AFTER OPERATING for more than 100 years, the rail line linking Waterford city and Rosslare has finally ceased service. From this morning, passengers on the route, which served villages along the south Wexford coast, will have access to a new bus service operated by Bus Éireann.
There was sadness and nostalgia at Waterford’s Plunkett Station on Saturday afternoon as passengers arrived for the final departure at 5.20pm. Train driver Michael Hanrahan (54) who has worked with the railways for 36 years said it was “a sad day”.
Irish Rail had added extra carriages in anticipation of heavy public demand but just over 100 people boarded the last train which left half-full.
Passengers included Mary Curtis-Doyle (52), Ferrycarrig, Co Wexford, a regular user of the service, who had “decided to leave the housework and come to say goodbye”. She would “reluctantly” use the replacement bus service but will miss the train which “is a much nicer way to travel”.
Rail enthusiast Mark Merrigan (40), a member of the Irish Railway Record Society, had driven down from Dublin for the occasion because it was the only line in Ireland he had never travelled on before. He was saddened by the closure but hoped that “like the Western Rail Corridor it will come into its own again”.
Bridget Power (85), Cheekpoint, Co Waterford, recalled taking the train for the first time in 1946 and her brother-in-law Dick Power (86) said his mother was on the first train in 1906.
Kieran Cronin (46), accompanied by his son PJ (6) and daughter Jina (3), from Ballycullane, Co Wexford, remembered travelling into Waterford as a child every December 8th for the Christmas shopping.
On the platform, Irish Rail customer services official Pat Stephens said the scene was "like the cowboy film Last Train from Gun Hill", a reference to the 1959 Western starring Anthony Quinn and Kirk Douglas.
Irish Rail said the service, which had operated with just one train a day in each direction on weekdays only attracted a daily average of 25 passengers and had lost most of its freight business.
Tanya Fenelon, a spokeswoman for Save the Rail Group, who made the final journey, said there was still some hope that a private operator might take over the service.