There was apparently a military railway from the Stranraer Line to Cairnryan, and although the trackbed is really hard to see on Google Earth I wonder if it would be entirely unthinkable to lay some track down again....
In a word, yes! The existing P&O port at Cairnryan covers part of the old trackbed, so even if millions were wasted rebuidling that far the railway could not reach the new Stena Lochryan port at the opposite end of the village.
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I agree with a lot that has been said this is a lovely route and traffic should be encouraged.
1. The time table say every 2 hours with a regular pattern best for locals & ferry passengers
2. Current prices do not make sense. There must be some way to take the super Strathclyde day rider ticket which is valid to Barhill and sell an add on say £5 way some agreement to share sales. This is a political problem stopping people using the train from Barrhill to Stranraer.
3. Contine to allow the rail sail tickets to be valid to Stranraer, give people the choice ride on a bus on a dangerously narrow road from Ayr or pay fo a local bus to do the last 7 miles to Cairnryan
4. Do some deal with p&o and make rail sail tickets valid on their ferries (aka the Dover - France ticket) increasing choice and giving better options less wait for the ferry
5. With a bit of creative thinking: step off the train at Stranraer, use one or two of Boris' big bendy buses to drive straight on to the ferry (security & check in could be done at Stranraer) Most people could be encouraged to get a boarding pass off the internet in advance like Easyjet. Good customer experience v now!
6. There is still demand for ferry traffic to Ireland, e.g. Both buses Glasgow to Cairnryan for the 11.30 & 15.30 ferries this Friday are already full.
7. The railway is much better at handling peak traffic at Xmas of holiday period than buses
Some answers in the same order:
1. Cannot be done without additional resource costs, which are not available.
2. Said that already!
3. A dangerously narrow road! We are talking the main A77, a trunk road used safely by many vehicles of all types every day. Maybe a slow road and an uncomfortable ride due to the many twists and turns, but dangerously narrow - no.
4. Why would P&O or Stena wish to do that when they are both trying to maximise profits for their own route. Are you not aware that there was originally a proposal to expand the P&O port site and for both to share, which they both eventually dropped rather than share?
5. The small number of foot passengers would not justify such an operation. Remember that Stena is not really interested in foot traffic, motorists are where they make their money.
6. That's approximately 100 people, nearly all of whom would always have used the coach rather than train if the ferry still docked at Stranraer. I used to use the coach from Stranraer up to Ayr on occasion, sitting outside as the ferries disgorged the foot passengers revealed just how few went to the rail station - maybe 10 or so, a few more on certain football days (because of the ability to consume alcohol on the train, which you cannot on the coaches).
7. Wherever did you get that idea from! Coach companies can and do lay on additional coaches over peak holiday periods far more easily than rail operators.
Despite all the above, I do hope that commonsense will prevail and the various parties can either be persuaded to find more resources, or better still be proactive, and come up with a viable plan to make a go of this very scenic rail line.
