DART is nothing like 70% of the business at Connolly, a reality that has yet to dawn on either Irish Rail or yourself. In 2011 the published figures (see CSO website) for DART patronage was 16.793 million journeys while the corresponding figure for other Dublin suburban services was 10.861 muillion.
As almost all carryings into Heuston (apart perhaps from Sallins to Parkwest) are classed as intercity the non DART figures essentially refer to services on the Connolly side. DART therefore accounts for about 61% of the traffic by volume. Given that "Intercity" traffic into Connolly is not included in these figures the DART proportion declines further.
While the vast majority of non DART Dublin suburban traffic passes through Connolly (Maynooth and Northern), this is not the case for DART with by far the larger portion of traffic on the southside being handled at Pearse, Tara Street, Grand Canal Dock and Lansdowne Road.
At Howth Junction the vast majority of traffic is coming off the mainline and the majority of that is on non-DART services.
As regards DARTs being held for late running commuter services, my experience is generally directly the opposite. At Pearse northbound (peak and off-peak) it is absolutely routine for DARTs to be allowed to precede commuter trains originating there whose departure time has already well past. In other words the pattern would be a DART, 10-15 minutes later another DART (maybe to Malahide), 3 minutes later a commuter service (to Drogheda or Dundalk). Frequently the commuter service (often an 8-car formation and typically busier than the 4 or 6 car DART immediatelly ahead of it) will be anything from 5 to 8 minutes late and be carrying twice the DART loading.
This type of operation is brainless and unsustainable.
|