2019 Train performance
 

Looking at the IE homepage twitter feed there seems to be almost daily cancellations of scheduled DARTS (usually a North/Southbound plus the returning South/Northbound working). Invariably this is due to "operational reasons", which covers a multitude of possibilities. Crew shortages?

Looking at train performance data, there appears to have been a steady deterioration in punctuality month by month from January to March. Is the new timetable putting such demands on rolling stock that maintenance and reliability are slipping?

DART is driver issues.

Unless I am misreading things, DART punctuality dropped in February but rose back up in March so I’m not sure where you’re getting the basis of your “steady deterioration in punctuality”?

Jan 93.3%
Feb 90.4%
Mar 95.1%

All of which are ahead of 2018.

Berneyarms: I should have made it clearer that my second paragraph was intended to refer to all services, not just DART: For example the successive monthly punctuality (Jan-March 2019) for Dublin-Cork was 95.3, 85.2, 83.4; Dublin-Galway was 96.8, 90.6, 89.6; Dublin-Westport was 95.9, 92.5, 88.8.

Of course this was not consistently the case for all (sometimes relatively minor) routes, but even the 3 cases quoted are significant, especially as you might expect worse figures for a mid-winter month such as January.

I know there was a lot of engineering works on Cork route however dipping to 83% when there is a 10 minute leeway plus an extra 5 minutes in schedule. 15 minutes and coming out with results like that needs urgent action.

There was at least 3-5 days of heavy disruption around Sallins and Kildare. Additionally on GalwayWestport there was I think two freight train failures and as well as an incident.

Jamie2k9: I don't quite buy the extensive engineering works excuse/explanation. These works mean that there are revised timetables to take account of them: failure to meet revised schedules is not really acceptable.

There are approximately 900 Cork-Dublin and Dublin-Cork intercity trains per month. A 12 percentage point deterioration in punctuality means about 100 extra trains being late. IE have a case to answer here.

Remember after engineering works there is usually a temporary speed restriction for 4-7 days in many cases.

There are currently 4 TSR on Heuston-Cork, 2 on Cork-Heuston and they have been on rolling basis (different areas) for a few weeks now. Westport/Galway have had the same in recent weeks.

You are correct the performance is particularly bad and yes something needs to be done to address it.