Dublin-Belfast Timetable Changes effective 16 November

[berneyarms]

I see from the Irish Rail journey planner that there are to be several changes to the Dublin-Belfast timetable effective 16 November:

Sunday times are getting spread out through the day a bit better, while the last train from Belfast on weekdays is leaving much later, presumably to enable the Intercity Railcar to get back to Dublin each night.

Sundays:
From Dublin Connolly:
Trains will depart at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00, 16:00, and 19:00

(Current departures are at 10:00, 13:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 19:00)

From Belfast Central:
Trains will depart at 09:00, 11:05, 13:05, 16:05, and 19:05

(Current departures are at 10:00, 13:00, 15:00, 16:00 and 19:00)

Monday to Saturday:
From Belfast Central: 20:05 deferred to 21:35

[Mark Gleeson]

Looks like I get to see the first coach from the refurbishment program next month.

As the refurbished coaches are not compatible with the unrefurbished ones it will be a bit of a mess in moving things around for a while with both ICR and C3K's around

[EnterpriseUser]

The Sunday changes are permanent and are designed to provide better timing throughout the day especially at lunchtime where the services at 1300 were always very heavily loaded.

The weekday change is temporary for the refurbishment period and is to allow the 1900 ex Dublin to work back that evening to Connolly Station hence the later departure time.

A 22000 class set with First Class and catering will substitute for the Enterprise set which is to be refurbished.

[Inniskeen]

Splitting the Sunday morning Belfast/Dublin service into two trains is long overdue. likewise a 1200 and 1400 service from Dublin is a welcome improvement.

Dropping the 1800 to Belfast on Sunday evenings is a none too clever move and will result in overcrowding on the 1900 and the necessity for additional relief trains.

IR/NIR should really bite the bullet and put additional resources into the service, especially at weekends.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

Splitting the Sunday morning Belfast/Dublin service into two trains is long overdue. likewise a 1200 and 1400 service from Dublin is a welcome improvement.

Dropping the 1800 to Belfast on Sunday evenings is a none too clever move and will result in overcrowding on the 1900 and the necessity for additional relief trains.

IR/NIR should really bite the bullet and put additional resources into the service, especially at weekends.

Indeed - I think they should have gone with a two hourly service in each direction - from 09:00 to 19:00 from Belfast and from 10:00 to 20:00 from Dublin. That would require one of the sets doing an additional round trip.

[Mickey H]

I just booked the 1650 ex Dublin for November 19th and according to the journey planner it is still the ordinary enterprise set with reservations only possible in coach G