Life In One Fast Lane

Early starts and commuting has become the norm in a modern Ireland including the garden county with its proximity to County Dublin and the capital city. Its not unusual to hear colleagues relate stories on how their day starts at five-thirty if they want to include the luxury of a wake up shower and breakfast be it a full one or just a hot cup of tea on the run before scrambling for the car or train station. People no longer cringe at the thought of spending two hours in traffic just to get their weary bodies and minds behind a desk before launching into a days workload and more stress.

I myself remember commuting out of Arklow on the six fifty five train when working in Bray. The experience was mirrored in the faces of dozens of other victims of necessity contributing to the booming Celtic Tiger and driving the economy relentlessly on with their individual contributions

All On Board

to the greater marketplace. They worked hard and paid their taxes and could deservedly feel proud with their contribution. This is not to say the travelling experience was always free of unexpected surprises along the way. In actuality if you ask any frequent commuter risking his or her hard earned money on a ticket to ride our rail net work they can all tell a tale or two of delays encountered, or trains just not even getting out of the station.

In fairness the reliability factor on the county's network has improved and inroads are being made to bring the rail service up to a standard that somewhat mirrors that of other services on the continent. The main East Coast line running from Dublin's Connolly station down the coast through County Wicklow to Rosslare in Wexford becomes a one-line system after Bray station. Bray station dates from 1854 and represented the cutting edge of railway technology at the time and indeed was a flagship for Victorian rail engineering capability. Beyond this point travelling south the network operates on a single line system which by any stretch of the imagination is hopelessly outdated with inter-city trains having to wait at nominated stations along the route to facilitate the passing of another oncoming train before it can continue on its journey. Ask any self respecting commuter on the Arklow to Dublin Connolly line about their train pulling into a station on the way and having to wait what would appear to be an eternity before the reason necessitating this delay pulls into the station puffing and groaning before grinding to an abrupt halt.

It boggles the imagination to think of the time that could be saved if we had a twin rail-track system in place on this particular high-density commuter route. Years of non investment and

Lets Gets On Track

inherent bad planning have left us on the east coast and indeed the rest of the country with a rail network that at times is simply embarrassing if not down right dangerous. The need for a twin track system on the Rosslare-Dublin line would appear to be obvious when all factors relating to efficient timetables and safety are taken into account. Iarnrod Eireann's On Track 2000 network and rolling stock programme is indeed addressing many inherient and difficult problems nationwide. It is an ambisious and admirable project and the results are beginning to show themselves in the guise of new and revamped stations and rolling stock.

The problems they are addressing are nearly of Titanic proportions when one reflects on the destruction that was inflicted on the rail network here in County Wicklow and again nationally. And this does not even take into account what happened to a wonderful and extensive tram system in our capital city. Surely it is time that serious consideration was given to a twin track system on our East Coast especially in light of our recent aquired wealth and the thousands of commuters now more than ever using this preferred mode of transport. Lets face it, this is of fundamental necessity to them and why not spend their hard earned taxes on providing a modern, efficient, and safe means of getting them to their end destination. They more than deserve it!