Is Rosslair heading for Davy Jones's Locker?

Over 10 years ago I started blogging. The very first topic I covered on cllrjoeryan.blogspot.com was Rosslare Europort and its future.  I’ve a back ground in   The failure to invest in Rosslare and see its potential is one. Why? Because it still persists. Long after ports like Folkestone, Stranraer and Dun Laoghaire have seen an end to passenger services, Rosslare survives despite the policy makers. The new consensus in business is critical mass. Rosslare comes a poor second behind Cork and Dublin ports. These ports can offer operators like Irish Ferries better rates. The potential loss on shipping to Britain after Brexit will be replaced by European shipping. That was clear to me when I stood in Croke Park last April and saw a massive container ship which is billed as the Brexit buster. It will sail 3 times a week to and from Belgium carrying containers that otherwise would have gone through the landbridge to EU markets.

transport from my time managing a student travel business in my 20’s. A lot has changed since then but much remains the same.

It is the exact same logic that sees McCauleys want to relocate from Wexford to Dublin. It is the same policy that sees Dublin recently get a fourth university when we still have no university in the south east. While government may want for optics to be seen to fight Wexford’s corner, how many will be fooled?

And nobody knows any of this better than Pascal O’Donohue and Leo Varadkar both the immediate predecessors of Shane Ross in the Department of Transport who went on to better things. Both had the opportunity to deal with some of the issues I raised in that blog like the spending of €1M to remove rail access and the failure to develop rail freight.

I’ve concluded that neither Varadkar nor Donohue never acted because it is simply ideological on their part. They pretend otherwise but their implicit policy is to let the market sort it out. Logistics is no place for policy.  Ross was the guy who hollered about waste in CIE in opposition. In fact he co wrote with his son in law (How more Healey Rae can one get in South Dublin?) a book about corporate shenanigans called “Wasters”. 

Let’s be blunt about it. Dublin has the M50 and port tunnel with a very efficient harbour which can offer low berthing fees based on economies of scale. Look at a map, all roads lead to Dublin. An extra few hours on board a luxury ship will extract more money from Irish Ferries passengers. Sailing from Dublin means less driving for many of their car passengers. Trucks may be a different story all together. It will add to costs from the south east but other parts of the country will see cost and time reductions. The new Irish Ferries ship will see additional capacity. It is that additional capacity which will make it very difficult for any new shipping line to come on the route from Rosslare to France.

Except, there is the matter of the Enniscorthy and New Ross by passes which are set to open in 2019. Rather than making it easy to get to Rosslare, could it be that they make it easier for trucks to distribute from Cork or Dublin ports?

So while Fine Gael may tug at the company directors sleeve to ask them to reconsider, Irish Ferries know the score. They didn’t do U turns on the issue of reflagging and yellow packing with agency staff over 15 years ago, they won’t be doing it now either.

If Rosslare Europort has a future it will be when the ideological hang up in the present government is put away and not until then. In essence the last 3 ministers created the environment where Irish Ferries could take the decision to pull its continental services and get away with it knowing there’d be nothing that could be done once it walked. Much has been made of €15M to be allocated to Rosslare Europort over the next 7 years. Compare that to almost €1B for Dublin port. Makes you wonder who the constituency TD for Dublin Port is, doesn’t it, Pascal?

The sooner Wexford wakes up to that reality, the better.

All aboard for the Ross lair express

So here we go again.  The old leaked report that the Minister is studying on his desk. Once more Minister Shane Ross is said to be studying a report to include for closure the Gorey Rosslare railway.  It’s hard not to be cynical about Irish Rail, its management and its practices.  Minister Shane Ross cut his political teeth on his scepticism about Irish Rail corporate governance and protection of assets.  Surely as he studies the document he’ll recall Irish Rail’s past failings and he’ll call management to book.

And account they should.  Irish Rail still operates a management based on notional districts rather than around the services they actually deliver. Irish Rail has capitulated in the freight division to road freight.  This despite the EU directive that by 2030 30% of all freight to travel over 300 Km must go by either rail or shipping.  Roll on Brexit and our need to diversify our markets beyond the UK and how are we doing so far? Well we’ve less than 0.5% so far. Irish Rail freight has just 4 customers. How can you run a business based on that? The proposal to end passenger services to Rosslare tells you all you need to know about their sense of vision post Brexit. The fundamental economics of the rail industry is that it moves freight very efficiently large distances. On top of that passenger services are the extra, not the core business.

Doubtless we’ll hear about the number of passengers on social welfare passes and the failure of the government to pay enough. Irish Rail has a point on this one, but it’s wider than social welfare passengers.  The network was cut to the bone in 60’s and that was supposed to be that. Instead there are real fears that what will be left is Dublin/Cork and Limerick with commuter services and little else. 

The failure of the operator to maintain infrastructure means that speeds on the line are dropping which means that journey times are longer when compared to motorways.

And there’s no place like home either to tell you how Irish Rail play hard and fast with figures to get the decision they need when it suits them.  About 7 years ago Irish Rail pointed up annual losses of over €2M on the Rosslare Waterford line as grounds to suspend passenger services on that route.  Key to the business plan for closure was the cost of manning 24 hours the Barrow Bridge. The signal box on the bridge controls the swing engine on the bridge allowing access to New Ross up the Barrow. The NTA allowed the company to reduce costs by scheduling the shifts on that signal box with the pilot’s hours at New Ross Harbour as part of the plan to suspend services.  Incredibly the bridge remained manned in the last 7 years by Irish Rail.

Irish Rail has failed to promote international passenger services through Rosslare Europort. You cannot buy a Sail Rail ticket from the Irish Rail website.  So is it any wonder people are flying with budget airlines when the rail operator does not compete?

The advantage of a rail network is that you can take a passenger from station to station for the same price all year round.  I don’t live close to an airport. Most airline passengers either have an inward journey to their departing airport and an outward journey when they land. Dublin Airport’s passenger numbers will this year exceed 25M. The nearest railway is about 4 miles away over open flat farmland.  Where is the vision to connect up the rail system to Dublin Airport so as to tap into that market?

And to finish off, let’s not forget that the report is based on data collected in November 2015 on the day before Storm Abigail when people were warned not to make unnecessary journeys. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so serious. However at least Minister Ross has a track record on seeing through the waffle when it comes to Irish Rail. He has a track record in business. Irish Rail is a business and needs to be run business-like.  It’ll be interesting to see his response and how he’ll deal with the issue.  It’s one thing to be a prisoner of officials, it’s another thing to have a belief.