Ticket Prices, More Frequency And A Tea Trolley Needed On Wexford Trains - South East On Track

Wexford rail users say they want fairness when it comes to the price of shorter journeys.

South East On Track will be part of a major discussion on the future of train services in County Wexford next week.

The gathering, titled Keep Wexford On Track, will take place at Eclectic Avenue in Wexford Town on September 3rd to chat about the challenges to improving the services here.

It comes as there's pressure on the Minister for Transport to reopen the South Wexford Railway as per the recommondations of an expert group.

Peter Branigan from campaign group South East On Track says Wexford passengers feel short changed right now:

"If you got a Dart from somewhere like Greystones to Howth, it would cost you about €2:60 but if you get a train from Wexford to Enniscorthy which is a similar length of journey and takes a lot less time, I think it's €4:65.

"If we want to encourage people to use the railways, we're looking for things that can be done really quickly that would make it more appealing and better value for customers."

It's hoped we could see more frequency on the Wexford to Dublin railline early next year.

South East on Track says a few small changes would vastly improve our service and open up rail travel to and from Wexford Town to a wider cohort of passengers.

Mr Branigan says it may be some time however, before the trains become more frequent here:

"At the moment, we're waiting for Dart carriages to come online, when they do, which we hope will be early next year, they will free up trains that are currently being used to run people to Kildare and Drogheda.

"Once they become free, we're looking for one or two of them to be cascaded down onto the Rosslare line and that would mean an increase in frequency."

There are also calls for the tea trolley to be restored on the Rosslare to Dublin railway.

Trails are currently underway to bring food services back on trains between Dublin and Galway after almost all catering services were halted during Covid.

Mr Branigan says they're keeping their fingers crossed:

"If you are getting the train from Wexford to Dublin at the moment, there's no food option on the train itself and that's something we've been getting emails about in the last couple of years.

"Just because of the population size in Wexford and Galway, we'll have to wait and see how successful their venture is.

"But if it works on the Galway line, then there's no reason it won't work on the Wexford line".

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.