Additional 1 million passengers in 2014

[Jamie2k9]

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/irela...lion-1.2054550

Passenger journeys on Iarnród Éireann services increased by almost one million in 2014 but usage of the two worst-performing branch lines continued to decline.

In total, 37.6 million journeys were made on intercity, Dart and other commuter services last year, compared with 36.7 million journeys in 2013.

The increases were recorded across nearly all rail modes, with intercity travel on national routes up from 8.1 million to 8.4 million journeys, and Dart and other commuter services increasing from 28.7 million journeys to 29.3 million.

Of particular note was the growth in passenger numbers on the western rail corridor, which saw a 72.5 per cent increase from 29,000 to 50,000 journeys through the Ennis- Athenry section of the line.

The company said the increases followed the introduction of online booking and promotional fares for the route. When figures for the Limerick to Ennis and Athenry to Galway section were included, numbers on the western rail corridor were in excess of 220,000.

Growth recorded
On the major routes, strongest growth was recorded on the Dublin to Galway route, up 6.4 per cent to 1.1 million journeys, and Dublin to Sligo, up 4.1 per cent to 1.2 million journeys. Dublin to Drogheda was the fastest-growing commuter route in the greater Dublin area, up 3.4 per cent to just under six million journeys.

The Cork to Cobh commuter route was up 15 per cent to 730,000, with extra journeys for the Irish Open at Fota Island Resort a significant factor.

However, overall increases masked the continued decline of services on the the Ballybrophy, Nenagh, Limerick branch line where numbers fell from about 24,000 in 2013 to about 23,000 in 2014. Journeys on the Limerick Junction, Carrick- on-Suir, Waterford route also fell from about 31,000 in 2013 to about 28,000 last year.

Are Galway/Sligo figures correct, wouldn't of expected Sligo to carry more than Galway even with the competition on Galway.

IE still have not bothered to put Clonmel line online, months after it was removed!

[Mark Gleeson]

The numbers are consistent. The student market is a huge driver of intercity demand on most routes

The WRC numbers are to be taken with a pinch of salt. Its mostly students travelling on heavily discounted tickets at weekends. Midweek is still dead.

Double a small number is still a small number, so might get 3% of costs from fare box and not 2% as previous

[comcor]

I might be wrong, but I think anyone traveling to a station west of Maynooth is counted in the Sligo numbers.

For the Galway line, it's any station west of Portarlington.

That means that the Sligo figures contain a number of outer Dublin commuter belt passengers, a group that is largely missing from the Galway figures.

[comcor]

Regarding the general figures, it baffles me how Limerick to Waterford manages to perform so badly.

With a significant population centre at either end and a couple of large towns and another couple of medium size towns on the route, it should be possible to make it perform acceptably.

I guess the fact that you have to change nowadays to get to Limerick can't help.

[Jamie2k9]

Regarding the general figures, it baffles me how Limerick to Waterford manages to perform so badly.

With a significant population centre at either end and a couple of large towns and another couple of medium size towns on the route, it should be possible to make it perform acceptably.

I guess the fact that you have to change nowadays to get to Limerick can't help.

Most drive to Limerick J, Waterford or Kilkenny to catch the train. Direct Limerick trains would be good however they could easily gain passengers by offering on-line fares to Dublin via Limerick J.

They could gain student travel by providing a through service on Friday/Sunday evenings but not sure how cost affective it would be.

BE can run a 14 daily services (9 to Limerick, 5 to Carrick/Clonmel) there is some demand around!

[Inniskeen]

How could Limerick/Waterford perform other than badly give the minimal frequenciy and lack of through service?

Presumeably figures for Galway also include business at all stations Tullamore to Galway inclusive, i,e, includes Athenry/Galway commuter traffic and Dublin to Tullamore, Clara and Athlone commuter traffic.

The Westport figures presumeably includes traffic to/from all stations Roscommon to Westport & Ballina but not traffic on Westport trains for stations Tullamore to Athlone inclusive.

How would a return from Ballinasloe to Kildare be counted - 2 journeys allocated to the Galway line ?

[James Howard]

Is the raw information available anywhere? The figures appear to be somewhat inconsistent as they have split the Dublin - Drogheda Commuter service off as a separate figure. As several people have noted, it is difficult to make sense of the figures when we don't know which sections of line they relate to.

I think the Ennis to Athenry improvement is significant as it would appear that they have found a way to stem the bleeding here even if it is as a result of significant discounting. Another two years of the same increase and they'll be beyond there original year 1 target.

Still the overall headline is good news for the network and for those of us whose livelihoods depend on being able to get to work by train. Hopefully we might get a year's rest from crazy fare increases as a result.