Sir, – The proposal to terminate Wexford to Dublin trains at Greystones or Wicklow exposes a poor understanding of railway operations in addition to a casual disregard for service quality (“NTA considering proposals to end direct rail services between Wexford and Dublin”, News, April 2nd). It is the same approach as the proposal to terminate Howth trains at Howth Junction. Following this logic, Sligo trains wouldn’t get beyond Maynooth, Belfast trains (like Wexford trains already suffering congestion-related journey time penalties) wouldn’t get beyond Drogheda. Rather than providing clearly necessary additional tracks, loops, platforms and other infrastructure, the National Transport Authority (NTA) preference appears to be to cannibalise longer-distance services to facilitate Dart timetable patterns that, ironically, deliver little or no additional core peak capacity.
The proposals in respect of Wexford line trains will, apart from inconvenience and extended journey times, result in uncertainty regarding connections and create new disruptive dependencies between Dart and Wexford trains. How long will trains wait for each other? If the Dart is disrupted, will the Wexford train continue or will passengers just have to wait?
The NTA needs to do better than this nonsense. – Yours, etc,
ANTHONY GRAY,
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Drogheda,
Co Louth.
