Rail Users Ireland Forum - View Single Post - [21/11/2013] Delays to evening peak Darts and Northern suburban line

Inniskeen · 22-11-2013, 14:34

The current operational methodology on the northern line is little short of idiotic. For instance, on aoccasions, the 1800 ex Greystones is dispatched from Connolly litterally seconds ahead of the 1900 to Belfast.

A not untypical scenario is that the 1842 DART to Malahide departs more or less to time, then 18 minutes later the 1853 to Howth departs, then seconds later the Belfast train departs.

Taking a more holistic view, the current timetable is poorly designed and creates conflicts where none are necessary. DART theoretically at runs to a 15 minute interval schedule, yet Belfast trains in many instances are not aligned with that schedule. Going back to the 1900 to Belfast, even if the preceding DART is on time, the Belfast train will be forced down to a crawl from Killester to Howth Junction and suffer a delay of at least five minutes. Answer move the Belfast departure to 1905, same applies to the 1100. I could list about thirty similar examples of commuter services similarly and unecessarily delayed.

Take the 0540 from Dundalk. This used to depart at 0545 and arrive on the tail of the 0630 DART from Malahide. This DART is routinely late, but rather than address the DART issue Irish Rail advanced the 0545 to 0540. It still arrives on the tail of the 0630 DART, is delayed by it and frequently misses the 0709 return departure from Pearse.

Leaving aside the inadequate number of running lines north of Connolly, the infrastructure that is in place is poorly designed. Malahide is a joke with DARTs languishing on the running lines obstructing other services as only one line is then available through Malahide with southbound trains forced to change tracks at little more than walking pace.

Clongriffin is another farce, plenty of space to divert DART onto a separate track in both directions but despite spending tens of millions on a new signalling system, Irish Rail couldn't be bothered providing the facility in the southbound direction.

The real elephant in the room is DART performance, the last few weeks have been pathetic while overall performance outside the leaf fall season, in terms of timekeeping, is at best indifferent. Recovery from delays is poor both in terms of individual train performance and in terms of system management.

22-11-2013, 14:34	#5
Inniskeen Really Regular Poster Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 951	The current operational methodology on the northern line is little short of idiotic. For instance, on aoccasions, the 1800 ex Greystones is dispatched from Connolly litterally seconds ahead of the 1900 to Belfast. A not untypical scenario is that the 1842 DART to Malahide departs more or less to time, then 18 minutes later the 1853 to Howth departs, then seconds later the Belfast train departs. Taking a more holistic view, the current timetable is poorly designed and creates conflicts where none are necessary. DART theoretically at runs to a 15 minute interval schedule, yet Belfast trains in many instances are not aligned with that schedule. Going back to the 1900 to Belfast, even if the preceding DART is on time, the Belfast train will be forced down to a crawl from Killester to Howth Junction and suffer a delay of at least five minutes. Answer move the Belfast departure to 1905, same applies to the 1100. I could list about thirty similar examples of commuter services similarly and unecessarily delayed. Take the 0540 from Dundalk. This used to depart at 0545 and arrive on the tail of the 0630 DART from Malahide. This DART is routinely late, but rather than address the DART issue Irish Rail advanced the 0545 to 0540. It still arrives on the tail of the 0630 DART, is delayed by it and frequently misses the 0709 return departure from Pearse. Leaving aside the inadequate number of running lines north of Connolly, the infrastructure that is in place is poorly designed. Malahide is a joke with DARTs languishing on the running lines obstructing other services as only one line is then available through Malahide with southbound trains forced to change tracks at little more than walking pace. Clongriffin is another farce, plenty of space to divert DART onto a separate track in both directions but despite spending tens of millions on a new signalling system, Irish Rail couldn't be bothered providing the facility in the southbound direction. The real elephant in the room is DART performance, the last few weeks have been pathetic while overall performance outside the leaf fall season, in terms of timekeeping, is at best indifferent. Recovery from delays is poor both in terms of individual train performance and in terms of system management.