Oranmore Station Opens

The_Wanderer · 29-07-2013 9:48pm #1

The country’s newest train station at Oranmore, Co Galway opened for business on Sunday 28th July 2013.

The station, open in time for the Galway Races, will be served by a mixture of Galway/Dublin & Galway/Athenry/Limerick services, with 23 services calling at the station daily (Mon-Fri), 22 on Saturdays, and 15 on Sundays. The journey time from Oranmore to Galway is just 7 minutes, and customers can travel to Limerick, Dublin and a range of intermediate stations also.

The station was officially opened by Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar on Monday 29th July 2013. The previous station at Oranmore closed in 1963 and was located 3/4 of a mile in the Athenry direction from the new station.

Oranmore is the 144th station on the Iarnród Éireann network. Bicycle parking and car parking facilities will be provided, with a 140 space car park at the station owned and operated by Galway County Council.

The construction of the station has been funded by the National Transport Authority.

Pictures from the official opening on Monday 29th July 2013 are now online at http://smu.gs/14uSADp

Other pictures from the day include: Athlone, Athenry, Galway, Ennis, Limerick Jct., Portlaoise & Portarlington and these may be viewed in the July 2013 gallery at: http://smu.gs/11qsdl4

Enjoy!
The Wanderer.

cmore123 · 29-07-2013 10:05pm

I hope they speed up Athenry - Ennis to compensate for the time taken for the stop. It would be good if the train Galway-Limerick could be made competitive time-wise with the bus.

Jamie2k9 · 29-07-2013 10:42pm

Was a passing loop not to be include or was that for the future when required. Almost sure I read that a loop was going in.

The_Wanderer · 29-07-2013 10:53pm

I don't recall anything about a loop. The intermediate block signal at Healys Level Crossing is currently sufficient for present traffic levels.

Rashers72 · 30-07-2013 8:42am

What is the pricing like for the 7 min journey into Galway? I assume they have good promotional fares for the first few months to build business, and then increase accordingly. This station would also have a great family market potential, so I wonder what a family ticket to Galway costs? I know the frequency is not great, but with the right pricing, people could work around it.
I think Irish Rail have the off peak suburban fares in Dublin ovepriced, hence low numbers use the weekend service ( as an opposite, I think they underpriced peak fares imo). Hope they don't make the same mistake here.

LXFlyer · 30-07-2013 9:02am

The fare is the lowest Intercity fare in the fares matrix.

bikeman1 · 30-07-2013 10:01am

lxflyer wrote: »

The fare is the lowest Intercity fare in the fares matrix.

Well that is really quite poor. I just had a look on the website and it states €5.70 for a single on the cheapest fare matrix. Unsurprisingly there are no details about fares from Oranmore.

5.70 is an absolute rip off for the short run into Galway. A similar journey with a far more frequent service of Malahide to Dublin costs 2.80 single and 2.30 on the leap card.

If this is the fare how do IE really expect to have large numbers using it? Surely the regional commuter fares should be pegged at Dublin Suburban or if not less because the service is less?

LXFlyer · 30-07-2013 10:58am

Oranmore is considered an intercity station - only Dublin and Cork have suburban fares matrices which are far more heavily subsidised.

Regular commuters can save with a taxsaver ticket.

bikeman1 · 30-07-2013 11:10am

lxflyer wrote: »

Oranmore is considered an intercity station - only Dublin and Cork have suburban fares matrices which are far more heavily subsidised.

Regular commuters can save with a taxsaver ticket.

Surely a better price could be set up for this new Galway "Commuter" station. Even though I am based in Dublin, I would be pretty annoyed at hearing how Dublin passengers are being charged half the price of Galway passengers.

Also we in Dublin can avail of tax saver tickets so that point is not really valid. You still have to pay far more than Dublin passengers.

I would have thought a competitive fare to get people of the extremely congested roads and onto rail would be what the NTA and IE would want?

Galway is probably the most centrally located city station in the country. It should be promoted as much as possible.

LXFlyer · 30-07-2013 1:13pm

That really is an issue for the NTA - they dictate fares policy nowadays.

corktina · 30-07-2013 1:26pm

cmore123 wrote: »

I hope they speed up Athenry - Ennis to compensate for the time taken for the stop. It would be good if the train Galway-Limerick could be made competitive time-wise with the bus.

I'm sure they would if they could, this stop will make the train journey longer if anything

LXFlyer · 30-07-2013 1:28pm

corktina wrote: »

I'm sure they would if they could, this stop will make the train journey longer if anything

The stop adds 2 minutes maximum.

corktina · 30-07-2013 2:08pm

i'm aware of that.... no scope for making the journey quicker was my point.

dowlingm · 30-07-2013 2:24pm

bikeman1 wrote: »

Galway is probably the most centrally located city station in the country. It should be promoted as much as possible.

Except aren't most of the major employers out in the industrial estates? Even UCG and the hospital are a decent hike. CIE didn't move fast enough on the redevelopment of the station and now it's still stuck with two platforms, one of which is curved and thus of lower accessibility. A huge part of the immediate radius is comprised of Lough Atalia to the east and the port to the south, neither of which are likely to generate much passenger trade.

GMIT and Merlin Park Hospital are in between stations. If anyone from the local council pipes up about this station they should be asked if they have a letter written to the local Bus Eireann manager about how quick BE intend to re-routing the 410 route through it and better still extending the 402 route there too. But that would be joindyuppy transport and would never do.

I've done my bit to promote the station from over here in Canada

Obviously it could be a better job but working from old Google street and overhead views matched to Finnyus' more recent Flickr pictures which have different foci is tricky. In any event it's a better friggin' job than IE are doing with their map which puts the station in the middle of the town because of sheer laziness in their web team.

30-07-2013 2:36pm

There is a picture on rte.ie which was spotted in the Galway city forum

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0729/465177-opening-of-new-train-station-in-oranmore/

I was on a train that stopped here on Sunday - there was a bit of confusion about where we were and why the train was stopping.

LoonyLovegood · 30-07-2013 3:08pm

I'm raging about the prices for it. I was annoyed enough at paying €5.50 for the return bus, but €8.60 for a return train? For ten minutes? Eh, nope. I'm not gonna be using it anyway. If they want people to use it (and do the ten/fifteen minute walk to Garraun), they're as well having low prices. €2 each way promotional till the start of September, then maybe €2.50 or so. It'd be easy to undercut the bus price.

LXFlyer · 30-07-2013 3:32pm

A monthly ticket costs €111, and an annual €1,110.

If the tickets are bought under the taxsaver scheme (www.taxsaver.ie) then depending on whether the taxpayer pays tax at 20% or 41%, the effective cost would be €76.59 or €53.28 respectively for a monthly ticket or €765.90 or €532.80 for an annual ticket.

That translates into (again assuming tax rates of 20% and 41%) €2.47 or €1.72 per day for a monthly ticket, and €2.10 or €1.46 per day for an annual ticket.

bikeman1 · 30-07-2013 4:24pm

lxflyer wrote: »

A monthly ticket costs €111, and an annual €1,110.

If the tickets are bought under the taxsaver scheme (www.taxsaver.ie) then depending on whether the taxpayer pays tax at 20% or 41%, the effective cost would be €76.59 or €53.28 respectively for a monthly ticket or €765.90 or €532.80 for an annual ticket.

That translates into (again assuming tax rates of 20% and 41%) €2.47 or €1.72 per day for a monthly ticket, and €2.10 or €1.46 per day for an annual ticket.

Lxflyer dividing the the net cost of the annual saver ticket by 365 is not an accurate way of working out the cost for the average user.

Taking the 20% deduction rate which applies to the vast majority of recession paid works.

Everyone has 4 weeks off per year and then there are bank holidays. But lets offset that with the odd discretionary journey for shopping during the year.

So 765.90 / 240 days (48 weeks x 5 days) = €3.19 per day. That gets a bit closer to reality.

Also that assumes people can avail of the taxsaver scheme and work 5 days a week and the times of the train suits them for everyday they work and attend college.

bikeman1 · 30-07-2013 4:27pm

lxflyer wrote: »

That really is an issue for the NTA - they dictate fares policy nowadays.

Well then the NTA should sort the problem out if its under their remit. I don't think the fare paying passenger really cares who set the fares. More so, HOW much the fare is.

LXFlyer · 30-07-2013 5:39pm

bikeman1 wrote: »

Lxflyer dividing the the net cost of the annual saver ticket by 365 is not an accurate way of working out the cost for the average user.

Taking the 20% deduction rate which applies to the vast majority of recession paid works.

Everyone has 4 weeks off per year and then there are bank holidays. But lets offset that with the odd discretionary journey for shopping during the year.

So 765.90 / 240 days (48 weeks x 5 days) = €3.19 per day. That gets a bit closer to reality.

Also that assumes people can avail of the taxsaver scheme and work 5 days a week and the times of the train suits them for everyday they work and attend college.

Actually, bikeman it is fair as people *could* use the train if they wished on days off too for leisure travel.

The right to use it every day exists.

There are also more than enough people paying 41% tax out there and simply writing them off is somewhat disingenuous I would suggest.

I am merely pointing out that cheaper options exist than simply buying a single or return ticket.

LXFlyer · 30-07-2013 5:51pm

bikeman1 wrote: »

Well then the NTA should sort the problem out if its under their remit. I don't think the fare paying passenger really cares who set the fares. More so, HOW much the fare is.

Well I think it is important that some context is put around this, hence I made the post.

The same issue arises at Gormanston and Laytown, both of which are outside the Dublin suburban fares matrix - people complain about the fares between those stations and Balbriggan and indeed the difference between the fares from those stations to Dublin and those from Balbriggan to Dublin - the boundary has to be somewhere.

The issue here is should Oranmore be within the Galway city boundary in terms of setting fares.

That would require a higher level of subsidy, which frankly doesn't seem to be on the radar.

Fred Swanson · 30-07-2013 10:27pm

This post has been deleted.

n97 mini · 31-07-2013 12:30am

Fares are unrealistic, and talk of Taxsaver and annual tickets is idiotically trying to defend the indefensible. That rules out all casual travellers.

If this station is to be used it has to be priced a bit better.

corktina · 31-07-2013 8:16am

n97 mini wrote: »

Fares are unrealistic, and talk of Taxsaver and annual tickets is idiotically trying to defend the indefensible. That rules out all casual travellers.

If this station is to be used it has to be priced a bit better.

that's a very good point. Regular travellers start as casual ones and if the fares are too high, then they won't even start using the service.

GBOA · 31-07-2013 9:50am

That ticket price is wild. €8.60 return?

To put it in context, on a recent trip back home I paid £8.60 (€9.80) for a single from Glasgow to Alloa, a journey of almost an hour - 36 miles give or take. An anytime day return is only £12.80 (€14.70) and while I appreciate that no direct comparison can be made given the set up in different countries, it still seems like a crazy gap.

If I was to work out the approximate equivalent journey, using Alloa to Stirling (10 mins) I would get a day return for £4.30 (€4.90).

n97 mini · 31-07-2013 10:21am

I have a feeling we will see the price aligned more with Dublin or Cork commuter services.

It's probably about the same distance as Connolly to Coolmine which is €5.25 return.

metrovick001 · 31-07-2013 12:14pm

Fred, while I dont disagree about the Gombeens and chained officials, the remark that this is typical of the whest is absolute shyte.
The sort of thing happen all over this great nation of ours & and is in no way confined to the "whest".

dowlingm · 31-07-2013 2:29pm

Pretty sure I saw a chained official at the Hansfield opening. My objection to chained officials is when they aren't financial partners in the project in question.

metrovick001 · 31-07-2013 3:03pm

Politicians and general hangers-on’ers are the same all over the western world, they will appear anywhere a happy crowd manifests, hoping for a chance to kiss a baby, slap a back & have their photograph taken for use in the local rag. Very hard to claim expenses when ya lose your seat.

Rashers72 · 29-09-2013 7:42am

Just read an other post, fares down to €6 return, from €8ish. So we start with a high price, I assume that price attracts low numbers, and are then forced to reduce prices to show it was not a waste of money? I really do wonder about who sets fares in Irish Rail- they don't seem to have any sense of market realities ( and like I mentioned previously, I think some fares are underpriced).
On a positive I do think things will change in this regard, with new management focussed on improving usage.

LoonyLovegood · 29-09-2013 1:03pm

Six euro doesn't seem worth it though, you're paying that for a 14 minute round trip. I'd save the 50c, AND be able to get the bus from the village with the bus. I do hope I'm wrong, but I don't know...

Oranmore Station Opens

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