Campaigners to go to Europe to save railway

A CONSERVATION group has said that it is writing to a Committee on Petitions at the European Parliament in relation to the handling of the closure of the Waterford to Rosslare railway line at the weekend following over 100 years of service.

The rail line linking Waterford city to Rosslare carried up to 150 people on its final journey on Saturday evening. The route has been serviced by a Bus Éireann coach since Monday.

Falling passenger numbers on the line and the cessation of the sugar beet freight business in 2006 are highlighted as major factors for closure of the route, as recommended in the McCarthy report.

Revenue covered only 2% of costs since the cessation of the sugar beet business, the report said. The line has been in operation since 1906 and the decision has caused much public consternation in the south east region.

On May 21 last, Iarnród Éireann published notices in several news publications announcing July 21 as the closing date for the railway line.

However, campaigners from savetherail.org maintained that a SERA (South East Regional Authority) report outlining the case for maintaining the line had not been seriously considered.

The report was submitted to the NTA (National Transport Agency) on July 30.

The notice in May said contractual approval for the termination of the service was needed from the NTA, pursuant to the Public Transport Regulation Act 2009. The NTA considered submissions on the matter.

However, Damien Cassidy, who describes himself as chairman of the National Conservation and Heritage Group, yesterday said that he “wasn’t given a chance to make representations to the NTA”.

Mr Cassidy said: “I think the whole thing was mishandled... It takes millions to build one kilometre of road; Europe favours rail over road and it’s cheaper.”

He said he intends “writing to Europe on the matter”.

Meanwhile, the Save the Rosslare to Waterford Rail Line, a campaign with 2,700 members, is in place on social networking website Facebook.