A touch of rail luxury with new carriages

November 1987

Wexford’s new £6 million inter-city train rolled out of Dublin on Monday on its first journey to Rosslare Harbour.

The launch by Irish Rail of the new service was the end of a long wait by the county.

For years, Wexford has had the worst rolling stock on the entire rail network. Even Rosslare’s standing as the country’s leading Euro port failed to attract anything better than the decades-old timber frame carriages.

Now Wexford’s new train has modern carriages, air conditioning and an extensive buffet car with improved catering facilities.

A second train will be introduced to the route in January and then all services in each direction will be on the new trains.

Earlier this year, Fianna Fáil Senator Seamus Cullimore described the old Park Royal carriages as ‘deathtraps’ and said it was a disgrace that Wexford was the last route in the country to get the new inter-city super trains.

‘ The [old] trains create a terrible first impression of Ireland for visitors who have just arrived at Rosslare,’ he said at the time.

This week, Senator Cullimore was one of the guests on the first service out of Dublin and said he was delighted that Wexford’s importance had finally been recognised.

Also on the inaugural run were TDs from Wexford and Wicklow, the chairman of Wexford Co. Council, and members of the Rosslare Harbour Development Committee.

Irish Rail chairman, Paul Conlon, said the new service was evidence of the company’s commitment to the line and he thanked customers for their patience in bearing with the older rolling stock for so many years.

Mr Conlon said that the new train will bring the service up to the best European standard while the provision of the catering car was meeting customer demand.

The rail service to Rosslare Harbour is now better than the service to major British ports such as Dover or Folkestone, an Irish Rail spokesman said on Monday.

Yet the Rosslare service has still been a major embarrassment for the past 18 months since the introduction of the Inter City 125 from London to Fishguard.

People who travelled from the English capital to the Welsh port had to exchange comfort and luxury at one side of the Irish Sea for primitive conditions on this side, when they boarded the train at Rosslare.

Now the gap in standards has been considerably narrowed.