https://www.facebook.com/groups/367387502018/permalink/10157684182557019I will confess to being very keen on this one ... it strikes me amongst all the excellent proposals I hear about to be double or treble times excellent.

South East on Track campaigns for better rail services across the South East of Ireland
Updates business case via
https://southeastontrack.com/business-case (and I am mirroring it)
The Rosslare & Wexford – Waterford Rail line closed in 2010 during the Global Financial Crisis
• Low Passenger numbers were cited as the reason for closure.
• The service was minimal (one train a day each direction) and provided no commuter service to/from Wexford Town, the main Commuting destination of the region.
• The rail link has immense strategic value, linking Rosslare Europort to the South and West of Ireland, as well as being the only link apart from the Phoenix Park Tunnel which links the Connolly & Heuston Station rail networks.
• Commuter flows along the line are 3:1 in the Wexford Town vs Waterford City direction.
• Significant population increases are projected in the South East over the coming decades.
• The area currently has some of the lowest Public Transport commuter usage in the State.
• The line has been maintained since 2010, though this maintenance has been downgraded as of 20204.
• Estimated costs of refurbishment to passenger rail standard vary from €29 million - €72 million.
• The estimated cost (using EU» figures) to build a new rail link would be approximately €652 million.
• The line could be restored and upgraded for regular passenger service at a fraction of this cost.
• Severance of the rail link would leave Wexford Town the only urban area in the NUTS II Southern Region of Ireland with a population of greater than 15,000 not connected to Waterford and the rest of the Southern Region via a direct rail link.
• Significant developments are planned close to or on the rail line, including the North Quays project in Waterford City, Trinity Wharf in Wexford, Technological University of the South East (TUSE) in Waterford, Wexford, and Carlow and significant investment and increased ferry connectivity at Rosslare Europort.
• South East on Track’s analysis suggests an annual usage of 500,000 is feasible in the short to medium term.
• A rail link from Wexford/Rosslare to Waterford is consistent with a plethora of strategic and policy goals at European, National, Regional, and Local levels.
Reaching the Irish Parliament too. Good. Seanad Éireann debate - Friday, 26 Feb 2021
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2021-02-26/13/Senator Ó Donnghaile spoke about a high-speed rail project and it will be part of a much wider rail review for the country. It is not just about Dublin, Belfast and Cork. We agreed to extend it to Derry and look at its potential. A number of Senators have raised the question of the likes of the western rail corridor. It is not just the N24 we need to look at but we must look at what to do with the rail line from Wexford to Waterford and Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Cahir, Tipperary town, Bansha and upwards. It is not just 19th century market towns that are our legacy. We have a legacy of being the best rail builders in the world and there are strands of rail line left that we are not using, in effect. Nobody really uses it because it is not designed to be used. It is still there and just giving up on those assets would make questionable sense. The Dublin to Belfast route will come under that wider rail review taking place this year.