Sail & Rail

[comcor]

So the train I've used in the past (the 10:58 ex Cardiff) is now showing as a 10:04 with a change in Swansea. The good news is that for the departure time coming forward 54 minutes, arrival into Rosslare is 95 minutes earlier. The downside is the 5 minute change in Swansea, which makes everything a touch tight.

Also, if you look on the Arriva Trains Wales website, the 17:55 ex Rosslare to Connolly is not showing up, meaning routings through Holyhead. As far as Bray, you are better off routing through Rosslare from Cardiff. From further west in Wales (and most notably Swansea), you're better off going through Rosslare even as far as Dublin.

I fear the first of these issues (the change in Swansea) may harm numbers overall, while the second one needs sorting out as it means a bad passenger experience and the trains are running anyway.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by comcor

So the train I've used in the past (the 10:58 ex Cardiff) is now showing as a 10:04 with a change in Swansea. The good news is that for the departure time coming forward 54 minutes, arrival into Rosslare is 95 minutes earlier. The downside is the 5 minute change in Swansea, which makes everything a touch tight.

Also, if you look on the Arriva Trains Wales website, the 17:55 ex Rosslare to Connolly is not showing up, meaning routings through Holyhead. As far as Bray, you are better off routing through Rosslare from Cardiff. From further west in Wales (and most notably Swansea), you're better off going through Rosslare even as far as Dublin.

I fear the first of these issues (the change in Swansea) may harm numbers overall, while the second one needs sorting out as it means a bad passenger experience and the trains are running anyway.

The British rail times are still not fully confirmed online post the May timetable change date (21 May) so take what you see as a work in progress.

There is a GWR service out of London at 07:45 and Cardiff at 09:52 that arrives into Swansea at 10:45 which will offer a 15 minute connection into the 11:00 ATW service to Fishguard if you feel the later train is too tight.

The 10:04 service from Cardiff is a through train from Manchester which has a 10 minute wait at Cardiff (arriving there at 09:54) so there is recovery time built into the schedule.

Overall, in summary the revised sailings and rail connections are:

Depart Rosslare 08:00 Arrive Fishguard 11:15
Rail connection to Cardiff (Mon-Sat) via Swansea avoiding line (connection to London)
Rail connection on Sunday tbc
No rail connection at Rosslare

Depart Fishguard 13:10 Arrive Rosslare 16:25
Rail connection from Swansea (Mon-Sat) avoiding Carmarthen (connection from London and Cardiff)
Rail connection from Carmarthen (Sun) (Connection from Cardiff)
Rail connection to Dublin Connolly (Mon-Sun)

Depart Rosslare 18:10 Arrive Fishguard 21:25
Rail connection to Carmarthen only (Mon-Sun); No onward connections
Rail connection from Dublin Connolly (Mon-Sun)

Depart Fishguard 23:45 Arrive Rosslare 04:00
Rail connection from Manchester Piccadilly (Mon-Sat) (Connection from London)
Rail connection from Swansea (Sun) (Connection from London & Cardiff)
Rail connection to Dublin Connolly (Mon-Fri mornings)

[Traincustomer]

Foot passengers travelling via Rosslare Fishguard later this weekend would do well to be able to access a crystal ball to predict what may or may not happen with rail connections on “the other side”, Fishguard in this case.

Firstly the new sailing schedule only comes into effect at 08.00 Monday morning 22nd. That means the 02.30 sailing ex Fishguard runs as usual in the early hours of Monday.

The new UK rail timetables kick in on Sunday (21st).

On Sunday according to Arriva Trains Wales Journey Planner there is:
A 10.37 Cardiff Central – Fishguard Harbour train (arr. 14.00)
A 11.30 Cardiff Central – Fishguard Harbour bus (arr. 13.45)
A 11.32 Carmarthen – Fishguard Harbour train (arr. 12.28)

Really?

In the reverse direction there is a 12.40 Fishguard Harbour – Cardiff train (hopefully the ferry will be in on the dot of half twelve that day)

The 22.30 Cardiff – Fishguard is shown to be running as usual on Sunday night (connecting into the 02.30 sailing).

However it appears to be a case of tough luck for passengers on Sunday night’s 21.15 sailing ex Rosslare as the abovementioned train is not returning (at the usual 01.50 or thereabouts). The first train on Monday is shown as at 06.50.

[Traincustomer]

A positive late change is that the boat train connecting out of the evening sailing from Rosslare is now extended beyond Carmarthen to Swansea:

22.14 ex Fishguard Harbour M-F arriving Swansea 00.07
22.15 Sat (arr. 00.04)
23.03 Sunday (arr. 00.36)

There is perhaps a case for a Cardiff extension especially at weekends as it would also cater for domestic passengers between the key settlements in West and South Wales.

[comcor]

The 17:55 ex Rosslare is still not coming up on the Arriva Trains Wales if booking a journey that continues through Rosslare.

I went to see what would happen if I tried to book a journey from Wexford to a destination in North Wales to see if the train was in the system at all and that produced an even more concerning error. It shows it as possible to travel from Wexford on a 19:00 train to Dublin. There is no such train; the last departure is at 18:20.

On another note, are there any plans for Irish Rail to start offering destinations in the UK on the website?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by comcor

The 17:55 ex Rosslare is still not coming up on the Arriva Trains Wales if booking a journey that continues through Rosslare.

I went to see what would happen if I tried to book a journey from Wexford to a destination in North Wales to see if the train was in the system at all and that produced an even more concerning error. It shows it as possible to travel from Wexford on a 19:00 train to Dublin. There is no such train; the last departure is at 18:20.

On another note, are there any plans for Irish Rail to start offering destinations in the UK on the website?

Sounds like they have the wrong timetable loaded onto their database. That was the old summer IE timetable which won't be needed this summer due to the earlier sailing times.

The adjusting of rail timetables by ATW at Fishguard in response to the revised shipping schedule has been very last minute and rather haphazard to say the least.

The sensible extension to Swansea from Carmarthen of the connecting train off the evening ferry from Rosslare has only been done after printed timetables have been published, and is currently in the booking system for the next fortnight only.

Extending it to Swansea was relatively easy, as they curtailed the train ahead of it (starting from Pembroke Dock) to Carmarthen. Extending it to Cardiff would be much more difficult given that sets and staff would be out of balance.

Hopefully it shall become a permanent timetable change.

[Jamie2k9]

Surely Stena Line should of discussed the sailing changes with the Welsh train operator?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

Surely Stena Line should of discussed the sailing changes with the Welsh train operator?

I'm sure that they did, but we don't live in a perfect world unfortunately. We don't have a monopoly on things like this here despite what many people think.

Getting revised rosters agreed may have been an issue given the late notice of the changes.

The extension of the ATW evening connection from Fishguard to Swansea (instead of Carmarthen) seems to be being extended on a weekly basis in the system - it now operates up until June 9th.

On a more positive note, the UK national rail journey planner now has the correct times for the Dublin-Rosslare line.

[Mark Gleeson]

The ferry timetable change has been in the works for at least 5 years

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The ferry timetable change has been in the works for at least 5 years

Well whatever about that, it is quite clear that the discussions between Stena and ATW clearly were not done until the very last minute, because all of the rail schedule changes were done in a rush.

The evening train to Swansea is now an STP (Short term plan schedule) in the UK national rail system, updated weekly and will remain as such for at least 3 months.

[comcor]

That 17:55 connection from the ferry in Rosslare is still not showing on Arriva Trains Wales or The Trainline. So in effect, they are not selling any connections on from Rosslare. All journeys are routing through Holyhead, even when it makes absolutely no sense (like an 18 hour, 7 change journey from Whitland to Wexford, which can be done in under 6 hours via Rosslare).

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by comcor

That 17:55 connection from the ferry in Rosslare is still not showing on Arriva Trains Wales or The Trainline. So in effect, they are not selling any connections on from Rosslare. All journeys are routing through Holyhead, even when it makes absolutely no sense (like an 18 hour, 7 change journey from Whitland to Wexford, which can be done in under 6 hours via Rosslare).

Given the issues that ATW had in getting the basic schedules up and running, I imagine that selling Sail/Rail beyond Rosslare in Ireland is somewhat down the pecking order but I'd imagine that it should be sorted out in due course.

That I imagine requires the commercial departments of ATW, IE and Stena to get together.

The GB National Rail website (and by default the individual train operating companies' sites) does at least now have the correct timetable for the Rosslare line loaded. The stations just need to have the Sail/Rail option via Fishguard & Rosslare added.

[comcor]

Through ticketing from Rosslare is still not possible.

Do we take this as being pat of Irish Rail's plans to run down passenger volumes on the line south of Gorey?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by comcor

Through ticketing from Rosslare is still not possible.

Do we take this as being pat of Irish Rail's plans to run down passenger volumes on the line south of Gorey?

I know many Irish people like conspiracy theories, but my understanding is that the fault has been entirely down to Arriva Trains Wales and the Rail Delivery Group.

Irish Rail times have finally been uploaded, so I don't know what the issue is on the part of ATW precluding sale of tickets from beyond Rosslare via the Rosslare-Fishguard crossing.

You can purchase sail/rail from Rosslare Europort online.

[Mark Gleeson]

Updates to the UK fares/times database are ugly, certain deadlines, cut offs etc

Arriva Trains Wales have to be fair been really good when we have been in contact with them.

[Ronald Binge]

There has been an outage for some time of IÉ and NIR times on the National Rail planner, which has now been partly repaired.

Delving into the planner, journeys that travel via Dublin Heuston work perfectly fine. However, journeys via Dublin Connolly are inconsistent. Sligo line trains don't appear at all. Journeys from the Dublin - Belfast line are all routed via Belfast Port. Journeys from the Dublin - Rosslare line do work properly, if you are travelling via Dublin to GB..

[Traincustomer]

A number of improvements have been made recently...new seating both downstairs and upstairs (foot passenger lounge) with unique family table seats in the latter.

The former shop unit in the corner downstairs which for donkey's years still sported the Evening Press logo is now a customs office.

Though I've never felt unsafe at the port the shrubbery/bushes adjacent to the corner (on the right adjacent to the first corner walking from the terminal to the village/station) were removed last year so everything is now intervisible.

The Europort terminal is always pleasantly warm something I cannot say for Fishguard.

Good to see these touches as the building will be 30 years standing next year.

[Traincustomer]

The Jonathan Swift fast craft has been replaced by the Dublin Swift fast craft and there are some minor changes to sailing times as follows:

08.45 Dublin - Holyhead has been advanced to sail at 08.30.
11.50 Holyhead - Dublin has been advanced to sail at 11.30.
The afternoon sailings each way are unchanged (14.30 ex Dublin; 17.15 ex Holyhead).

Irish Ferries has significantly improved its fast ferry offering on the Dublin – Holyhead route with the introduction of the recently upgraded and larger, high speed craft ‘Dublin Swift’ which entered service today on the route following a full internal refurbishment. It replaces the ‘Jonathan Swift’ which has been in service since 1999.

(27th April, 2018)

Source & further reading:
http://www.irishferries.com/uk-en/ne...olyhead-route/
The fast ferry will no longer operate year-round and will cease for the year in early-October.

[Traincustomer]

From today, Monday 14th May 2018, the 15.10hrs Dublin - Holyhead sailing is advanced to depart at 14.50hrs. Crossing time remains unchanged at 3 hours 30 minutes.

The connecting Ferrylink bus for this sailing continues to depart Westmoreland Street at 14.00hrs.

[Traincustomer]

LeapCard being accepted on the Ferrylink (same as cash fares) and no Leap 90 discount.