MEP Ciarán Cuffe and rail campaigner Jon Worth heard from nearly 100 members of the public this week about the opportunities and challenges presented by SailRail to Europe. During two events in Dublin and Cork, audiences learned about the progress of integrated SailRail tickets, the need for more coordinated timetables, and the impact of Brexit on ferry crossings. Audiences also made calls for cheaper tickets and  improved services for foot passengers, more bus services in SailRail routes, and even a high-speed rail line across the Irish Sea. MEP Cuffe is preparing a ‘SailRail Manifesto’ on the back of the public meetings that will consolidate audience asks to improve SailRail services and help more people to make this choice of travel. He will deliver the manifesto to the key decision-makers in this area, including transport ministers in Ireland, the UK, Spain, and France. MEP Cuffe, who regularly travels back and forth from Brussels by SailRail, said:

“I am overwhelmed by the positive reaction we have received to the SailRail events. It’s clear that there is demand for better services, and that many more people want to take the slow travel route. Considerable obstacles, however, like price, timetables, and limited accessibility and public transport services to and from ports, are holding them back. These challenges can be overcome, and I look forward to delivering the demands made by our audiences to all the key players in this arena, and begin the process of improving this service for foot passengers.”

Jon Worth, a campaigner who has investigated more than 160 international railway lines in Europe as part of his #CrossBorderRail project, said:

“The problems with rail-bus-ferry connectivity have a lot in common with all the international railway problems I have investigated. There is a lot of progress you can make with a series of relatively simple and cheap changes - extending local buses to meet ferries, or making sure railway and ferry times are coordinated. Doing that means getting rail, bus and ferry companies, and political decision makers, around the table to talk to each other - and it is clear that at Ireland’s ports this has not yet happened as much as it should have.”

Grace O'Sullivan MEP chaired the Cork event in her constituency office on Washington Street, while  the Dublin meeting was held in Wynn’s Hotel on Abbey Street.