[PR] Heavy Rail Census of 2012 published by National Transport Authority

[Colm Moore]

http://www.nationaltransport.ie/news...ort-authority/

Heavy Rail Census of 2012 published by National Transport Authority
20/11/13

Latest in a series of Statistical Bulletins

The National Transport Authority today (November 20th, 2013) published a summary of its Heavy Rail Census – which for the first time records information on boarding and alighting of passengers at all 147 train stations in the country on one day of the year (November 15, 2012). The Census was repeated on November 14 this year (2013), and will be repeated annually to build up a detailed picture of trends in Heavy Rail use across the network in Ireland. Prior to this, Census details were collected at Greater Dublin Area stations (Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Wicklow) only.

The main findings from the 2012 Census are:

* 124,000 rail journeys made on the day of the census
* Nearly 1 in 2 passenger journeys in the State is taken on the DART
* 83% of all journeys are taken in the Greater Dublin Area
* Connolly station is the busiest of the 147 stations in the country
* The top 10 stations account for almost 50% of all passenger traffic
* The busiest train in the country that day – with 1,427 passengers – was the 08:00 DART from Greystones to Malahide
* The busiest hour was on the Northern Line (between Dundalk and Dublin Connolly) between 08:00 and 9:00 when a total of 7,440 people were on that line, on DART, Commuter and InterCity services, travelling towards the City Centre.

Full results are available to download in the Heavy Rail Census 2012.

Also available is the Heavy Rail Census Summary November 2012 (Statistical Bulletin Number: 4).

The Heavy Rail Census Summary is the 4th in a series of Statistical Bulletins published by the Authority. Earlier Bulletins include:

* Bus Statistics for Ireland
* Rail Statistics for Ireland
* National Household Travel Survey Summary

[James Howard]

It is really quite a little rail network when a single train accounts for more than 1% of all passengers.

[comcor]

1 person used Roscrea station in the whole day...

[Traincustomer]

I think that figure of 1 refers to alighting passengers.
15 passengers boarded at Roscrea (Appendix A, page 42).

[comcor]

Not so bad then.

I'd be interested to know why 55 people got on trains at Ballybrophy-Limerick line stations that day, but only 15 got off. That sounds like quite an anomaly.

If it was a Friday when there are very different patterns on non-commuter lines, it might make sense, but this seems to have been a Thursday.

[Mark Gleeson]

Well they could be through passengers to Dublin Cork line destinations or onwards to Ennis/WRC

[DundalkStudent]

This sort of thing is great to have and also important for development of strategy direction. Obviously drawbacks include not having data for a proper statistical analysis or other types of days and seasons.

Fingers crossed the rollout of leap card nationwide pushing people to swipe on and off will one day soon provide this big jump in statistics while at the same time making visible other demographic data: age, sex, socio economic background, etc. And they won't need so much staff and DIT students in order to do it!

[comcor]

Here we get to see a danger in the way this data can be interpreted

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland...in-250699.html

Fota has less than 30 passengers per day

That is on a Thursday in November.

On a Saturday or Sunday in July, that number will be far higher.

It may have the biggest variability in demand of any station in the country.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by comcor

Here we get to see a danger in the way this data can be interpreted

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland...in-250699.html



That is on a Thursday in November.

On a Saturday or Sunday in July, that number will be far higher.

It may have the biggest variability in demand of any station in the country.

I was thinking that myself.

November is the right time to hold a census on commuter routes, as it is the peak travel period, and allows for everyone to have adjusted their travel patterns after the colleges return.

However, I'm inclined to think that a second census should be taken during the summer as well for Intercity routes to reflect the much higher loadings that they get at that time of the year.

It's like all statistics, you have to take into account the circumstances behind them and not simply take the figures as gospel.

[Inniskeen]

No question this census will tend to under-value leisure services/weekend services and over estimate DART and Commuter. It therefore only provides a partial picture.

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by comcor

On a Saturday or Sunday in July, (Fota's) number will be far higher. It may have the biggest variability in demand of any station in the country.

Does Carrigaloe have significant demand any day of the week? There seems to be almost nowt near it. Is it a legacy from when IFI Marino Point was going?

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

Does Carrigaloe have significant demand any day of the week? There seems to be almost nowt near it. Is it a legacy from when IFI Marino Point was going?

Note than Great Island has no bus service.

Traditional station from when rich people got the train to civilisation and just never closed. IFI would have carried it in the 1980s and 1990s. It might have potential as a park and ride, although it might be better relocated to the ferry site at Ballynoe, although I'm not sure the cost could be justified.

[comcor]

The terrain around Carrigaloe would make a P&R site tricky. Also note that the population of Great Island is about 14k-15K. 80% of them live within walking distance of Cobh or Rushbrooke, so there isn't really a huge catchment for P&R.

More likely to provide customers is that the town of Cobh has been steadily creeping towards Carrigaloe. That's stopped with the property market slowdown in recent years, but is likely to resume if the economy gets going again.

[dowlingm]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

It might have potential as a park and ride, although it might be better relocated to the ferry site at Ballynoe, although I'm not sure the cost could be justified.

Had the same thought but was trying to figure out for whom a ferry-Cobh rail line would be compelling with or without integrated fares. A few working in Little Island maybe?

[Colm Moore]

Great Island people working in Ringaskiddy / Passage West / Monkstown and Passage West / Monkstown people working in Little Island / Carrigtwohill. Unfortunate that the Cobh-Haulbowline ferry (island users only) doesn't serve Ringaskiddy.

[jacko]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

Note than Great Island has no bus service.

Traditional station from when rich people got the train to civilisation and just never closed. IFI would have carried it in the 1980s and 1990s. It might have potential as a park and ride, although it might be better relocated to the ferry site at Ballynoe, although I'm not sure the cost could be justified.

IR has recently upgraded the station with new path , gates etc

Most of the line in the area is elevated above the road and Carrigaloe offers one of the few main access points for IR staff doing work on the line