Rail Users Ireland Forum - [17/03/2011] St. Patrick's Day Timetable & Events 16-20 March 2011

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[17/03/2011] St. Patrick's Day Timetable & Events 16-20 March 2011

For reference, something not mentioned on that notice but on posters at stations, there will be additional maynooth line trains before and after the parade.

Luas brings you to the St Patrick’s Festival 2011

http://www.luas.ie/st-patricks-festival.html

Quote:

Luas brings you to the St Patrick’s Festival 2011
01 March 2011

Luas is pleased to announce that it is an official sponsor of the St Patrick’s Festival 2011. This year the festival takes place over 5 days, with events running from Wednesday 16th of March to Sunday 20th of March.

The festival kicks off on Wednesday 16th of March with a free Festival Ceili from 4.30pm to 7.30pm in St Stephens Green Park. The nearest Luas stop to this event is Stephens Green on the green line, Abbey Street on the red line.

The world famous St Patrick’s Day parade is on Thursday March 17th and starts at Parnell Square at 12pm and travels down O’Connell St, Westmoreland St and Dame St before ending near St Patrick’s Cathedral. This year to celebrate Dublin’s appointment as a UNESCO City of Literature, Booker-prize winning author Roddy Doyle has written a short story called ‘Brilliant’ which is the theme of the 2011 parade. The nearest Luas stops are Jervis & Abbey St on the red line and Stephen’s Green on the green line.

On Friday March 18th, visitors to Dublin can attend the ‘DublinSwell’ event at 7.30pm in the National Convention Centre in the IFSC. This event will celebrate Dublin’s UNESCO City of Literature designation and rich literary heritage with readings, reflections, stagings, film, song and music and in the company of Dublin’s finest writers, actors and musicians including the Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney. The nearest Luas stops are George’s Dock on the red line and Stephen’s Green on the green line.

On Saturday March 18th, visitors to Dublin can see the Crafted Creatures exhibition and Trail at the Ark Temple Bar (open from 16th-20th of March) as well as enjoying open air funfairs in Merrion Square, Wolfe Tone Park and at Custom House Quay (open from 16th-20th of March). The Skyfest Spectacle will take place in Wexford this year. The nearest Luas stops for Dublin-based events on this date are Jervis, Abbey St and Busaras on the Red Line and Stephen’s Green on the green line.

On Sunday 20th of March the festival comes to a close with the ‘Big Day Out’ in Merrion Square Park . This event is a celebration of Irish street arts with a wide variety of open air shows from leading professional street theatre artists including The Fanzini Brother’s, Lords of Strut, Tumble Circus, Fidget Feet Aerial Dance, Bui Bolg and Cathal Carroll. The park based workshop area offers hands-on sessions for a variety of ages throughout the day. The nearest Luas stops are George’s Dock on the red line and Stephen’s Green on the green line.

For more information on all events happening as part of the St Patrick’s Festival, please see www.stpatrickfestival.ie

Irish Rail Update

http://irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=1013

Quote:

St. Patrick's Day Arrangements - Updated 9th March by Corporate Communications

St. Patrick's Day Timetable is now available.

Click here for a pdf version of this timetable. http://www.irishrail.ie/your_journey/printed_timetable_pdfs/St%20Patricks%20Day%202011.pdf

Click here to search our journey planner. http://www.irishrail.ie/home/

Please also note arrangements for DART & Commuter Services below:
DART Services, St. Patrick’s Day 17th March

A Sunday service will operate.

DART special trains will operate before and after the parade.

Southbound DART specials will operate to and from Pearse Station only.

Northbound DART specials will operate to and from Connolly station only.

Please note Tara Street DART station will be closed until 16.00hrs.

Bicycles will not be allowed on DART trains on this day.

Commuter services, St. Patrick’s Day 17th March

A Sunday service will operate to and from Maynooth with some additional special trains before and after the Parade.

A Sunday service will operate to and from Drogheda and Dundalk.

Note:

09.15 Pearse to Drogheda will commence from Connolly at 09.38.

20.15 Pearse to Dundalk will operate to Drogheda only.

Avoid the queues, travel early and buy pre-paid tickets. All tickets can be purchased in advance from any Iarnród Éireann booking office.

Because of the large numbers of people expected to travel over the St. Patrick’s weekend services may be delayed.

Bicycles will not be permitted on trains on this day.

http://www.luas.ie/st-patricks-festival.html

Quote:

Please note that on the red line from 11am - 2.30pm trams will operate from Tallaght to Smithfield only to facilitate the parade. The last trams on both lines start at 6.30am and leave at 11.30pm on March 17th.

Irish Rail - Further Update

Note Tara street will be closed until 16:00 to allow crows disperse.

http://irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=1013

Quote:

St. Patrick's Day Arrangements - Updated 11th March by Corporate Communications

St. Patrick's Day Timetable is now available.

Click here for a pdf version of this timetable. http://www.irishrail.ie/your_journey/printed_timetable_pdfs/St%20Patricks%20Day%202011.pdf

Click here to search our journey planner. http://www.irishrail.ie/home/

Please also note arrangements for DART & Commuter Services below:
DART Services, St. Patrick’s Day 17th March

A Sunday service will operate. In addition a number of special services will operate.

DART special trains will operate before and after the parade.

Southbound DART specials will operate to and from Pearse Station only.

Northbound DART specials will operate to and from Connolly station only.

Please note Tara Street DART station will be closed until 16.00hrs.

Bicycles will not be allowed on DART trains on this day.

Commuter Services, St. Patrick’s Day 17th March

A Sunday service will operate to and from Maynooth with some additional special trains before and after the Parade:

09.45 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
10.05 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
11.05 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
12.05 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
14.20 Dublin Connolly/Maynooth
13.05 Maynooth to Dublin Connolly
15.20 Dublin Connolly to Maynooth
17.20 Dublin Connolly to Maynooth
17.30 Dublin Connolly to Maynooth

Also,

10.05, 11.05, 12.05, 13.05, 14.05, 15.05 services from M3 Parkway to Connolly will serve all stations to Connolly.

13.10, 14.10, 15.10, 16.10, 17.10 and 18.10 services from Connolly will serve all stations to M3 Parkway.

A Sunday service will operate to and from Drogheda and Dundalk.

Note:

09.15 Pearse to Drogheda will commence from Connolly at 09.38.
20.15 Pearse to Dundalk will operate to Drogheda only.

Avoid the queues, travel early and buy pre-paid tickets. All tickets can be purchased in advance from any Iarnród Éireann booking office.

Because of the large numbers of people expected to travel over the St. Patrick’s weekend services may be subject to some delays.

Bicycles will not be permitted on trains on this day.

Does anyone know if there are planned to be any additional services on the Northern suburban line?
I know there were overcrowding problems a few years ago, after which I vowed not to use the train on this day.
Maybe things have improved?

St Patrick's Day service

The Irish Rail website appears to be telling me that there is no train from Ashtown to the city centre from now till 15.27.

Am I reading this correctly?

Quote:

Note Tara Street will be closed until 16:00 to allow crowds disperse.

I've only just spotted this on another thread here.

You'd think the Irish Rail website might have told me this when I was putting in Tara Street as my destination.

Programming something like that into the system would be difficult. However, they could have added it to the travel alerts sections.

They seem to be using the travel alerts section for unexpected disruptions only, instead of including active (scheduled) disruption, which is unfortunate.