Timetable consultation for DART/commuter 2016 now online

James Howard · 01-02-2016, 17:05

It would appear quite obvious that an extra 2 cars on the 17:58 would go a long way towards providing a vastly improved service towards Malahide.

But the consequences of the timetable change would effectively make the train impractical for the commute I've been doing for 12 years. In that time, my evening train option has gone from a comfortable train at exactly the right time that does the journey in an hour and 20 minutes to a choice of an uncomfortable train at exactly the right time or a two comfortable trains an hour either side of the right time, all of which take 15 to 20 minutes longer than what was achievable before Irish Rail invested tens of millions in new trains, new signalling, level crossing automation and platform lengthening. With the new timetable the 0545 from Sligo will take longer to get from Longford to Connolly than the old 0700ish service from Longford despite having 7 fewer stops.

We should have expected massive improvements in reliability due to the improvements in traction from railcars and the extra allowed journey time yet I don't really see any difference at all. This winter has been utterly awful - this morning's train was 15 minutes late yet there was no explanation or apology. This wasn't the signalling issue of the day as the train was this late by the time it got to Edgeworthstown.

The same pattern seems to have been repeated for the DART - massive investment in trains, platforms and signalling and the result of each investment seems to be a new timetable that is slower and less reliable than the previous timetable. Does the DART run any closer to timetable than it did 25 years ago when it could complete the journey in 10 minutes less time? It certainly is no more reliable than when I started commuting.

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01-02-2016, 17:05	#11
James Howard Really Really Regluar Poster Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Sligo Line Posts: 1,115	It would appear quite obvious that an extra 2 cars on the 17:58 would go a long way towards providing a vastly improved service towards Malahide. But the consequences of the timetable change would effectively make the train impractical for the commute I've been doing for 12 years. In that time, my evening train option has gone from a comfortable train at exactly the right time that does the journey in an hour and 20 minutes to a choice of an uncomfortable train at exactly the right time or a two comfortable trains an hour either side of the right time, all of which take 15 to 20 minutes longer than what was achievable before Irish Rail invested tens of millions in new trains, new signalling, level crossing automation and platform lengthening. With the new timetable the 0545 from Sligo will take longer to get from Longford to Connolly than the old 0700ish service from Longford despite having 7 fewer stops. We should have expected massive improvements in reliability due to the improvements in traction from railcars and the extra allowed journey time yet I don't really see any difference at all. This winter has been utterly awful - this morning's train was 15 minutes late yet there was no explanation or apology. This wasn't the signalling issue of the day as the train was this late by the time it got to Edgeworthstown. The same pattern seems to have been repeated for the DART - massive investment in trains, platforms and signalling and the result of each investment seems to be a new timetable that is slower and less reliable than the previous timetable. Does the DART run any closer to timetable than it did 25 years ago when it could complete the journey in 10 minutes less time? It certainly is no more reliable than when I started commuting.