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

corktina

why dont those figures surprise me? it shows there is a market for a train (for Dublin at any rate) from Rosslare meeting the ferry.

IE, the game is up, you cant keep doing what you are at....WE know what you are up to...

Our man in Havana

What about BE's many many buses to Dublin?

save the rail

Haddockman wrote: »

What about BE's many many buses to Dublin?

what about them?

corktina

yeah, thats the same as saying what about all the cars that run on that route. If the railway can compete with the buses, then it should.

Our man in Havana

Well BE can claim a connection to every ferry.

foggy_lad

There is one bus with capacity for 53 people every two hours between 9pm and 8am so what time do ferries get in at?

save the rail

Haddockman wrote: »

Well BE can claim a connection to every ferry.

and maybe they do BUT take this scenario:

One woman 2 small children 1 pushchair.

Needs to fold buggy,put it away, get 2 small children on to 4 very high steps then rummage for money then has to decide which child she will sit with or will she put both together and her across or behind them or will they all squash into one seat? God help them if they need to go to the toilet.

Mobility Impaired:

Needs help to get on to bus (unfortunately if you are wheelchair bound you will be turned away) gets into seat, who will help them at the other end of the journey to get back off?

God forbid if either case has any luggage with them. :eek:

corktina

Haddockman wrote: »

Well BE can claim a connection to every ferry.

so can IE if they wish to.....

steamengine

Southsider1 wrote: »

I was chatting to a staffer at Rosslare Port the other day who told me that the numbers of foot passengers on the ferries each sailing are around 60 to 70 and sometimes up to 100 . Unfortunately none of the trains coincide with the ferry arrivals or departures...Clever..eh?

Been that way for years and I remember years back whilst in Rosslare seeing the train departing on its merry way, while the ferry was approaching the entrance to the harbour. There is an issue here! - tourism - how serious are we about expanding the tourist market, when you see this sort of carry on ? Or are we so well off we can do without them ? I don't think so !!!

Judgement Day

steamengine wrote: »

Been that way for years and I remember years back whilst in Rosslare seeing the train departing on its merry way, while the ferry was approaching the entrance to the harbour. There is an issue here! - tourism - how serious are we about expanding the tourist market, when you see this sort of carry on ? Or are we so well off we can do without them ? I don't think so !!!

We are not serious about having a tourist industry in just the same way as we not serious about getting tough on crime or (insert a topic of your choice) and Bord Failte/Tourism Ireland/Failte Ireland or whatever are a bad joke. Have you seen any of the overpaid clowns in the tourism bodies come out over this proposed closure. No, and you won't as they sit on their loathsome spotty behinds waiting for their clocks and golden handshakes. :rolleyes:

foggy_lad

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Student monthly season from Waterford to Rosslare is €172.

student monthly season bridgetown - waterford costs €126 with student card

Southsider1

steamengine wrote: »

Been that way for years and I remember years back whilst in Rosslare seeing the train departing on its merry way, while the ferry was approaching the entrance to the harbour. There is an issue here! - tourism - how serious are we about expanding the tourist market, when you see this sort of carry on ? Or are we so well off we can do without them ? I don't think so !!!

The current lunchtime train ex Rosslare - Dublin departs Rosslare just as the Hi Speed Stena is arriving. If it waited, say, half an hour they could pick up from it. The morning sailings arrive just as the early train for Dublin is departing and likewise the evening sailings etc. It's bloody ridiculous!

corktina wrote: »

why dont those figures surprise me? it shows there is a market for a train (for Dublin at any rate) from Rosslare meeting the ferry.

IE, the game is up, you cant keep doing what you are at....WE know what you are up to...

There's no data to prove where those foot passengers are travelling to. So, potentially and with a little clever marketing there could be foot passengers that would use a train to Dublin and to the mid west region thus boosting the potential numbers on the Waterford line?

corktina

Southsider1 wrote: »

. It's bloody ridiculous!


its bloody DELIBERATE!

save the rail

so the decision is Friday 3rd, will it be saved or not?

Judgement Day

save the rail wrote: »

so the decision is Friday 3rd, will it be saved or not?

Sorry? What are you saying here?

Cookie_Monster

Judgement Day wrote: »

Sorry? What are you saying here?

NTA decision deadline, no?

save the rail

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

NTA decision deadline, no?

YES the NTA Decision is due on friday 3rd september:eek:

thomasj

Good luck! Hopefully common sense will prevail.

Hungerford

save the rail wrote: »

YES the NTA Decision is due on friday 3rd september:eek:

The timing suggests not - the new Dunboyne service starts that day. It would be the perfect way to bury the closure news.

save the rail

Hungerford wrote: »

The timing suggests not - the new Dunboyne service starts that day. It would be the perfect way to bury the closure news.

That's IR organising it to co-incide, but its the NTA who make the decision so I wouldn't worry too much bout that;)

Pinehead

The decision must have been made by now. Surely there must be some rumour as to its findings.

KC61

Well given the NTA Board meeting is not actually taking place until Friday I doubt that.

Hungerford

I would love to a fly on the wall of that meeting. There's an awful lot more at stake than the Waterford/Rosslare line.

If the NTA decides to allow the closure, it would indicate that it isn't prepared to stand up to the bodies that it is supposed to regulate.

The SERA report indicates that Iarnrod Eireann sought permission to close the line without any supporting documentation stating its case. Even when those documents were forthcoming, the report indicated that they had serious flaws in terms of their traffic modelling and even basic population statistics.

Regardless of the merits of operating the line, the NTA should realistically reject IE's application because of the flaws in its supporting reports.

In any case, agreeing to closure would indicate that the NTA isn't terribly serious about its own socioeconomic guidelines. Based on these, the line shouldn't be closed because it serves deprived areas, is quicker than the road alternative and there is no alternative public transport service. The promised Bus Eireann service may be superior in frequency but it scores badly in terms of journey time. Plus, the IE service could easily be enhanced to increase its frequency.

In the past, CIE has been able to shut lines essentially on a whim - the NTA needs to demonstrate that this is no longer the case and that it regulates the provision of public transport services not CIE.

If it does accept the closure, it is likely to have an extremely negative effect on the perception of it as an independent regulator. And I am not just talking about in Ireland - the whole controversy has revealed some surprising levels of interest among private operators in getting involved in Irish railways.

One of the main obstacles to rail competition in Ireland is the fact that IE is both the state monopoly in terms of services but also the network operator. This apparent conflict of interest has discouraged potential new entrants. A 'tame' regulator who rubberstamps closure applications which fail to follow any form of proper procedure or are based on severely flawed documentation would probably further discourage them.

rainbowdash

Its a pity the station platform at Rosslare isn't a bit closer to the pier though..............

Our man in Havana

It used to be.

save the rail

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?pid=1571546&fbid=1543628105937&id=1092000966

SRG played a blinder today. Around 30 politicians from all parties attended a gathering in plunkett station today to show support for the retention of the rail line, loads of media coverage inc RTE News, Indo,Times WLR FM, munster and more. Irish Rail staff went over and tried to kick them all out

click link above for pic

rainbowdash

Haddockman wrote: »

It used to be.

Yes I know, and when I looked at google earth a minute ago I remembered that Rosslare is also our main sea link to continental Europe.

Judgement Day

save the rail wrote: »

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?pid=1571546&fbid=1543628105937&id=1092000966

SRG played a blinder today. Around 30 politicians from all parties attended a gathering in plunkett station today to show support for the retention of the rail line, loads of media coverage inc RTE News, Indo,Times WLR FM, munster and more. Irish Rail staff went over and tried to kick them all out

click link above for pic

Link doesn't work for me? Who are what is SRG? Who called this meeting and what was the end result?

Is this the pic?

save the rail

Judgement Day wrote: »

Link doesn't work for me? Who are what is SRG? Who called this meeting and what was the end result?

Is this the pic?

YEP THATS THE PIC, SRG - SAVE ROSSLARE WATERFORD GROUP
THEY GOT ALL THE POLITICIANS TO COME TOGETHER IN WATERFORD STATION SUPPORTING THE RETENTION OF THE LINE. IR TRIED TO KICK THEM OUT RTE NEWS PROB CARRYING STORY 2MOR.

Cookie_Monster

Loitering (with intent) in the station, IR were right to try and give them the boot :pac::pac::pac: