Enterprise service to be cancelled??

[tigger1962]

Hi,
I'm not sure if this is an infrastructure area or a customer services issue. TRhis morning there was a photographer at Dundalk Station and someone was asking about the cancellation of the Enterprise service to Dublin. On talking to other people there seems to be two stories going around... One is that Translink want to cancel the enterprise service completely and the more likely scenario, that they will not be stopping at Dundalk and Drogheda any more! I'm just wondering if anyone has heard any hard facts behind this. This will be a severe blow to those who travel to Dundalk every day as outside the Enterprise services there are almost no other services stopping in Dundalk (between 8.45 and 17.15 all services are enterprise from Dublin!!) and just as few going the other way!

[Mark Gleeson]

Firstly there is an awful lot of really stupid talk going round, the trainspotter crowd seem be incredibly eager to push all kinds of rubbish.

We have heard nothing about this, the enterprise is in serious trouble we know that, the M1/A1 is killing the passenger numbers. There is now a 18 euro day return special which is fantastic value.

If stations are to be dropped Drogheda is the most likely to go as is Newry, there is a need to chop big lumps out of the journey time, most of the time saved is to be found north of the border where the track needs some serious work.

[tigger1962]

well hopefully its only a rumour... the day return is interesting... its £10 from belfast at the moment, with dundalk half way you'd think there would be a better discount...but then as it is the train is packed by Drogheda in the mornings anyway and there are usually plenty of people standing...
It's definately a lot busier than this time last year! The newer 16.50 back has gradually got worse as well, especially on a thursday/friday and some have resorted back to the 18.40/19.00 because of this. God help us when the colleges get back onstream.

[Mark Gleeson]

Translink will withdraw the discounted fares in September, that said its very complex to get the translink fare, you have to book online at least three days in advance, you are sent a voucher which you have to present at the booking office, with IE book online up to an hour before departure and collect ticket and the 18 euro fare applies to all trains

[James Shields]

The Enterprise is usually busy when I use it, even off-peak, but I don't know what it's like north of Dundalk.

I have to admit that the last time I was in Belfast I drove up just to see what the new road is like!

I think there are a lot of people who would still prefer to take the train, providing it's reasonably fast, frequent and reliable. Personally, I think it's the reliability that's killing it at the moment.

How about an hourly service, then?

[Mark Gleeson]

What we need is right now a proper clockface train every 2 hours to Belfast, a suburban train every two hours to Dundalk with a limited stopping pattern out of Dublin, so Malahide, Skerries, Balbriggan, Drogheda. Hourly to Drogheda all stops.

You can then lose the Drogheda stop off the Enterprise which saves several minutes and still not leave anyone in the lurch.

[zag]

Does anyone know if there is a family or childrens version of the €18 day return fare ?

We had planned a trip to Belfast by train a while ago but after working out how much it was going to cost for 2 adults and 2 children we decided that perhaps it would be faster and a lot cheaper to drive up instead. If there is a childrens discount also it might just make it worth our while to take a trip up before school starts again.

z

[Mark Gleeson]

Child fare under the discount is 9 euro, so 2+2 is 54 euro, cheapest family ticket is 83 euro mid week or 127 euro at weekends

[Sealink]

I moved from Belfast to London years ago, but was amazed that on a recent visit the journey times Belfast to Dublin are LONGER than ever before - and this is after the huge upgrade that happened about fifteen years ago (was it really that long ago?)

I used to get an 0800 departure from Belfast, and be in Dublin at 0955. Nowadays the 0800 departure squeezes in a stop at Portadown, to arrive at 0953. Was the upgrade worth it for this?

[Thomas Ralph]

I've been on exactly two Enterprise services that have arrived on time (within 5 minutes). On the other hand, a non-stop bus (for €8) came down in 1 hour 58 minutes.

That said I strongly doubt they'd cancel it. If NIR withdrew, would IÉ continue the service? Or perhaps would they run trains to Newry and make people go on using NIR?

[MidlandDeltic]

You can then lose the Drogheda stop off the Enterprise which saves several minutes and still not leave anyone in the lurch.

Dropping the Drogheda stop would save only 2-3 minutes at most; due to the speed restriction on the curve through the station and onto the Boyne Bridge trains have to slow to 25mph whether stopping or not.

Sean

[Thomas Ralph]

I've found most of the delays happen between Portadown and Belfast Central, when the train has a horrendous tendency of getting caught behind an NIR commuter service.