Public Consultation PPT & Heuston Services 2016

[Kilocharlie]

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

Either way the start has been very positive although punctuality is closer to the less than stellar DART pattern than what would heretofore have been the case from Heuston.

Trains have been typically 5 mins late at Drumcondra outbound but, so far, connections with Heuston-Portlaoise trains have been made on-time, at least when I used them. I wonder what's the limit before the connection will be broken?

The PIS at Drumcondra consistently shows a Maynooth service arriving 1st and then at the last minute switches to the Hazelhatch service. I suspect the Maynooth train is held at Connolly to allow the Hatch train to keep its schedule and the tight connections.

[Jamie2k9]

Well look at the UK TOCs and you will see that they have been and still are being badly affected by leaf fall on lines that are being treated every day. The treatment helps but it doesn't eradicate it. It is still an issue and will be for a week or so more.

There shouldn't be capacity problems given the resignalling that has happened.

I accept it's a problem but given the weather it's not good enough. If it was mild and wet it would in theory be much worse but I suspect we wouldn't notice any difference...

My capacity comment was in relation to dwell times at stations and is there adequate capacity been provided.

Trains have been typically 5 mins late at Drumcondra outbound but, so far, connections with Heuston-Portlaoise trains have been made on-time, at least when I used them. I wonder what's the limit before the connection will be broken?

The PIS at Drumcondra consistently shows a Maynooth service arriving 1st and then at the last minute switches to the Hazelhatch service. I suspect the Maynooth train is held at Connolly to allow the Hatch train to keep its schedule and the tight connections.

Most likely kept until they impact a Cork service!

Like all routes they have up to 5 minutes build into schedules at the end of journey.

[Kilocharlie]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

Most likely kept until they impact a Cork service!

Like all routes they have up to 5 minutes build into schedules at the end of journey.

Exactly!

It's fairly obvious that there's a 5 min margin built into the run time between Drumcondra and Parkwest and the Portlaoise trains fairly dawdle between Fonthill and the Hatch, another 5 min delay is probably accommodated. But, as you say, once it begins to impact IC, esp Cork, then the connections will break leaving long waits for some.

[James Shields]

I got the 16:40 from GCD to Newbridge on Friday, as it happened to suit my weekend plans. Although we were about 5 mins late departing, and stopped at Heuston platform 10 for a couple of minutes, the rest of the journey ran smoothly, and the time was made back somewhere, as we arrived on time. The train was never heavily loaded, and there were plenty of empty seats, but I expect the later ones are busier. Anyway, I enjoyed taking a train through the PPT at last!

By the way, the RUI fare calculator says an adult single for this journey should be €16.75, but the TVM at GCD actually charged €14.45.

[Kilocharlie]

Originally Posted by Kilocharlie

Exactly!

It's fairly obvious that there's a 5 min margin built into the run time between Drumcondra and Parkwest and the Portlaoise trains fairly dawdle between Fonthill and the Hatch, another 5 min delay is probably accommodated. But, as you say, once it begins to impact IC, esp Cork, then the connections will break leaving long waits for some.

Last week due to the 'sygnet' fault, the 1758 GCD-Hatch was 13 mins late leaving Drumcondra, but the connection with the 1825 Heuston-Portlaoise was maintained.

Experience is showing that delays of 10mins and even longer will not result in a missed connection which is vital for the success of the route. Without this tolerance, passengers beyond Newbridge would have a 40+min wait. The next train operates to Newbridge but without connections onwards (something to fixed in the future hopefully).

[James Shields]

Considering the service has to mesh with services out of Heuston, the Maynooth line and the Northern line, and problems on any of those lines could have a knock on affect, I can see a certain amount of padding is necessary. I'm impressed that there haven't been more teething problems.

[Inniskeen]

The new services are to a great extent immune from the frequently chaotic DART operation as they only share the short section of line between Grand Canal Dock and Connolly. Provided specific connections with DART are ignored they can be easily slotted in without either causing or being the victim of undue disruption.

In fact if there is a lesson to be drawn from the new service it is probably that Irish Rail should cease to hold Drogheda, Dundalk and Maynooth trains at Pearse to follow late running DART trains and at least salvage some semblance of a of a punctual service for not DART users.

While trains like the 1650 from Bray to Drogheda are convenient for some passengers, they are continuously disrupted by DART as are the 1705 & 1735 from Bray to Maynooth.

[James Shields]

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

In fact if there is a lesson to be drawn from the new service it is probably that Irish Rail should cease to hold Drogheda, Dundalk and Maynooth trains at Pearse to follow late running DART trains and at least salvage some semblance of a of a punctual service for not DART users.

I quite agree. There's nothing more annoying than when a northern line train gets held for a Malahide DART, which can easily add 15 minutes to the arrival time at the destination.

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

While trains like the 1650 from Bray to Drogheda are convenient for some passengers, they are continuously disrupted by DART as are the 1705 & 1735 from Bray to Maynooth.

I think the argument for them has been that there isn't enough parking space for all the trains required for the evening rush hour services. However, Newbridge services manage a quick turnaround at Grand Canal dock, and there would seem to be plenty of capacity to terminate some northern line/Maynooth services there.

I think stopping the direct services from Bray would be unpopular with a lot of commuters, but might make them realise they have a choice of more than one or two trains home.

James