Thanks for the info, Mark.
No-one is disputing the fact that these new-fangled carriages will be more comfortable, but, as a commuter (not an intercity once-off traveller), I want to spend as little time commuting as possible and get home in a timely fashion - that's much more important to me than catering facilities. As for over-crowding, that is not a concern to anyone who gets on the current 7.33 train from Mullingar as we are almost guaranteed to get a seat.
This thread is more about how the new timetable will erode some of the improvements for Mullingar commuters. We do have it better than some but worse than a lot of others.
For Mullingar->Connolly commuters, there will be an improvement in time (15 mins or so). However, the majority of Mullingar people I see disembarking from the train do so at Tara St. or Pearse (anecdotal evidence only). Any Mullingar->other stations between Maynooth and Connolly now have to disembark in Maynooth and wait 10 mins for the all-stops. I reckon this affects 10-15% of Mullingar people in my carriage. For the rest of us, a layover of 13 mins in Connolly waiting for southbound services negates the time benefit. In fact, it would be quicker for me to walk to Pearse. Glad I am paying €2350 for that privilege
Also, we now have the risk of standing all the way from Mullingar to Connolly. I suspect that there's a good chance we won't be standing, but even once a week or fortnight is far too much relative to never. The main reason I take the train over driving is to get some work done with the laptop. However, IE's penchant for filling the trains to the gills with passengers standing does not bode well for Mullingar, Enfield and Kilcock commuters.
As for the fact that the newer commuter trains and the new intercity trains are far more advanced in 'signalling', why are there are considerably more delays on the line? Now, I'm not a train signalling expert, but surely if you have total control over all trains and signalling systems in the whole network, the decision to constantly let the all-stops to Maynooth get out in front of the 1800 Longford service maybe 3-4 times a week suggests the signalling is not the issue, but the scheduling systems. In fact, the new timetable has BUILT IN the delays frequently experienced in the service: 1800 Connolly to Longford arriving in Mullingar at 1914 (was 1910), but it is rare we arrive in at 1910.
You mention that the problem with this line is the demand due to the ridiculous housing situation. I'm sorry, but by saying this, you are legitimising this 'excuse'. County council, city and local planning authorities allowed this development to happen. The Government allowed this to happen. If this was 5 years ago, I'd be all for giving them a chance to sort it out. However, it's 10 years since this thing started and 3 censuses later. We see it with the M50 fiasco - "Oh, but there are just too many cars! OMGWTF!?!". The people in charge of this have no joined up thinking, and like to trot out this excuse to protect themselves. They need to stop scrambling for this defence and do their jobs - jobs they are well paid to do. So the real underlying problem is IE's inability to respond to the change in an adequate way.
Do we have numbers from IE on the passengers at each station etc.? I'd love to be able to examine their reasoning for these changes..
Finally (sorry for the long post), thanks for the info on the Giant Hop. I do get the taxsaver as far as Lansdowne, since this is as far as the point-to-point goes without increasing the price. Does the Giant Hop cost the same as this point-to-point ticket? Because, as far as I know, for Maynooth commuters it does (for the Inner Hop).