This week, news broke that the National Transport Authority (NTA) is reviewing potential strategies for discontinuing direct rail transport from Dublin to Rosslare. One might hastily interpret this as a drastic closure of rail services, especially considering the significant number of commuters this route serves from Wexford to Dublin.
However, the term “closure” was never truly introduced into these plans. Instead, the NTA’s goal is to expand capacity on this route; they’re mulling over whether this can be accomplished optimally by halting trains from Rosslare at Wicklow or Greystones, then redirecting passengers onto the Dart service.
At this point, you might question how the Dart can get to Wicklow when its line only reaches Greystones, hinging on a single line from Bray. This is where transportation minister Eamon Ryan’s plan comes in. He affirms that the forthcoming Dart trains, ordered from French manufacturer Alstom, will be battery equipped and capable of reaching Wicklow. He is hopeful that this could become a reality by 2026.
However, the likelihood of this turning into reality is rather low. Currently, Wicklow is void of any facilities to replenish electric trains. The new fleet of trains won’t be in service until the latter part of 2025, drawing the majority of their power supply from overhead cables, not batteries. Out of these, only a handful — about six carriages — will be battery-powered, and are reportedly reserved for the Drogheda route.
In part, all this stems from the difficulty in integrating diesel trains within the electrified train network of the Greater Dublin Area. Gaps in the Dart timetable are common occurrences whenever a diesel train operates. Irish Rail has repeatedly stated the difficulty of increasing the frequency of trains on the Dublin-Rosslare route, especially in the face of increasing Dart service frequencies in Greystones. The local community in Wexford County is keenly awaiting the final outcome of these plans.
Despite having only three morning trains available on a weekday to get to Dublin, and none between the hours of 8:25am and 2pm, passengers at Gorey, Co Wexford expressed this week that they would appreciate any increase in train availability. The main train used by Dublin-bound workers departs from Gorey at 6:43am, getting to Dublin by 8:46am. This diesel ‘commuter’ train actually travels from Rosslare Port all the way to Co Louth, Dundalk. The ultimate aim is gaining access to the Dart network, something viewed as the pinnacle, via Wicklow. It just requires an extension of shuttle trains.
So, one might wonder when these changes will take effect. But alas, there is no clear timeline. The proposals are currently just up for discussion. They are waiting, in essence, to gather momentum. As stated by Irish Rail this week, terminating direct access to Rosslare is merely a possibility still up for debate. Other potential options include letting certain trains go directly from Rosslare to Dublin, while others require Dart transfer. Or they could decide to stop allowing any direct trains at all. Or even decide to not make any changes. But as the company emphasised, there’s nothing decided just yet, just a multitude of options.