Passengers from the southeast Irish port of Rosslare could be forced to change trains on the way to Dublin. Growing traffic from the port and enhancements to the metro service around the Irish capital could leave through services struggling for train paths. A solution has been proposed by the Irish Government, which would require long-distance passenger trains to terminate outside the city, and for passengers to use the capital region’s metro trains to complete their journeys.
If rail freight were to figure in growth at the port of Rosslare in County Wexford, the line between there and Dublin may not be able to cope with the increased mixed traffic demand. Domestic passenger traffic, particularly from the county town of Wexford, coupled with future freight traffic potential from the port, threatens to overwhelm the line. A controversial proposal would see long-distance passengers change trains at the edge of the Dublin conurbation, and complete their journeys on the city’s regional metro network.
Rosslare and the Brexit effect
Ireland has a well-patronised but very small freight network. Some bulk goods (notably timber) are moved by rail, but like the rest of the world, intermodal traffic is a significant part of the rail freight traffic carried by the network. Overall, the railway is administered by the government as Iarnród Éireann (in the Irish Gaelic language), or Irish Rail. In the British-administered UK territory of Northern Ireland, rail services are also under direct government management, albeit separate from the arrangements in Great Britain. There are currently no freight services in Northern Ireland.
However, the Irish Government in Dublin does have an imperative to reverse the steep decline in rail freight, as part of its own drive toward decarbonising the Irish economy. The Government in Dublin has published an extensive plan to increase rail travel and rail freight, as part of an all-Ireland review of rail logistics. Rosslare figures only marginally in that study. However, the port has benefitted greatly from traffic landing there to avoid the administrative headache of passing through the UK. The port masterplan anticipates a four-fold increase in traffic in the coming decades.
Enormous increase in containers
Speaking to the Irish national broadcaster, RTÉ, the chair of the pressure group South East on Track, said that irrespective of the issues over capacity, rail freight provision at Rosslare was critical to the national economy. ”After Brexit, we’ve seen an enormous increase in the number of containers passing through Rosslare”, said Joe Ryan, the current chair of the group. However, rail freight seems low on the priorities of the port’s developers who, ironically, are Irish Rail. Rail freight doesn’t appear to figure in the slick promotional video produced to showcase the port’s masterplan.
“Rosslare needs to have a freight line to be considered to be a tier one port, internationally”, added Joe Ryan. “Many of its competitor ports that are shipping goods from the continent are tier one status and providing rail freight to Rosslare to elsewhere throughout the country makes logical sense for customers”, he said.
Wexford and Waterford solution
A solution exists, in the shape of a disused line which could carry freight traffic away from the congested corridor. A single track line runs due west from Wexford to Waterford, a distance of around 60 kilometres. The line has been out of service since 2010 but is still in situ. There is some support within the Irish Government for this remedy, as part of a wider reinvigoration of the Irish Rail network along the Atlantic south coast.
The pressure group South East on Track, has made reopening the line for mixed traffic the centre of their campaign. “We encourage the examination of reopening the Wexford/Rosslare – Waterford Rail Link”, says their statement. “[It would] improve services on currently operating lines (Rosslare-Dublin, Waterford-Limerick Junction) to improve connectivity across the South East. In 2021, it was confirmed that the Wexford-Waterford line would be examined for reopening as part of the All Ireland Strategic Rail Review.”
