closure case IE sent to the NTA in July.

Our man in Havana

You would need to be able to fight that to the information commissioner. Anyone got €400 free?

Transportuser09

Hungerford wrote: »

Seeing as all the other regular railway posters seem to have vanished, it falls on me to inform you that RUI are now claiming that three private operators are now interested in operating the line. Presumably, that would be Trampower and two more serious contenders.

This may come as a surprise to some but you have to remember that the equivalent route on the Welsh side is doing very well and, if I am not mistaken, looks likely to be expanded soon.

Well that can only be good news in that it at least helps to indicate to the NTA that there is interest in the commerical potential of the line, which by default indicates that the line has this potential, helping to counter the reasons given for it's closure.

foggy_lad

Hungerford wrote: »

I'm not so certain. Any third-party could easily run to the European Commission and argue that IE as infrastructure operator is disadvantaging it. It is highly likely that they would win the argument and get a substantial amount of compensation for their troubles.

In fact, it would be extremely stupid if IE was to get in their way if it wants to continue to exist as an integrated operator.

stupidity has not stopped irish rail in the past from making decisions that cost hundreds of thousands in court pay-outs.

save the rail

Hungerford wrote: »

A far more profitable FOI operation would be to seek details of this mysterious closure case IE sent to the NTA in July.

SRG Campaigners have called on the NTA/IE and the Minister to have IE's business case for closure made public :rolleyes: