Timetable revisions 2012-2013

[Thomas J Stamp]

i echo a lot of james howards long post, but this is not a piece form the blue by Treacy Hogan, undoubtedly this is, like in government departments, a fishing exercise to see what will be opposed and what will not be.

i have found that the train is totally unsuitable for any more than myself on a trip, so i differ from james in that respect. also, as the fuel prices go up we will see more innovation from car manufacturers to keep up with affordability, last time oil prices went crazy we suddenly had all the major manufacturers making hybrid cars. now we have hybrid diesels, we have electric cars and charging points on roads. we will not be getting new trains till 2030/2040 (apart from the replacement of the Enterprise, which may allow parrellel replacement of the Mark4's to allow a common loco/power car pulled rolling stock).

one easy way of enticing people in is to give a rebate/discount on car parking for train users. its very easily done.

[neoncircles]

What changes will we see Heuston side?

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

In the good years Irish Rail was running at 5-12% in a year

2006 vs 2007 the Irish Rail increase was over 5million which was not far off the entire passenger carrying on NIR for 2007

Actually the 2006 Vs 2007 Irish Rail increase was 2.159 Million, you may be thinking of 2005 v 2006.

As for NIR they are obviously doing something right as apart from Luas they are the only public sector land transport operator to be still growing their busineess. In fact NIR's passenger carryings have risen every year from 1998/99 to 2010/11, except 2009/10. 2010/11 passenger numbers are almost double the 1998/99 carryings. (10.4 million V 5.8 million).

Irish Rail's 2011 passenger carryings are around 10-12% higher than in 1999. Over this period DART usage (despite two extensions) is significantly reduced and mainline carryings have at best remained static, the only real growth being in non-DART suburban/commuter usage. Indeed a much larger portion of todays mainline passengers are commuters, a significant change since 1999.

[dowlingm]

Is there much private bus competition in NI? maybe NIR are benefiting from people giving up a family car/the family car and there's not much other choice?

[Ronald Binge]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

Is there much private bus competition in NI? maybe NIR are benefiting from people giving up a family car/the family car and there's not much other choice?

Practically non-existent and there is no shortage of cars in the North. Translink should take over the CIE monolith as they know what they are doing. There's a cross border body that would do plenty of good!

[Ronald Binge]

Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp

i echo a lot of james howards long post, but this is not a piece form the blue by Treacy Hogan, undoubtedly this is, like in government departments, a fishing exercise to see what will be opposed and what will not be.

i have found that the train is totally unsuitable for any more than myself on a trip, so i differ from james in that respect. also, as the fuel prices go up we will see more innovation from car manufacturers to keep up with affordability, last time oil prices went crazy we suddenly had all the major manufacturers making hybrid cars. now we have hybrid diesels, we have electric cars and charging points on roads. we will not be getting new trains till 2030/2040 (apart from the replacement of the Enterprise, which may allow parrellel replacement of the Mark4's to allow a common loco/power car pulled rolling stock).

one easy way of enticing people in is to give a rebate/discount on car parking for train users. its very easily done.

Charging for parking in empty stations surely makes no commercial sense whatsoever. It should be scrapped outside the GDA.

[AdiB]

Hi all, new to the forum. Have finally, after nearly 2 years managed to get my taxsaver ticket and changed my hours to commute carrick-on-shannon to sligo, and now they're thinking of getting rid of trains. I think they should just move the times of some of these trains. I have had to change my hours to 10.30 to 6.30 so that i can get to sligo on the first train and home on the last! How rediculous is that. For what is supposedly a city, there is no public transport that arrives before 10am. This to a place that has a hospital, college, some big businesses and schools. They would see far greater numbers if they put some commuter trains on this part of the line. By getting a taxsaver ticket I will be saving myself almost 50euros a week (even though a point to point annual ticket for this part of the country is 2690 compared to about a 1000 less if you're near dublin), they should be publicising this information. The only people able to use the current timetable have free passes, no wonder they're loosing money!