I got out of the ferry stena superfast x from rosslare to cherbourg the rosslare terminal is sad ls toilets condemned you have to go to the toilet at the top of the terminal no soap and dirty the pedestrian track full of holes and the shuttle to go boat is good to discard

I would also like to say that I chatted with pedestrian passengers who had to take the train after the boat the train left before the arrival of the boat we arrived at 12:30 pm and the next train was not before 6:30 pm it was already gone will not appeal to brittany ferries they like when they sell 1 ticket with train be in correspondence with the train and the boat

I've heard this feedback before in relation to the train departing Rosslare in advance of a ferry arriving into Rosslare Europort thus leaving a certain cohort of ferry foot passengers stranded until much later. Not sure how often this problem arises as weather can play havoc with schedules and the train cannot wait forever either to be fair. Most passengers on ferries will have come by car/coach and will disembark in the vehicle that travelled on the respective ferry vessel. That said, what is the whole point of Irish Rail providing such a service if it cannot accommodate the arrival of various ferry sailings - are they allowing sufficient leeway for even short delays. I appreciate that the rail service has to abide by it's network timetable but perhaps it needs to be examined once more according to likely demand and to take account of the latest ferry arrival times for the forthcoming 2020 tourist season. Otherwise; if the rail service timetable is not frequent, passengers will not be willing to rely on such a service which would eventually render it useless. On the bigger scheme of things, if very few passengers ever bother to take the train to/from Rosslare, then it is highly unlikely to be expanded.

As for Toilet facilities, the management company responsible for maintaining the terminal facilities really needs to get it's act together and fast if it wants to keep the ferry operators sweet as otherwise; customers will express anger and frustration and not want to travel the route again in the future which is counterproductive for Rosslare Europort. I sometimes wonder if the port ownership/management of the terminal & it's facilities is complex which results in little or no improvements over time. If this is Ireland's premier port intended to serve Europe, it really needs to modernise the ways it does things as customers will not support dirty, unhygienic & unreliable facilties & services for long. 

With reference to the train services to/from Rosslare Europort, there has been talk in Ireland that this service from Dublin may be stopped at Gorey. Foot passengers may have to resort to the buses which do regularly call at the port.

Very few buses call to Rosslare Harbour these days. So which way you look at it when it comes to public transport at at the port you get screwed.

You would have to wonder if there is currently a sufficient demand for Train/Bus services to run regular services to/from Rosslare Europort if rail & bus stops are infrequent and unreliable.

I would imagine the only potential customers who may require this transport mode are "Foot Passengers" disembarking off ferry services at certain times.

If there are erratic and low numbers consistently travelling by ferry as "Foot Passengers" then this would partly explain why resources are not being allocated to develop and improve such services.

It's ironic when we should be encouraging more public transport use (i.e.) rail & bus transport rather than private vehicles as a means to mitigate against climate change but these services cannot be expected to sustain heavy losses if few passengers are willing to use them going forward.

Part of the issue with delaying a train is the impact on other services.

The train from Rosslare goes all the way up to Dundalk. It is using the same lines as the diesel commuter services, the Northern Ireland Enterprise service and the DART service.

The line from Bray to Rosslare is also a single line, so any delays have a knock on impact across all services.

Yeah, I appreciate that trains waiting for ferries experiencing delays due to various events such as tidal, stormy conditions, technical issues and so on etc; is largely problematic.

Again, it is unclear what proportion of ferry passengers who avail of Rail/Bus services at Rosslare Europort is unclear however; if the numbers are relatively low then it would probably not justify causing further inconvenience to other Rail/Bus users elsewhere on the same network as this could potentially lead to serious knock-on effects in terms of timing across the timetable schedule.

That said, I do not know if any improvements can be made to the timetable schedule to mitigate against shorter delays although; I would suspect that longer delays are a different situation altogether.

I think the new Brittany Ferries service on the "MV Kerry" which is expected to commence ex-Rosslare to Bilbao will NOT be permitting any "Foot Passengers" as the vessel used is primarily aimed at Freight & Car Passengers only. From what I understand they will effectively have X 2 arrivals from Bilbao, Spain & 2 departures from Rosslare per week starting on 28th February AND the same ship will also do one arrival from Roscoff, France & one mid-week departure from Rosslare per week from March to October. Therefore, these new Brittany Ferries sailings into Rosslare will not have any passengers who will require Rail/Bus transport as they disembark from Brittany Ferries "MV Kerry" vessel. Not sure if "Foot Passengers" are permitted on all or any of the other ferry services using Rosslare Europort these days?

Irish Ferries has it's: Rosslare to Pembroke Dock route to South Wales
Stena Line has it's: Rosslare to Fishguard route to South Wales
Stena Line has it's Rosslare to Cherbourg route to Normandy, France
Brittany Ferries will have it's new Rosslare to Roscoff route to Brittany, France (during mid-week)
Brittany Ferries will have it's new Rosslare to Bilbao route to Northern Spain
(Neptune Lines services ex-Rosslare are aimed at transporting cargo)
   

Lots of discussions re Rosslare Europort here over the years. Irish Rail have destroyed the port and the small amounts of investment that get bandied around (especially when politicians get involved) would hardly give the facilities a good paint job.As for the train services they were deliberately run down as it was an unprofitable route(btw trains from Dundalk do not go to Rosslare anymore). The bus connections are poor and as long there is no big demand for services they will not improve.
History of the ownership of the port has been a matter of debate and unresolved confusion for years which some believe is the reason for the lack of investment. Irish Rail were given control of the port by the UK government in 1898 while control of Fishguard was given to British Rail from who Stena inherited the port. The ownership of both ports could still effectively be in the hands of the UK government!

(btw trains from Dundalk do not go to Rosslare anymore).

But strangely do go Rosslare Europort to Dundalk @05:35 in the morning. I happened to be on this a few weeks ago, hence I assumed it was regular.

I gather that it's not only Rosslare Europort that has been under UK ownership over the years as I recall something similar may have been the case with Dún Laoghaire which was Stena Line/Sealink-British Rail's central corridor entry/exit point into Co. Dublin for many years until Stena Line eventually vacated Dún Laoghaire for Dublin Port instead.

Dún Laoghaire was previously called "Kingstown" much the same as Cobh, County Cork was previously known as "Queenstown" for a time. The royal names associated with these places probably relates to the visits of former British monarchs. I believe Cove in Co. Cork was renamed: Queenstown for instance, to mark the visit of Queen Victoria however; after Irish independence it was decided it should revert to Cove albeit; using the Gaelic spelling (i.e.) Cobh.

Yes, I think having a complicated ownership/running of Rosslare Europort is not ideal if you want to modernise and change things for the better in a relatively short period of time.

At the end of the day, demand will have a large factor with regards to expanding Train/Bus services to/from Rosslare Harbour going forward. Unless the demand is there, you are unlikely to get more services as they need to operate on a viable basis.

Its a bit of a chicken and egg situation though as regards trains and buses. The operators will say that there's not sufficent demand from foot passengers for their services but if the timing of buses/trains dont connect with ferry arrivals the demand wont increase.     

Its a bit of a chicken and egg situation though as regards trains and buses. The operators will say that there's not sufficent demand from foot passengers for their services but if the timing of buses/trains dont connect with ferry arrivals the demand wont increase.     

Look at what Irish Rail did with Waterford - Rosslare, 2 trains a day, timetabled at odd hours, so no demand, then they closed the route. If Irish Rail don't really want to run the services, they just drive it into the ground, claim there is no demand, then close the line.

Sounds like a subtle plan by Irish Rail although; I still wonder if there are lots of "Foot Passengers" travelling on ferries arriving into Rosslare on a daily basis. If not, then I reckon Irish Rail considers the scarce availability of it's rolling stock much better served if it can be used to meet growing demands on it's commuter and intercity rail services elsewhere on the rail network then it seems logical for them to do so.

Ferry operators, airlines etc; usually operate in a similar manner especially if and when a route is no longer viable and especially if it no longer qualifies from subsidies like PSO payments.

Irish Rail already has a chronic shortage of train carriages causing major pressure on some routes at peak times elsewhere on the network and it will take a long time before they receive order deliveries on new carriages ordered from overseas. I'm not sure if Irish Rail has much of a purpose at Rosslare Harbour nowadays if the business is no longer viable for them there. They should concentrate on the current demands and future growth areas of their business on the rail network. They cannot afford to have almost empty trains running back & forth anywhere on it's network on a regular basis even if it is to/from Rosslare Europort.

I've no idea whether Waterford to Rosslare train line had been busy before the timetable was changed to X 2 times a day at unsociable hours although; if that particular service had been profitable prior to this change why would they have downgraded it in the first place? Only logical reason would seem to me is that it was probably not sustainable before the downgrading & eventual closure of that service. Otherwise; it makes little or no sense if it had been a busy service. I'm not familiar enough with the state of the current road network from Waterford to Rosslare and the only other thing I can suggest is that road infrastructure has been improved resulting in less demand for rail in favour of road transport instead? I recall the N25 New Ross Bypass has just opened which will cut journey times between Rosslare Co. Wexford and Cork by up to 30 minutes during peak times so rail has been overtaken by road transport in certain parts of the country.

Is there any news as to upgrades and investment in the port. Money needs to be spent on waiting areas and terminal building. Seems as though all the time and money that was spent on the consultants for investment in the port has produced nothing. Also, where has the announced money that was to be spent on the port be spent or is it still waiting to be spent. Surely with another customer ferry company that is using the port that it is time that the money is invested in the port instead of the port having some facilities for its customers to use rather than nothing which is the way things are going.