Irish Railways - Fencing requirement?

[najaB]

This week I got the Fishguard-Rosslare ferry and then the train to Dublin. It's a really good line, very picturesque! One thing I did notice is that they seem to have a lot more relaxed attitude to the fencing in of the railway as compared to the UK. I would have thought that the railways in Ireland would've been subject to the same regulations as the UK up until Irish independence - is it the case that the UK has gotten more strict, or has Ireland become less strict.

Case in point, this Google Street View image of the mainline running through Wexford. I'm pretty sure that the UK they would have to fence it in and have gates on the level crossing. And it's not a short stretch of track either, from the level crossing there's the best part of three-quarters of a kilometre of track running along side the car park/quayside.

 

[MarkyT]

. . . mainline running through Wexford. I'm pretty sure that the UK they would have to fence it in and have gates on the level crossing. And it's not a short stretch of track either, from the level crossing there's the best part of three-quarters of a kilometre of track running along side the car park/quayside.

Wexford is very unusual in Ireland. The rest of the network is fully fenced and gated just like the UK on which its rules and regulations are based unsurprisingly. Think of Wexford as much like Weymouth Quay tramway, but still surviving as part of a through route.

 

[najaB]

Think of Wexford as much like Weymouth Quay tramway...

Without any of (literal) bells, whistles or lights. Just a low (10mph?) speed limit. I was quite surprised by it - in a pleasant way don't get me wrong!

 

[harry42]

Wow, that street view is amazing!

 

[najaB]

Wow, that street view is amazing!

If you ever have a day and a half to kill and want to see some slightly different traffic, I'd highly recommend doing a SailRail to Ireland and back. Time it so that you get a few hours kip on the late ferry from Fishguard, a few hours in Dublin and then head back home on the 15:30 sailing.

I did Dundee-Fishguard-Rosslare and Dublin-Holyhead-Dundee and it only cost £86 - though I did get the 2:15am sailing back across.The annoying thing is that there's no ticket machine at Rosslare Harbour so you'd have to pay the walk-up fare of €27 instead of the online €9.99 fare.

 

[harry42]

If you ever have a day and a half to kill and want to see some slightly different traffic, I'd highly recommend doing a SailRail to Ireland and back. Time it so that you get a few hours kip on the late ferry from Fishguard, a few hours in Dublin and then head back home on the 15:30 sailing.

I did Dundee-Fishguard-Rosslare and Dublin-Holyhead-Dundee and it only cost £86 - though I did get the 2:15am sailing back across.The annoying thing is that there's no ticket machine at Rosslare Harbour so you'd have to pay the walk-up fare of €27 instead of the online €9.99 fare.

Thanks! I might PM you later this year...sounds like a good trip

 

[jamesontheroad]

Wow, that street view is amazing!

There are a few recent videos on YouTube to illustrate the (nearly) on-street running of the line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OmKObYwnpc

 

[najaB]

There are a few recent videos on YouTube to illustrate the (nearly) on-street running of the line.

Wow, the lights weren't flashing for long before the train passed. And about that car that darted across a good five seconds AFTER the lights started flashing!

 

[IR-Mark4/ICR]

Wow, the lights weren't flashing for long before the train passed. And about that car that darted across a good five seconds AFTER the lights started flashing!

Would make no difference if the lights started flashing 2 or 3 minutes before the train came. People would still go across with seconds to spare.

 

[Eire Sprinter]

If you ever have a day and a half to kill and want to see some slightly different traffic, I'd highly recommend doing a SailRail to Ireland and back. Time it so that you get a few hours kip on the late ferry from Fishguard, a few hours in Dublin and then head back home on the 15:30 sailing.

I did Dundee-Fishguard-Rosslare and Dublin-Holyhead-Dundee and it only cost £86 - though I did get the 2:15am sailing back across.The annoying thing is that there's no ticket machine at Rosslare Harbour so you'd have to pay the walk-up fare of €27 instead of the online €9.99 fare.

It's possible to avail of the 9.99 fare from Rosslare Harbour - just print off the booking confirmation.

A ticket vending machine is shortly to be introduced at the station. The base for the machine is already in place.

5mph limit along Wexford Quay. Years ago I understand there were incidents with shopping trolleys and cars too close/on the line.

Until the 1970s there was a second station in Wexford named Wexford South and located just a few hundred metres the Rosslare side of the quayside section.

 

[najaB]

It's possible to avail of the 9.99 fare from Rosslare Harbour - just print off the booking confirmation.

I wish that Iarnród Éireann had told me that when I tweeted them to ask, their answer was to buy on the train! Oh well, live and learn - thanks for the heads up and the additional info.

 

[Eire Sprinter]

No problem. Another potentially useful piece of info is that SailRail tickets are available from stations here to stations in Wales/England/Scotland via Rosslare-Fishguard.

 

[IKBrunel]

It seems to me that many places in Europe don't have the amount of fencing we do around railway lines. plenty of places in Germany & France with no fence at all, with trains doing significantly more than 10mph.

 

[scotsman]

Wow, the lights weren't flashing for long before the train passed. And about that car that darted across a good five seconds AFTER the lights started flashing!

Doesn't hugely matter at that location as much as it does at others - excellent sighting, short distance to the crossing, very low line speed.

 

[Aictos]

In the US, they don't have much in the way of fencing as it's common sense you don't mess around on the railway, just a whole different culture over there.

 

[feline1]

A couple of weeks ago I hired a narrowboat on the Royal Canal, which has a railway line running beside it for most of the way. There were several sections where there was no particular fencing at all on the off-side of the canal (i.e. not the towpath side).
In principal, in an emergency you might want to moor your boat on the offside and step off onto the bank... on occasions there was just a few yards of vegetation separating the canal and the track.
More than one train driver waved at our boat, I like to think we brightened up their day