More mis-use of railcar sets
 

Observed today
1505 Sligo 29026
1512 M3 22013!!!
1637 Rosslare 29029

WHY?

The 1700 from Sligo and hence probably the 1305 from Connolly were 29k (4 cars) on Tuesday. I also saw a 6-car 22k running the 1810 to Maynooth over the last few week (I think it was Monday).

They have also been slipping the odd 29k in for the 1805 to Longford over the last couple of weeks. While Longford in a 29k isn't overly a hardship, this is by far the busiest service for commuters and this train has limited stops so is far better as a 22k.

Heading the 'wrong way' through the peak this evening, I saw

1638 Pearse Maynooth- 3car 22000
1644 Pearse Drogheda- 2x3car 22000 (and seemed to be overcrowded at Tara St.)

One of the Premier sets was on the 1600 to Sligo today, the catering area looked to shuttered closed.

I got the 1644 Drogheda from Pearse to Connolly a week ago today and it was overcrowded at Tara Street than as well. The 22s are not suitable for this type of commuter service. One small door at the end of each car makes for very slow boarding. The translink CAF sets have a much better layout in this respect

The had a premier set on for the 0545 on Tuesday which happens from time-to-time. They never have the catering area open as presumably there is no staff for it.

Irish Rail should use the 22ks currently allocated to the northern line to provide limited stop express services and try to regain some of the higher revenue passengers they have lost in recent years as a result of greatly improved alternative road options and the lengthy line closure associaced with the Malahide viaduct collapse.

Are the paths available to make them truly limited stop though?

The trick is to run a semi-fast in the shadow of a slow and vice versa. So:

1. At XX00 a semi-fast would leave the outer terminus, serve the main stops and arrive at its destination just behind a stopping service

2. At XX05 a stopping service would leave the outer terminus, serving all stops.

3. At XX30 a semi-fast would leave the outer terminus, serve the main stops and arrive at its destination just behind the stopping service at 2 above.

A slight variant of this is the 0756 from Whitehead which serves all stops and arrives in Belfast Central at 0835 while the 0756 from Larne only serves three stops en-route and arrives at 0837.

Another manifestation is northbound on the northern line. The 0600 leaves Greystones (Connolly 0654) and arrives at Pearse at 0649 and Malahide at 0718. The 0630 from Bray arrives at Pearse at 0659. The 0709 leaves Pearse (Connolly 0715, Malahide 0730) and arrives in Drogheda at 0804. Enterprise leaves Connolly at 0735 and arrives Drogheda at 0808. This means that every station from Greystones to Newry, except Gormanston gets 'served' by that Enterprise.

Potentially, a fast service would leave Dundalk, serve Drogheda, Balbriggan, one other stop, Malahide (to feed the DART), possibly Howth Junction and then run express to Clontarf Road / Connolly. A few minutes after this service passes Drogheda, a stopping service would depart Drogheda, stopping at all stops to Malahide (possibly serving Portmarnock / Clongriffin / Howth Junction) and then run express to Clontarf Road / Connolly.