Rosslare/Waterford rail line NOT to close this week

 

Despite earlier news to the contrary, it can now be confirmed that the Rosslare/Waterford rail line will not close this week.  Iarnrod Eireann have to submit their case to the National Transport Authority (NTA) and this body has to study this, as well as the several other submissions justifying why the line should remain open.  A decision cannot be reached before late September.

 

Last week the Chambers of Commerce in the south east made a submission advocating the setting up of a community rail partnership as has been done successfully in the UK and mainland Europe in places where a rail line is running through lightly populated areas.  If this model is accepted, it would see Iarnrod Eireann continuing to have responsibility for running the trains, as well as for all maintenance and safety issues.  However, such matters as time tabling, marketing and promotion of the services would be the responsibility of the partnership which, in addition to Iarnrod Eireann, would comprise the local authorities, representatives of local rail users and the business community through the Chambers of Commerce.  A locally based marketing manager would report to a voluntary committee representing the various stakeholders.

 

Eric Barron, Chairman of South East Chambers, had this to say about their proposal: “We expect that this will receive very serious consideration by the NTA, the Minister and Iarnrod Eireann and we hope that it will be accepted.  It is working in the UK – why not here?  This community involvement would ensure that the train service meets the needs of the community, that it would be well publicised and consequently well supported.”

 

A comprehensive survey undertaken by the local body that is fighting to save the train line shows that, with a proper service of three/four trains daily, with connections to Wexford town in all cases and with good marketing, annual income could be built up to €2.5m. which should justify keeping the line running. Current income from the one-train-a-day service is in the region of €40,000.

 

If the proposal is accepted, this community rail partnership model could well be used for the Waterford/Limerick Junction line that serves Carrick on Suir, Clonmel, Cahir and Tipperary town.  This is a line that currently has light usage.  The model could also be used to ensure the success of the rail lines that are about to be reopened along the western rail corridor.

Open letter to Iarnrod Eireann from South East Chambers of Commerce

 

The Irish people (through the government) entrusted the railway system to you to manage on our behalf.   Implicit in this trust was the expectation that you would organise and manage this highly valuable part of our national infrastructure in an efficient, professional and effective manner to transport passengers and goods all over Ireland.  This obviously means having a rail network reaching out as far as possible all over the land.

 

You have failed us in many respects..  You closed down railway lines with great enthusiasm during the middle of the last century, including the beloved Waterford/Tramore line which was actually showing a profit and the callous closure of which the local people are unforgiving.  It was part of our life.

 

The Rosslare/Waterford  line is also part of our life but is of even greater magnitude because of its strategic importance as part of the national rail network connecting all parts to the Europort at Rosslare.. Is this to suffer a similar fate?  If so, shame on you.  Instead of exploiting the asset entrusted to you, you ran it down and practically ignored it.  One train each way on weekdays only is not a proper service and even this paltry service was never promoted.  We have one of your ads dated twelve years ago dealing with the rail services in County Wexford and it refers only to the Rosslare/Dublin line with never a mention of the Waterford route.  The ignoring of this line goes back that far and way beyond.

 

Then in 2002 you decided you wanted to shut down the Waterford/Limerick Junction line and effectively leaving the large town of Clonmel and all South Tipperary without a railway connection. This was vetoed by government (when Seamus Brennan, RIP was Minister for Transport) and you were rightly sent packing and told to get on with running a rail service to connect the south east with Cork, Limerick, now Galway and many other places.  You seem to be doing this with severe reluctance, again with no promotion and no Sunday or public holiday services whatsoever.  The inevitable consequences of this lack of enthusiasm are that this part of the line is also lightly used and you have recently cut back the schedule from four round trips on weekdays to three (25% reduction).  Is this another part of your covert plans for further closures?

 

This whole approach makes absolute nonsense at a time when such great strides are being made to modernise the railroad with vast amounts (of taxpayers money) being invested in reopening lines around Dublin, Cork and in the west – lines that you abandoned years ago.  Indeed, one of the justifications for reopening the Western Rail Corridor was to connect the north west with the south east, with Rosslare Harbour a particular target as it is the closest port to the European mainland and therefore the main access point by sea to Europe. Trains can only run where there are tracks and there is no sense in opening up tracks in one direction while closing them in another. It is a national system.

 

We totally reject your proposal to substitute busses.  This is not acceptable. Road transport is subject to traffic delays and is therefore less reliable. Rail is the preferred mode of public transport.  Look at the great success of the DART and LUAS and you will see how properly managed rail transport attracts a greater volume of passengers than busses. The substitute bus service now proposed requires very little investment which could mean very little by way of commitment and the proposed service could also be contracted after a period.  Wear and tear on the roads from a HGV like a bus is immense while the rail lines would be lying idle. Environmentally, the proposals also fly in the face of Ireland’s commitment to the Kyoto protocol to reduce carbon emissions. Greater use of rail should be the objective if we are to go anyway near our objectives as regards reducing carbon emissions.  Rail is quite simply more green friendly.  

 

What do we want?  Let us explain.

We obviously want an end to this reckless foolishness.  Instead, we want you to consult with the public and regional stakeholders (something you have never done in any meaningful way) and design a service with a minimum of three round trips every day.  This service will have to connect with the ferries where we are informed there is a growth in foot passengers and also with inter-city trains, e.g. at Waterford. It will have to cater for the needs of the people of south Wexford who traditionally commute to Waterford.  It should link the hub town of Wexford (pop. 20,000) with the gateway city of Waterford. It should also link closely with the Waterford/Limerick Junction portion of the line that serves Clonmel, the rest of South Tipperary and from Limerck Junction many other towns and cities.

 

The infrastructure needs to be upgraded to allow for quicker trains and shorter journeys, so as to compete successfully with road transport.

 

Management of the undertaking needs to be given to a qualified talented person based in the south east..  Management from an ivory tower in Dublin has not worked.  What is needed is an effective person who is empowered to develop and sustain the business and ideally we would see this person being recruited from outside the company.

 

Promotion of the line would involve creativity, e.g. the Rosslare Strand station is 100 yards from the wonderful beach and seaside specials could be run to bring passengers from South Tipperary to the sea for the day, while shopping trains, and theatre trains are just some other initiatives that proper management would undertake.  There is no management of this nature at present.

 

We are serious about this and we will be shortly placing our case before the National Transport Authority and the Minister. We have consulted with the various local authorities and they also are opposed to your reprehensible proposed action.

 

Needless to say, we would be very happy to meet you to discuss productive ways of making full usage of this very valuable piece of infrastructure.  The Chamber of Commerce movement represent the business community of the South East and we are adamant that this vital asset is not just saved from closure but is put to optimum use.

 

South East Chambers Access Task Force

South East Chambers

(info@southeastchambers.ie)

 

24 May 2010  

Submission from South East Chambers

to National Transport Authority

concerning Rosslare/Waterford rail line

14 July 2010

 

South East Chambers

This is the umbrella body consisting of the nine Chambers of Commerce in the South East.  They are Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Clonmel, Dungarvan, New Ross, Enniscorthy and Gorey. These Chambers represent the interests of the business community in the region and the chamber movement is the largest business representative body in Ireland.

 

Waterford/Limerick Junction line

In 2002 Iarnrod Eireann (IE) announced that it wished to close the Waterford/Limerick Junction line but, following representations by South East Chambers to the then Minister for Transport (Seamus Brennan RIP), the Government instructed that this line should remain open.  In subsequent discussions with Richard Fearn (Iarnrod Eireann CEO), the need for generally improving the service along that portion of the line was put to him and he was very receptive.

Rosslare/Waterford line

The business community is totally opposed to the current proposals that train services should cease on the Rosslare/Waterford line and we are asking the NTA, not just to refuse authorisation for a cessation of services, but to approve a new regime which we feel sure will result in a proper service operating successfully for the benefit of all.

 

Subsidisation

The reasons given by IE for wanting to shut down operations on the line include poor passenger numbers and the absence of the beet freight, all resulting in heavy losses which the company feels unable to bear any longer.  While we are conscious that all public transport (even road) receives some form of subsidy and probably always will, we agree that the losses currently being suffered by IE on this line are unsustainable and urgently need correction.

 

Community Rail Partnership

Having studied the situation in the UK where they also have rail lines passing through areas of low population density, we have learned that the creation of local community rail partnerships has resulted in considerable growth in rail usage and income to the operator.

 

We have come to appreciate that IE is essentially the rail operator and is not geared to performing the important tasks of promoting and marketing the services.  Our understanding of the Community Rail Partnerships is that these are local organisations sponsored by the local authorities and other stakeholders (e.g. those representing passengers and the business community) with participation by the operator (in our case IE).  A local manager is appointed and he/she is answerable to a local committee who act in a voluntary capacity and whose function includes, advising the operator on the service requirements along the line, marketing and promoting these services, working with businesses on special attractions, helping to spruce up stations, etc.  The result of all this local involvement is that people come to realise that the train is there for them and that their needs are heeded. The manager’s job is to channel all this groundswell of involvement so that a marked increase in rail usage and earnings is delivered.  He/she would interface with IE as regards frequencies, times, etc.

 

Frequency

The key to securing more passengers is frequency of services.  People will organise their lives around train times but they must have options.  The current situation of one train in each direction and none on Sundays or Public Holidays could at best be termed a token service and we would envisage that, if a Community Rail Partnership was put in place, we would soon have seven day working with three or four round trips daily.

 

A survey was recently conducted by a local interest group and this showed that a great number are attracted to using the train if a suitable service is provided. From the numbers who responded and the frequencies that they would use the train, we calculate that the income from such usage would exceed €1m annually. This survey (available on request) was heavily biased towards commuting to Waterford (because that is the tradition) but we understand that there is actually twice as much commuter traffic from south Wexford to Wexford town and, if this was taken into account, there would be even greater potential for the railway. Therefore, passenger traffic along the line could be greatly in excess of the 135,630 journeys shown by the survey and the line’s income could be built up to €2/3m. This would all be dependant on providing a frequent service, connecting with Wexford town in all cases and heavily promoting such services.

 

Potential passengers

This line was originally built to service the ferries using Rosslare port and, while the advent of roll-on roll-off car ferries has reduced the usage of the train, we understand that there is still a reasonable number of foot passengers who would use the train.  Other ferry users who would potentially use the train include cyclists, rail ramblers and the old, the infirm and the handicapped.  But the trains must run at times to serve the ferries, both coming and going.

 

By working with the business community, joint promotions could be advertised, eg ‘Take the train to Campile and enjoy Sunday lunch at xxxx’s restaurant’ or ‘Travel on the seaside express to Rosslare and experience all the attractions of this Blue Flag beach’ or ‘Special day return to Waterford to see the magnificent Tall Ships’ etc, etc. Failte Ireland could also join in the promotion of the services to visitors – the tourist potential is considerable.  The presence of an airport in Waterford and a ferry port in Rosslare also presents many business opportunities.

 

People who have to regularly visit Waterford Regional Hospital for treatment (of cancer, etc) prefer the train because they have more room and trains have toilets.  Students prefer trains to buses because they are more reliable (not delayed by traffic) and they can study on the train far more easily than on a bus.

 

Local support available

The local authorities have expressed very strong support for the retention of the line and therefore we feel sure that they would be willing to participate in the proposed Community Rail Partnership.  The Chambers of Commerce in the South East would be happy to play their part, as would we feel sure the rail users group that was recently set up to contest the threatened closure of the line.  The goodwill is there in abundance to learn from the UK experience and set up a successful Community Rail Partnership for this line.

 

We feel  that IE should support and participate in the idea.  It will save the line and avoid  the embarrassment of closing a line in the south east while spending millions opening up former lines in the north west. The railway network is important to IE and the closure of any part has the effect of diminishing the value of what remains.  Indeed, this could be a pilot that IE may wish to use in cases of other lines that are running through areas of low density of population.  

 

In summary

South East Chambers submits that the Rosslare to Waterford line should not be closed.  Instead, a Community Rail Partnership should be put in place and a plan drawn up with objectives aimed at dramatically developing the business and the income earned by it.  A person with the necessary drive, knowledge and management skills would be engaged to manage the Partnership and achieve the planned objectives.

 

The tasks of the Partnership would include:

 

· Develop a frequency of service that the public want and will use,

· Work closely with IE and advise IE regarding time tables,

· Promote and market the services through advertising and other kinds of communications,

· Ensure that stations are maintained in an attractive way with up to date information on services available,

· Organise special trains to meet the needs of passengers and local businesses,

· Etc, etc.

 

The participants in the Partnership would be IE (as the railway operator), local authorities, business community and rail users.

 

We fervently hope that the National Transport Authority will see merit in our submission and will act in accordance.  If there are any aspects that require our clarification or further explanation, we would be very happy to meet with the appropriate people.

 

 

     South East Chambers – 14 July 2010