1546 Limerick Junction - Enniscorthy
 

Yesterday, travelled end-to-end on the 1546 Limerick - Enniscorthy service. As services on the Limerick Junction to Rosslare route are mentioned but infrequently in these postings, what follows may be of some interest.

Insofar as was possible, I noted the number of passengers on the service from time to time. In the figures below, the count is the number of passengers on the train AFTER DEPARTING the named station:

Limerick Junction 28
Clonmel 32
Carrick-on-Suir 30
Waterford 46
Campile 28
Ballycullane 26
Wellingtonbridge 18
Bridgetown 17
Rosslare Strand 16
Rosslare Harbour 4
Rosslare Strand 7
Wexford 12

These figures are interesting for a number of reasons:

(i) When I joined the train having come down from Heuston, most of the passengers were on board already. Thus most of the passengers departing Limerick Junction had come from the Cork or Limerick directions
(ii) At the last timetable change, services on this line were altered to give better connections at Limerick Junction. For this reason, I had expected the numbers onboard to decline enroute from Limerick Junction to Waterford. In the event, they remained fairly constant with passengers boarding and alighting at all points to Waterford
(iii) The figures indicate over 30 'commuters' to south Wexford stations from Waterford. Presumably this figure is higher when places of higher education are in session and fewer workers are on leave
(iv) Many of those alighting at Rosslare Harbour had travelled through from Limerick Junction. This suggests that there is indeed through traffic between these points which in its turn suggests that the morning service from Rosslare Harbour, which now involves a 72 minute layover in Waterford, is less than satisfactory
(v) The numbers travelling north to Enniscorthy were meagre. Virtually all were destined for that point and did not transfer to the 2005 to Connolly. At Enniscorthy, c. 35 passengers alighted from the 1652 ex Maynooth of whom a goodly proportion made the connection southwards. Thus the extension of the 1546 ex Limerick Junction to Enniscorthy and back to Rosslare is fulfilling a need for an earlier evening departure ex Dublin to Wexford and Rosslare.

Turning to infrastructure, some of the jointed track on the Limerick Junction to Rosslare route is very rough. There are also numerous speed restrictions; I can but hope that some of these are temporary and relate to trackwork in progress.

The stations on this route appear to be in good order. Wellingtonbridge must be one of the last if not the last Irish rural station replete with semaphore signals and well kept premises. Major work is under way Clonmel; perhaps someone reading this can advise as to its nature. The new platform at Rosslare Europort is some distance removed from the ferry terminal and one can but imagine the difficulties that someone would have transferring themselves and luggage over to the ferry, especially if the weather is inclement and/or there are mobility problems. In my opinion, Irish Rail would do well to place a warning note in the next edition of the timetables.

Looking to the future, it seems self evident that the line between Waterford and Rosslare Strand is a grossly under-utilised resource. If services on this line were to be developed even modestly, it would seem logical to have Wexford rather than Rosslare Europort as the eastern destination with passengers changing at Rosslare Strand for Rosslare Europort. Was the turnout from the west platform at Rosslare Strand to the Wexford line retained with CTC?

Finally, I apologise for the length of this posting and hope that it might be of interest.

James

Coming through Rosslare on the ferry (coach to Cork) circa 1988 "inclement" would have been the wrong word when a wave went over the sea wall - with me underneath. :(

I didn't know anybody took the train coming off from Fishguard hence why did they move the station closer to the people of Rosslare Hbr. I know there were problems with lorry's getting across the level crossing etc.. There is a thread on this but I think its in the members area.
Does anybody infact coming from Fishguard or leaving Rosslare make the connection by train? would be interesting to know!!

I would presume that the proportion of rail passengers arriving at/ leaving from Rosslare Europort who are connecting from/to ferries is unknown. On the trip I described at the start of this thread, there were some UK and some US passengers with baggage who were almost certainly catching ferries.

The important point surely is that Irish Rail claim to serve Rosslare Europort whereas in reality, the train now stops short of the ferry terminal. Surely a note in future timetables to the effect that a walk of ??? metres is required to reach the ferry terminal from the railway station would perform a useful role in advising intending travelers in advance.

Waterford towards Rosslare has always done better than expectations since the Barrow Bridge makes the rail route, even in its current state much quicker than by car

There is a morning service in and evening service out.

There is a redevelopment ongoing in Rosslare, talk of 2000+ jobs. The port facilities are being redeveloped as well. Chances are the terminal building is moving as well. The new station is actually on the site of the original station in Rosslare. Anyone familiar with the walk to Pier D in Dublin airport knows what a walk is, Rosslare is nothing in comparison

The plan is to relay the entire route with second hand stuff off the Cork line, there was work ongoing up until last year when the WRC and Midleton hijacked all the resources. A train every 2 hours is part of the plan with full resignalling as well. Waterford station is to be rebuilt as well

Shuttle (mini) buses might be useful. At least Dun Laoghaire has a good connection (although across road and up steps / elevator / lift). Cork and Dublin Port both mean bus connections

Rail and ferry interchange at Rosslare Europort
 

Hi, hope you won't mind me quoting you but this is an area of interest to me. Both myself and family members living on both sides of the Irish Sea have used the train to/from the ferry at Rosslare over the years (usually to/from Dublin). Sometimes we have had all-in sea/rail tickets. The most recent occasion was in August when a family member arriving off the Fishguard ferry used the South Wexford line service at 0705 from Europort. It was disappointing that the station was moved further away from the terminal building but nonetheless we will continue to use the route from time to time. Thankfully in recent times rail-sea connections in terms of timings have improved e.g. the 1830 ex Connolly was too tight for the Fishguard sailing but now the 1725 ex Connolly makes this possible.