Sir, – As a regular commuter on the Wexford to Dublin train, I regularly get requests for feedback from Irish Rail, none of which have been acknowledged or acted upon.
Despite the more modern train carriages being used on later services, the 5.59am service to Dublin uses ramshackle old Dart carriages. For business commuters, it means no power points to charge electronic devices. Needless to say, there is no “catering” trolley on this train, so even if I were of a mind to drink an overpriced coffee made with flasked hot water, I could not do so. The heating does not work, to add to the misery.
There being no parking facilities close to Wexford station, I boarded my carriage wet and cold, and there was no heating in the waiting room.
I am a committed environmentalist and a lover of trains. Having used train services in a number of European countries, I find the continued wretched conditions on this particular service depressing to the point that I have today decided to abandon it in favour of my car for future journeys.
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Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, please note. – Yours, etc,
FRANK WALSH,
Coolballow,
Wexford.
Sir, – Irish Rail has made recent announcements to highlight improved frequencies in timetables on a number of services throughout their network, but, yet again, there are no improvements being announced for the Dublin Connolly to Rosslare Europort service, which provides a less than adequate commuter link between Wexford and Dublin.
The timetable has not seen any major improvements in recent times, and although local politicians have been striving to get a Dart-plus system operating south of Greystones for a number of years, the reality is that nothing has happened. We still have five trains a day between Rosslare/Wexford and Dublin, with carriages packed to capacity and standing room only on the early morning commuter services from the southeast and the return evening services from Dublin.
At present, there are three trains leaving Rosslare or Gorey each weekday – Gorey at 5.50am, Rosslare at 5.35am and 7.20am – to cope with the early morning commuter traffic on the line, and only two further trains leaving Rosslare at 12.55pm and 5.30pm for the rest of the daily services, and there are only three services each way on Sundays and bank holidays.
Bus Éireann and Wexford Bus operate regular bus services also, but these encounter severe traffic delays on the very busy N11/M11 route into Dublin, which is clogged with traffic most days.
The reality is that there is a railway line (single track with passing loops at stations) linking Greystones to Rosslare which is under utilised for large parts of the day, and while Irish Rail may use the fact that the Dart corridor between Greystones and Connolly is at capacity, and it is impossible to facilitate any more intercity train sets on the Dart network, the rest of the line between Greystones and Rosslare is not being used regularly enough to provide a viable rail service to allow commuters access Dublin at other times each day. The last southbound train leaves Dublin Connolly at 6.30pm daily, and apart from a Dart service to Greystones, there are no further trains into the night to service any of the stations south of Greystones.
The Green Party and others are asking us to use public transport more, but to do that we do need a regular train timetable to supplement the existing bus services to and from Dublin. This would, in turn, reduce the number of single occupied cars travelling daily on the N11/M11 route, and provide commuters with a reliable hourly service to and from Dublin. Talks have been ongoing for more than 20 years at this stage and we still have a substandard service not suited to the daily needs of commuters. – Yours, etc,
ROBIN D HEATHER,
Dunbur Lower,
Wicklow.