The Wexford-Rosslare-Waterford Rail Corridor is unique in Ireland as it provides a vital link to two major ports - Rosslare Europort and Waterford Bellview - this gives the South East of Ireland a fantastic advantage in a post COVID-19 Environment.

The following case for Rail Freight is quoted from the South East Regional Authority’s Case for the Rosslare-Waterford-Limerick Rail Corridor (2010)

The proportion of freight being carried on rail in Ireland is substantially lower than in most other European countries; this may always have been the case because of the shorter distances involved, but it has also declined over the last decade or so. In 1997, 6.9% of inland freight in Ireland was carried by rail, but by 2008 this had fallen to 0.6%. This is in a period when the share of rail freight in the UK has increased slightly from 9.1% to 11.5% (13.7% in 2006).

This decline is partly attributable to Iarnród Éireann (IE) ceasing its general freight service in 2005. Iarnród Éireann is the only company which operates rail freight services in Ireland, but since 2005, it has restricted this service to full trains which are chartered by its customers. There is no third party access to the railway network, so the volume being carried today is limited. However, the volume had been steadily declining over the period of this data and had already fallen to below 3% by 2002.

In volume terms, the tonnage carried by rail in Ireland has fallen from 2.14m tonnes in 2004 to 0.72m tonnes in 2008. Extrapolating from the volume of goods transported by road in 1997 of 53.6m tonnes, the figure for rail could have been around 4m tonnes in that year. Rail freight is becoming a topical issue throughout Europe as governments look for ways to reduce their CO2 emissions and companies are faced with growing pressures to keep costs down, at a time when fuel prices are rising, as well as raising their ‘green’ credentials.

Ireland is no exception in flagging the need to reduce emissions in the transport sector; in 2009 the government noted that “At present 95% of all goods are moved by road and over 30% of transport greenhouse gas emissions are from the freight sector”. The potential for transporting freight by rail was not, however, specifically addressed although it was noted that “more research needs to be done on the freight sector before deciding on the best approach”.

Rail can play a positive role in the low carbon economy. The UK Freight on Rail group has estimated that moving freight by rail produces 70% less CO2 than the equivalent road journey.

The entire report can be read here: SERA Report 2010