South East on Track, a local rail transport advocacy group, welcomes the announcement of €18.4 from the Urban Regeneration Development Fund for the Trinity Wharf development in Wexford Town.

They make the case for opening a basic railway platform adjacent to the development to encourage use of local train services.

“The project is promising up to 1,000 jobs for the town, and a decent, reliable public transport service should be at the heart of the plan. The development proposes having a 462 space multi-storey car park, so based on the projected number of jobs, strong public transport links will be needed.”

“Trinity Wharf is located directly beside the site of the former Wexford South station. It closed to passenger services in the late 1970s.
A basic platform here would allow workers travelling from outside the town to alight right beside the new offices.”

“On top of that, with capacity for bikes on one of the railway carriages, most of the Drinagh Business Park is brought within a short cycle of the re-opened South station.”

“O’Hanrahan Station would remain open as it is. This is because there is already a speed limit of 8 km/h on the quay in Wexford, so having a train stop at either end of this speed-limited area of the track would cause minimal time delays to the service continuing on towards Rosslare and hopefully Waterford.”

“Such a move would also open up demand for a morning service into Wexford Town. In non-Covid times, the earliest scheduled service south to Wexford Town arrives after midday.”

“This period of restricted movement, owing to the pandemic, will not last forever and we need to plan for growth in the future. With the promise of up to 1,000 jobs we would hope that people travelling from the north of the county will have the option to take decent, reliable public transport into the town.”

It is an objective of both Wexford County Council and Iarnród Éireann to see a better service on the Dublin-Rosslare line.

“In their Draft Development Plan (2021-2027) Wexford County Council state, as part of objective TS34 that they want to: promote and support proposals for physical improvement works which would enhance the effectiveness and viability of the Rosslare – Dublin railway line as a sustainable transport choice.“

“This objective includes the following: The provision or re-opening of new stations in the county. Similarly, Iarnród Éireann, in their Strategy 2027 document, state an aim of moving the Dublin-Rosslare service “towards a two-hourly all day pattern.” A development like Trinity Wharf can only enhance the potential customer base for the current service.”