Travel Experiences - Post Malahide Viaduct Collapse

[ThomasJ]

how about a 33b to swords main street then a 102 to malahide DART station?

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/Your-Jour...imetables/102/

(Check the times for buses heading towards sutton station, there seems to be only 4 or 5 stages between swords main street and malahide station just check timings)

[James Shields]

Originally Posted by The Kew Tour

Is there any reason why the shuttle bus from Donabate is not running between 9 and 4? It took me 2 and a half hours to get from Raheny to Donabate today. This is unacceptable. There seems to be a common view that rail users only go into Connolly.

I totally agree with you - it may only be a minority of passengers, but it has a huge impact on them. The train needs to run Dundalk-Donabate and there needs to be a bus connection between Donabate and Malahide or Howth Junction.

[Mark Gleeson]

Howth Junction is probably the better option, as you can dash down the N32 and shock use the bus lane!

[irishsaint]

got a bus at 6:50 from connolly, in drogheda now and no enterprise to be seen. so much 4 the info desks assurances that it would wait for all the busses from dublin.... i hate irish rail...

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by The Kew Tour

Is there any reason why the shuttle bus from Donabate is not running between 9 and 4? It took me 2 and a half hours to get from Raheny to Donabate today. This is unacceptable. There seems to be a common view that rail users only go into Connolly. I have a meeting tomorrow again in Raheny at 12 o clock and I've been told that the best way for me to get there is to get the 33b to Swords, then a separate bus into town and then either a Dart or a bus to Raheny. Now excuse my French but somebody somewhere is having a f*****g laugh. Are Irish Rail and Dublin Bus really that ignorant of an entire community?

The issue of people traveling the 'wrong way' has been put to Irish Rail, not everyone is going to the city, there are numerous other journey options.

We are looking for a rail service between Drogheda and Donabate with a bus transfer from there to Malahide or Howth Junction (looks better), plus express buses from Drogheda and Donabate to the city which would cover all angles

[tigger1962]

in relation to the enterprise... as i said earlier I was on the "16.20" service from Drogheda which left at 16.15! I queried the onboard supervisor as to why it left 5 minutes earlier that the timetable... he stated that he left on time according to his timetable not Irish Rail timetable. He wasn't told to wait for any further buses from Dublin!

It might not be IE's fault for the train not being held! It actualy be translink!!

[Colm Moore]

There is some screwing around on the Enterprise timetable - both operators add time at the end so they are less likely to be "late".

[Aphfaneire]

Nice to see that Balbriggan is getting it's own service.


It seems my mother and myself chose the wrong way to get in, but it's cheaper for me, my mother looses out because she has a yearly ticket.



The 16.20 101 from Busaras was a chartered Coach, despite earlier suggestions of a Double Decker by my bus driver this morning. It was larger capacity, around 60 to 70. And guess what, 85% were all bound for Balbriggan.

In the end only 9 people got off at Drogheda, and we ended up being mere minute's metre's behind the bus that left 10 minutes earlier for parts of the route.

The adding of the port tunnel and M1 only for large sections increased the time of the route.


The idea that the bus was souley abused by lost and confused Balbriggan Residents really pissed me off. It's almost as bad as Malahide people sitting on commuter service's! Some people live at the end of the line!!!!!!!

[citizens7]

The timetable for drogheda to dundalk doesn't seem to have been following at all today based on comments in this thread and my own experience. I got on a bus at connolly which left at 16:33 today, it arrived into Drogheda at 17:16 (not bad). I then assumed I had to wait for the 18:00 commuter service to Dundalk as per timetable, but I was told there was an Enterprise due in at 17:30 but it was running late and should arrive about 17:45, I was also told that the 18:00 commuter wouldn't actually be leaving until 18:30, so no train was due to leave at 18:00.

We got on Enterprise at 17:52 and waited 10 minutes for other buses to arrive before it departed. So door to door 2hrs 50mins (usually 1hrs 35mins).

Question is why does the timetable (drogheda to dundalk) not include the Enterprise train times and why (on the first day) are the changing the timetable on the fly !

Also, and I asked this in earlier post, why can't the run 2 4-car trains up and down from Drogheda to Dundalk every half hour, that way they don't have to keep holding trains waiting for buses (other than Enterprise), there were 2 trains sitting idle in Drogheda while I waited 45 mins. they could have been up and back again (well nearly !).

[irishsaint]

the 7 enterprise left drogheda at 8:40... pity anyone who had to get the 8:45.... must have been very late? did anyone get the 4:50? what time did that leave drogheda? an excuse for late departures of enterprise trains from drogheda is refueling.. apparently, as its the only station with refueling capabilities now that the enterprise stops at, it has to travel from platform 1 down the line, change over and come back in by the fuel pumps... then vice versa. refueling takes 15mins apparently
but because of trains to from skerries, this is causing delays in the enterprise refuelling as it has to wait before crossing lines

[chris]

I was on the 16:50. Coach transfer to Drogheda went pretty smoothly, but the Enterprise didn't show until 17:45 and didn't leave until 17:55. There were further delays on the route like a door not closing at Newry and having to wait for Platform 1 at Portadown which brought the delay up to around 45 mins.

Not sure if the limited Enterprise sets north of the border can cope with what seems like a very tight timetable. Mark, is there any need to bring in a 6 car CAF set into the equation to improve punctuality? Passengers at Newry were pretty annoyed to be kept waiting for so long this evening, and I wasn't pleased but not surprised that there was no local connection waiting at Portadown

[Mark Hennessy]

Letter in the Times today about the Balbriggan situation.

Anyone know how the new direct buses from Balbriggan fared today?

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...253192535.html

Madam, – As a resident of Balbriggan, Co Dublin, I was very disappointed on Monday morning to see that no decent structure had been put in place to accommodate rail commuters affected by the recent disruption at Malahide Estuary.

Dublin Bus can provide only extra buses from Skerries, so commuters have to make their way via rail/bus to Skerries and then walk to the Texaco Station to board the 33X. My journey from Balbriggan to Grand Canal Dock via bus and rail took two hours 30 minutes – including a lovely tour of north county Dublin.
...

[Thomas Ralph]

I have someone in work who got a bus from Balbriggan at 0645 and was in the city centre for 0730. Probably not representative, but an improvement on what was there before.

[RHanaway]

Things went smoothly this morning, I got the 8:00 bus from Drogheda and got off at 8:55, however the driver took us on a circuitous route out on to Amiens street rather that dropping us at the car park at the back of the station (different than yesterday when the driver had to ask for directions after exiting the port tunnel).

I see IR throwing out a figure of 3 months here( ) for bridge repair. Surely this needs to be more realistic, so people can plan long term arrangements with winter approaching.

[RHanaway]

Surely IE could run trains ar far as donabate with a direct feed to Malahide, am I missing something here bridge is the issue, it's less than 12k on a shuttle bus, huge impact on malahide though?

And we're not the only ones having problems http://www.independent.ie/photo-gall...s-1864551.html

[Mark Gleeson]

Best go to Howth Junction, better road access, more frequent trains.

[Audrey]

Hi all,

I got a 6.55 coach from Balbriggan train station and made it to connolly at 7.30. fantastic!

There were 4 coaches in the car park waiting for commuters to arrive, soon as full they took off so it wasn't really as scheduled on their leaflets (6.30,7.00, 7.30 etc) Made it to my desk for 7.50 in D.8.
I hope IE continue this level of service for Balbriggan as I am very happy with the journey time.

We'll see how the return journey goes, it would be nice for a 4.30 return to balbriggan but sure I can't really complain as long as i don't have to use the 33 service.

[OisinDunne]

First Day -
Left Bettystown @ 6:45 for 7 am bus in Drogheda
Arrived Dublin - 7:55
Went for Dart to Grand Canal - Had to wait 16 mins due to timetabled Northern trains that are now not arriving

Arrived in office @ 8:30

Left @ 4 and walked to Connolly and got the 16:30 bus to Drogheda
Arrived at 17:15
Picked up car and back in Bettystown by 17:30.

Not too impressed with trains back to Laytown in evening which is why I drove to Drogheda. Schedule says 17:30 and then 19:30 but they put on a 18:30 one but can't confirm if it is going to be a permanent feature.

Not a fan of bus due to inconsistancy with traffic but I have to say this, if these bus times can be maintained from Drogheda, why bother fixing the viaduct.

Bus is quicker & you'll always get a seat.

2nd day - Same bus from Drogheda, same arrival time in Dublin but this time walked to Grand Canal in 20 minutes. At office by 8:15.

I know the fine weather and school holidays make a difference but all is OK so far. Will try the Laytown - Drogheda train service tomorrow and see how it works out.


There is 1 thing that IR should look at and that is contracting Matthews Coaches to accept Rail tickets. For some commuters, it would benifit and may remove the need to hire an entire bus at the €600 per day cost.

[irishsaint]

Originally Posted by chris

Not sure if the limited Enterprise sets north of the border can cope with what seems like a very tight timetable. Mark, is there any need to bring in a 6 car CAF set into the equation to improve punctuality? Passengers at Newry were pretty annoyed to be kept waiting for so long this evening, and I wasn't pleased but not surprised that there was no local connection waiting at Portadown

In relation to this, how feesable would it be for Irish rail to extend its commuter service from Newry - Drogheda and Drogheda - Newry? Translink could run enterprises and cafs from Belfast to Newry and Newry - Belfast.

Basically if they extended the 6:35 from dundalk to 6:15 start in Newry and 07:16 from dundalk to a 6:55 start in newry would mean a huge amount for the commuters relying on the enterprise which barely makes connolly for 9:30 now. worse expected when schools get back.

Other direction, extend the 18:00 from drogheda to newry and translink pick up with a caf from newry at 18:45? It gives a few extra options for us and at least I wouldnt be getting into work at 10:00am

[Mark Gleeson]

Safety rules prohibit the use of the 29k fleet into Northern Ireland, they lack UK cab signaling equipment, only a small fleet of locomotives and 6 of NIR 3Ck's carry both Irish and UK cab signaling equipment.

We have suggested to Irish Rail to either borrow the NIR gatwick set or to reinstate a set of Mk3 coaches lying in Dundalk to service and borrow locomotive 112 from NIR