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James Howard · 04-09-2010, 15:05

I would concur that you can definitely beat journey times in the car. I can manage door-to-door from Ardagh, Co. Longford to work on Sir John Rogersons quay in about 90 minutes outside of rush hour - the recession helps a lot here. But of course, I currently travel at rush hour so that isn't much use. The fastest I can do it on the train including travel time at either end is almost exactly 2 hours. So car beats train for raw time (but not for useful time as I can spend the 90 minutes on the train usefully engaged).

I do agree that running times are going to become a serious competitive issue for Irish Rail over the next few years given that the average speed possible on the roads has gone from about 45 MPH to 60 - 65 MPH. The morning commuter trains from Longford manage about 35 MPH average and the intercity trains manage a whopping 45 MPH. I read a couple of years ago that the running times are about 1 minute slower than the express trains from 1906. They were a lot worse in the early 90's but the fact remains that the Sligo line has had new track, signals, rolling stock and about half of the level crossings automated over the last 10 years. There has been an improvement with the 6:58 from Longford being replaced by an express but the the 6:15 is now 4 or 5 minutes slower to Pearse than it was five years ago. Similarly, the 18:05 to Longford takes 5 or 6 minutes longer than the old 18:10 intercity service that it replaced.

But cost is a different matter entirely. With an old petrol car, you are looking at about 30 euro in fuel, 6 euro in tolls, about 25 euro a day to park in town plus 15 quid in maintenance. Which give you a total of 76 euro or 51 if you have "free" parking. A modern diesel car will save you a tenner in fuel and a fiver in maintenace but add about 20 euro in depreciation.

By comparison the train will cost 2 euro for parking, 2 for fuel to the station and somewhere around (I am not actually sure what the fare is as I have a pass) 30 euro on a day return. (or about 7 after tax on an annual pass).

So the train cost is either 11 euro for a commuter or 34 for a walk-up passenger. If you have more than three people travelling then the car makes more sense cost-wise for a walk-up but not for a commuter.

04-09-2010, 15:05	#16
James Howard Really Really Regluar Poster Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Sligo Line Posts: 1,115	I would concur that you can definitely beat journey times in the car. I can manage door-to-door from Ardagh, Co. Longford to work on Sir John Rogersons quay in about 90 minutes outside of rush hour - the recession helps a lot here. But of course, I currently travel at rush hour so that isn't much use. The fastest I can do it on the train including travel time at either end is almost exactly 2 hours. So car beats train for raw time (but not for useful time as I can spend the 90 minutes on the train usefully engaged). I do agree that running times are going to become a serious competitive issue for Irish Rail over the next few years given that the average speed possible on the roads has gone from about 45 MPH to 60 - 65 MPH. The morning commuter trains from Longford manage about 35 MPH average and the intercity trains manage a whopping 45 MPH. I read a couple of years ago that the running times are about 1 minute slower than the express trains from 1906. They were a lot worse in the early 90's but the fact remains that the Sligo line has had new track, signals, rolling stock and about half of the level crossings automated over the last 10 years. There has been an improvement with the 6:58 from Longford being replaced by an express but the the 6:15 is now 4 or 5 minutes slower to Pearse than it was five years ago. Similarly, the 18:05 to Longford takes 5 or 6 minutes longer than the old 18:10 intercity service that it replaced. But cost is a different matter entirely. With an old petrol car, you are looking at about 30 euro in fuel, 6 euro in tolls, about 25 euro a day to park in town plus 15 quid in maintenance. Which give you a total of 76 euro or 51 if you have "free" parking. A modern diesel car will save you a tenner in fuel and a fiver in maintenace but add about 20 euro in depreciation. By comparison the train will cost 2 euro for parking, 2 for fuel to the station and somewhere around (I am not actually sure what the fare is as I have a pass) 30 euro on a day return. (or about 7 after tax on an annual pass). So the train cost is either 11 euro for a commuter or 34 for a walk-up passenger. If you have more than three people travelling then the car makes more sense cost-wise for a walk-up but not for a commuter.