A Chara, - I strongly agree with Michael O'Donovan's comments (January 6th) on the poor standard of the Rosslare to Dublin railway. It was interesting that his letter appeared on the same day as an advertisement in your paper for rail fare increases.
As a frequent user of that line, I have found the carriages often dirty; when compared with trains on the Dublin-Belfast, Dublin-Cork or Dublin-Galway route, ours are clearly the poor relation. Having travelled on trains throughout Europe, I can say that there is no worse service than Dublin-Rosslare.
Iarnrod Eireann's Customer Charter asks customers to leave the toilets as they find them. It is virtually impossible to leave the toilets on the Rosslare train in a worse state than they are always to be found. The toilets are frequently blocked and, as Michael O'Donovan mentioned, the washbasins rarely have water.
Iarnrod Eireann argues that there is less investment in this line than the others I mentioned above because fewer people use the service. Surely it is not surprising that people are reluctant to use this mode of travel when the service on the Rosslare line has disimproved in recent years and shows no signs of getting better.
I have no objection to paying a higher fare if there is a better service. Given experience, I doubt that this will be the case. - Is mise,
Malcolm Byrne, Ramsfort Avenue, Gorey, Co Wexford.