New Timetable

[Commuter101]

Does anyone know when the new timetable comes into effect?


Thanks!

[Mark Gleeson]

Expect announcement end August, for implementation in early October

[Inniskeen]

IR were indicating that this TT would be implemented this Summer !

Mind you at this stage it would make sense to wait for the first phase of the city centre re-signalling (Malahide to Killester) and the commissioning of the new bay platform at Clonsilla.

[Seannew1]

Why does drogheda have a superior train service than dundalk? for example,during 3pm to 7pm,10 trains go to drogheda whereas 5 go to dundalk.I'm not in any way complaining,just a general question.Thanks

[Thomas Ralph]

Presumably because more people commute from Drogheda to Dublin than from Dundalk? And did you miss the 1650 Enterprise?

[Seannew1]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

Presumably because more people commute from Drogheda to Dublin than from Dundalk? And did you miss the 1650 Enterprise?

This is certainly the case nowadays but i remember back a few years ago,passenger numbers were roughly the same.For example when the 7.10 train from dundalk pulled into drogheda a few yrs ago,it used to be nearly full,nowadays there is only about 15 people on the train when it gets into drogheda,perhaps they were unhappy with the current service but who knows.

No i included that in,3.20,4.50,5.13,5.55 and 7.00 trains serve dundalk.

[Mark Gleeson]

Its purely a demand/distance function and there is an equation which relates the journey time, frequency and population of a town to the demand it will create which was devised for Dublin some years back, so as Dundalk has a smaller population and is further away than Drogheda its demand is lower

Further out a commuter train goes, the fewer it carries and the fare for longer journeys is less than that of a shorter journey. So the cost to run further increases quickly. Some evening trains to Drogheda manage to turnaround and get back to Dublin to provide another peak hour service

There are plans for additional services on the northern line and these will be focused on Dundalk/Drogheda with limited stops and will be intercity railcars. Probably looking at something happening in 2012 on this as the trains and new signaling should be in place

[Seannew1]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Its purely a demand/distance function and there is an equation which relates the journey time, frequency and population of a town to the demand it will create which was devised for Dublin some years back, so as Dundalk has a smaller population and is further away than Drogheda its demand is lower

Further out a commuter train goes, the fewer it carries and the fare for longer journeys is less than that of a shorter journey. So the cost to run further increases quickly. Some evening trains to Drogheda manage to turnaround and get back to Dublin to provide another peak hour service

There are plans for additional services on the northern line and these will be focused on Dundalk/Drogheda with limited stops and will be intercity railcars. Probably looking at something happening in 2012 on this as the trains and new signaling should be in place

Thanks for the reply and clarification,good to hear that IE are planning something productive to bring back commuters from drogheda/dundalk,they've lost a lot of them in the past 2 yrs.

[Eamonn]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

There are plans for additional services on the northern line and these will be focused on Dundalk/Drogheda with limited stops and will be intercity railcars. Probably looking at something happening in 2012 on this as the trains and new signaling should be in place

Have you any more information on this by any chance? The train service is painfully slow at the moment and seems to be getting worse with the increased passenger numbers with the schools and colleges back.

The train that comes into Balbriggan at 07:50 is due in at Tara Street at 08:34 but it is usually late. A bus (the 101n) leaves Balbriggan 10 minutes later but regularly passes under Tara Street bridge in or around the same time as the 07:50 train even though the train only has 4 scheduled stops before Tara Street. All peak time trains going into town seem to stop at Clontarf and take an age to get through Connolly too.

On the way home I only get either the 17:16 train from Tara Street or the 18:40 from Connolly because the others are desperately slow. The 18:40 train takes 33 minutes to get to Balbriggan from Connolly whereas the 17:58 train from Tara Street takes an extra 16 minutes on good days.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Its purely a demand/distance function and there is an equation which relates the journey time, frequency and population of a town to the demand it will create which was devised for Dublin some years back, so as Dundalk has a smaller population and is further away than Drogheda its demand is lower

Further out a commuter train goes, the fewer it carries and the fare for longer journeys is less than that of a shorter journey. So the cost to run further increases quickly. Some evening trains to Drogheda manage to turnaround and get back to Dublin to provide another peak hour service

There are plans for additional services on the northern line and these will be focused on Dundalk/Drogheda with limited stops and will be intercity railcars. Probably looking at something happening in 2012 on this as the trains and new signaling should be in place

Two key points in the above post seem to be at variance with the facts.

1. The population of Dundalk (at least in the 2006 census) was actually higher than Drogheda.
   
2. On the northern line fares actually get dramatcically cheaper nearer the city (from Balbriggan and stations thereof), a long time bone of contention. Drogheda and Dundalk commuters are charged Intercity fares but are getting nothing like an Intercity quality of service having to make do with really slow trains, heavy peak period overcrowding and significant sevice gaps. Something substantially better is long overdue and is an urgent requirement if Irish Rail wishes to regain market share.