New Timetable Nov 09 - 2010

[Rashers]

Have not had a detailed look yet, but at a high level:
Good News:

No service cuts in the peak time.
With the express bus journey times now hitting heavy congestion between Blakes X, Lissenhall and the airport in the mornings, and on the quay's in the evenings, at least the trains should be quicker.

Bad News:

The journey times, which have already been extended in recent years, have had another few minutes added to them - why? They were already heavily padded, with waits between Connolly and Malahide in the mornings and evenings.
The few fast trains that ran in the past now stop en route (18.40 ex Connolly- Drogheda, now stops at additional stations = longer journey times), or have strange journey times:

Example: 20.20 ex Connolly, calls at 5 stations, before arriving into Skerries 32 mins later. 20.30 ex Connolly, runs express to Skerries, yet journey time is 32 mins??? This used to take 25 minutes, so how did it gain an extra 7 minutes (or in other words = 28% disimprovement in journey time :mad: )

I hope the service gaps on the Saturday services will finally be addressed, and with better pricing, we could finally start to see people using the Saturday services.

[tigger1962]

and the 18.40 no longer goes to Dundalk!! :mad:

[bookworm]

What are they thinking? I will have to get to the station 5 minutes earlier to arrive at the same time as usual (or later). The 17:13 from Pearse will get in 5 minutes than it used to. That's at least 10 more minutes a day wasted.

There are no express trains at commuter times - the closest thing used to be the 17:13 from Pearse but it's now slower due to the addition of an extra stop. It will probably be more crowded too.

The 6:45am from Balbriggan has 2 extra stops but the timetable says it will get in 1 minute earlier?!

Many users found out that the train was not the fastest way to Dublin during the bridge collapse fiasco. And this is supposed to help win us back?

In my opinion the answer is smaller more frequent trains with less stops each. The reason the temporary bus service was so successful was because everyone got a seat, there was very little waiting time between buses and there were no stops on the way.

Also, almost every day an unscheduled dart pulls into Pearse station minutes before the 17:13 train is due. This has the affect of slowing the train to a crawl all the way to Howth junction.

I think this could be the final straw for me. Private bus services are finally looking good. I certainly will not be putting in my order for an annual ticket just yet.

[tigger1962]

what they have basically done in the northern line is added Portmarnock/Malahide which have a good dart service and made the journeys 10 minutes longer to the rest of the northern line.. No doubt to allow for them normally being late anyway. the only service that has remained unchanged timewise is the enterprise service, which is going to get much busier.

I'd have switched to private bus service already only my work place won't deal with anyone except taxsaver.ie! But its beginning to look like even the CIE Bus Service will be better than Irish Rail from Dundalk!

[tigger1962]

I don't suppose anyone knows if the new Bus Service From Dundalk (06.15) from the station is still running? After this morning i think I'll have no choice but to switch to bus!

[Junior]

Does the change in the 6:15 from Balbriggan to the City effect anybody else now that it terminates in Connolly instead of Pearse? This is putting about 20 minutes on my journey. Can anything be done about this?

[roamling]

what they have basically done in the northern line is added Portmarnock/Malahide...

actually for some people, me ;), that is something positive. I work in Clontarf. Until now I needed to travel from Lusk into Connolly and then back to Clontarf. With the new arrangements my travel time drops by a whopping 15mins.

[tigger1962]

yeah but it pisses off those who used to get off at Howth Junction and now have to get off at portmarnock or travel to connolly.. :(

[James Shields]

I'm sitting in Connolly, waiting for the 22:32 to Dundalk, and as I watch the monitorm the 22:24 to Malahide is getting later and later (currently 22:29). The result will be that there is no buffer between the twom so the Dundalk train will crawl the whole way to Malahide.

There no traines between the 22:09 and 22:24 DARTs. Would it not have been incredibly simple to make the Dundalk train depart Connolly at 22:20, so that it is in front of the Malahide DART?