1546 Limerick Junction - Enniscorthy

[JamesK]

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