Lack of train service to Mullingar and beyond

Saruman

Today is a prime example of wanting to get a train but cant as there are none!!
My car broke down today in Dublin (i live in westmeath).

Anyway i left car at parents and got Citylink home from liffey valley. Handy enough.
My wife is in work though in Blanch so she has 2 choices... get bus into town and then a bus eireann or citylink home.. OR she could go to castleknock or clonsilla and get the train to mullingar where i could pick her up (in other car ).

Cant do option B as there is no train service after 6. I think about 6 is the last direct train. The next one you change at maynooth but that leaves castleknock at 6:53 and she only finishes at 6:30 so not enough time to get the bus down there or walk to station.

This is a disgrace!!! trains should run after this time.. i can understand the service slowing after midnight etc but not every day!!

popebenny16

My car broke down today in Dublin

I hope that's not the car you're advertising in your sig.

Anyway, according to IE, there was a train from Connolly at 18.17 and one at 19.00 to Mullingar today and both were direct and theres another train at 18.53 from Castleknock to Maynooth and from there to Mullingar (she'd get onto that 19.00 train from Connolly at Maynooth at 19.23).

To be fair last train on a Saturday eveing to Mullingar at 19.00 is ok.

orbital83

popebenny16 wrote:

To be fair last train on a Saturday eveing to Mullingar at 19.00 is ok.

Why?
Last train to Dundalk is 20.45, last train to Portlaoise is 21.00, etc.

The only service that compares is the crappy Arklow/Gorey one.

popebenny16

Both of those lines are double tracked, after Maynooth its a single track.

edit to add: and so is the crappy Arklow/Gorey route if you get my drift.

Saruman

popebenny16 wrote:

I hope that's not the car you're advertising in your sig.

/QUOTE]
That sig is ages old... i just cant be arsed changing it.. yes its the same car but its not for sale. Well i would sell it..

Anyway why should it matter? Its only an alternator and i am obviously sorting that next week... so why should it matter if i was currenly selling the car or not?

Back on topic.. what part of she finishes work at 6:30 did you not understand.. there is no way to walk or get a bus to castleknock in time.

(she'd get onto that 19.00 train from Connolly at Maynooth at 19.23).

How does she get to maynooth from blanch in less than an hour on public transport???? Unless you are siggesting paying €20 for a taxi?

AYM

Saruman wrote:

This is a disgrace!!! trains should run after this time.. i can understand the service slowing after midnight etc but not every day!!

So there should be trains until midnight to Mullingar all year round because once you were stuck and it would've been handy??

This is Collooney-Claremorris WRC logic - provide a service because it would be nice to have, not cause there's genuine demand. There's loads more trains now to Mullingar than a couple of years ago anyway, but at times that there's enough people who want to travel.

Wishbone Ash

Saruman wrote:

Today is a prime example of wanting to get a train but cant as there are none!!
This is a disgrace!!! trains should run after this time.. i can understand the service slowing after midnight etc but not every day!!

Try getting a train to Donegal or Monaghan or several other counties. You will be waiting a lot longer!

MarkoP11

There are 8 trains a Saturday (9 on a weekday) to Mullingar/Longford which to be fair is twice what it was back in the late 1990's, the last train has moved from 18:20 to 19:00 thats all good, last train leaves Connolly 19:00

Drogheda does well since the maintenance depot is there (zero cost to carry passengers) and to be fair the late trains would have 50+ on board and its been like that since the 1970's, Dublin Cork has always been 9pm, there is no matching Cork Dublin service, used to be even later in the days when they stuck a coach on the back of the mail train

Extra services seem to be granted under political pressure not on hard cold market demand and that means who actually needs a service rarely gets it. There is a fundamental problem in Irish Rail this is not 1950 this is 2006 long distance commuting is a reality and its reasonable to expect that you can get home. The question then becomes how late and how far. The long distance commuting business is not good business its very inefficient

Problem is the viscous circle:

Small sleepy village 40+ miles from Dublin, someone gets pp for 20 houses and flogs them to young couples from Dublin desparate for a roof, everyone else has the same idea and you get heaps of houses

Then the complaints come in that the long standing early morning train is not longer good enough, local politicos eager to get the votes of all the newcomers mouth off about it, IE claim its not there problem, someone gets to the minister and IE agree to do something which makes things look better which in fact doesn't mean any extra seats

Local landowners and auctioneers hear this, € signs start flashing and a new round of building takes place on the basis that the promise of a improved rail services will drag more Dubliners in lured by somewhat affordable property, the Department of Transport of course don't provide any money to make this happen

Next thing you get complaints I live in X I commute to Dublin but the last train home is at 7pm, rant rant can't have a drink/go out etc well tough, you knew that before you bought the house.

What everyone agrees on is that we need to stop this crazy commute, 30 miles is just about OK, 50 is verging on mad and 75+ (yes Longford and Athlone) is just plain crazy a balance has to be found while not encouraging yet more people to do it and to provide a respectable level of service to the existing population.

Mullingar and to a lesser extent Arklow deserve a service leaving at 9pm anything later than that is pushing the envelope currently medium to long term it should be heading to hourly off peak up to 10pm I've seen the service specification and it seems to imply this

BTW I've had the pleasure of being alone on a 360 seater train the only other person onboard was the driver, thats not a nice experience at 11:30pm

dowlingm

is any double tracking NW of Maynooth envisaged?

Ham'nd'egger

dowlingm wrote:

is any double tracking NW of Maynooth envisaged?

I was only reading today that in 2003, that it was mooted to double the line to Mullingar in the mid term. The line bed was built for double track when it was laid by MGWR in the 1840's so there would be room for same, given some realingnment work. CTC would also need to be laid for this section, so the cost would be significant for same; maybe a few more loops would be a more economic investment for now.

MarkoP11

You don't need 2 tracks to support an hourly service, thats the usual diversionary crap IE roll out to put you off the hunt for a better train service

If the Athlone Mullingar line is reopened the extra track from Maynooth is one of the requirements that must be in place to support it, strangely missing from T21

The mini CTC signalling used on the line is concentrated at the stations, no intermediate kit, no problem upgrade its all module based and computer programmed not hard wired, no excuses or waste of money here if it comes.

Getting an extra train service is a game and Irish Rail are playing in defense not in support

John R

To be fair there is a late bus at 11pm from Dublin to Mullingar Mon-Sat so it's not as if there is no transport available.

westtip

MarkoP11 wrote:

What everyone agrees on is that we need to stop this crazy commute, 30 miles is just about OK, 50 is verging on mad and 75+ (yes Longford and Athlone) is just plain crazy a balance has to be found while not encouraging yet more people to do it and to provide a respectable level of service to the existing population.

Mullingar and to a lesser extent Arklow deserve a service leaving at 9pm anything later than that is pushing the envelope currently medium to long term it should be heading to hourly off peak up to 10pm I've seen the service specification and it seems to imply this

BTW I've had the pleasure of being alone on a 360 seater train the only other person onboard was the driver, thats not a nice experience at 11:30pm

There is nothing wrong with commuting long distances of 50/60 miles as long as there is the service and demand for it. Take real commuter cities like London - The commuting experience may be tough but at least you get what you pay for - I used to commute in from a town in Hampshire (Basingtoke about 55 miles from central london) 45 minutes from Waterloo and trains every 20 minutes (all packed) in the morning, and if I wanted trains on a regular basis up till midnight, for example working late or if I wanted to go out after work, then that was OK, generally you get a seat on a train home after 7.00 pm before then it was standing room. You pay your money and take your choice, the weekly ticket for Basingstoke London back in the late 1990s was circa £85 - about €120 a week. A monthly ticket was about four times a weekly with maybe a bit of concession on price that would be €480 a month - Whats the monthly commuter ticket NOW from Mullingar to Dublin, which is a comparable journey lenght wise - I took a look at the irish rail website and I guess this would be an Outer zone ticket for €96 a month - is this right? I don't mind being corrected. I know fares in the south east of England have gone up but the comparisons are horrendous lets say a monthly commuter ticket for the journey I referred to was now €550 and the Mullingar monthly is €96. I think the service Irish Rail provide is pretty good for the price, a late night service woudl be good but if you want trains running every half hour up to midnight - then be prepared to pay for them - heavily.

loyatemu

also - population of Basingstoke = 152,000 (according to UK Census 2001) + however many more living along the line. As you say London is a real commuter city because the southeast of england is very densely populated.

it shouldn't be necessary for people to commute 50+ miles to Dublin, its the product of decades of bad planning.

westtip

loyatemu wrote:

also - population of Basingstoke = 152,000 (according to UK Census 2001) + however many more living along the line. As you say London is a real commuter city because the southeast of england is very densely populated.

it shouldn't be necessary for people to commute 50+ miles to Dublin, its the product of decades of bad planning.

Couldn't agree more, but what can people do these days if they simply cna't afford a family home within the M50. I feel sorry for them.

superdog

Hi folks,

I think a train/bus between 7 and 11pm to Longford would be reasonable.
Anyone landing in Dublin airport after 6pm has no public transport options to these places until the 11pm bus.

Now if that's acceptable in 2006, then something's wrongg!!

MarkoP11

Monthly Dublin Mullingar is €217 as far as I know not €96 as posted earlier

Comparing Dublin and London is pointless, London is a proper city with a proper transport system has a population of 7.5 million and has dense housing base, Dublin is mickey mouse in comparison. Problem with Dublin is no shortage of land within 10 miles of the city but its not being built on for a whole bunch of reasons mostly which keep pockets in the construction industry lined by restricting availabilty thus inflating prices.

The rail service after 7pm to most places is absolutely useless and realistically we should be looking at a hourly service to all major towns within 50 miles of the city up a reasonable hour of say 10pm, its never going to be more than a basic service since the numbers can't sustain it. At all costs all effort should be made to stop people moving 50+ miles out and still working in Dublin its not the way to live and it is very difficult and inefficient to cope with public transport

You have to of course remember you are dealing with Irish Rail who refuse to run trains where there is demand, note the absence of a Sunday service to Kildare

westtip

MarkoP11 wrote:

Monthly Dublin Mullingar is €217 as far as I know not €96 as posted earlier

The 96 figure did seem low but the irish rail website is not very clear (take a look at it), I realise there is not the critical mass for the kind of commuter services you get in a city like London, I thnk irish rail do a pretty good job considering how under resourced public transport is, but it is frustrating not being able to get a train out of the city to a place like Mullingar after 7.00 pm

MarkoP11

€96 refers to the short hop zone which is stated on the website, Mullingar is in the long hop zone

There needs to be a round of trains leaving to outer suburban destinations at 9 pm ish

popebenny16

Back on topic.. what part of she finishes work at 6:30 did you not understand.. there is no way to walk or get a bus to castleknock in time.

Well, I understand 6.30 fairly well, what i dont understand is the desire on your part to have a bloddy train service that's tailor made to suit you and your wife. How do you know there's not service from Blanch to Castleknock? Couldnt she knock off early? You never take the train anyway, you drive. Maybe if you abandoned the car and actually joined those who have to suffer the appaling serivce I'd be more on your side.

"Next thing you get complaints I live in X I commute to Dublin but the last train home is at 7pm, rant rant can't have a drink/go out etc well tough, you knew that before you bought the house."

Wot he said, exactly.

I moved 74 miles from Dublin, I dont expect the bleedin DART out here. Deal with it.

That sig is ages old... i just cant be arsed changing it.. yes its the same car but its not for sale. Well i would sell it..

Anyway why should it matter? Its only an alternator and i am obviously sorting that next week... so why should it matter if i was currenly selling the car or not?

It's against the rules to attack a poster, but I dont really need to, do I?

westtip

MarkoP11 wrote:

€96 refers to the short hop zone which is stated on the website, Mullingar is in the long hop zone

There needs to be a round of trains leaving to outer suburban destinations at 9 pm ish

I get your point but the website is still as clear as mud. €217 is right for the monthly figure - so my €96 was wrong which I thought was low at the time of writing (and did say please correct me). compared to the cost of long distance commuting from say central London to Hampshire it is still much lower than what commuters have to pay in the south east of England- but the service you pay for is what you get. I wonder if all those commuters looking for a more frequent service and a later train service (say 11.30 pm last train) would be prepared to pay €600 a month for the service. The service provided has to be seen in some kind of context. We just don't have the critical mass to support an on the hour long distance commuter service, to a place like Mullingar, even with an ever expanding population and ever expanding "greater Dublin area". I think if there was a late night train from Dublin to Mullingar you might be lucky to get 20 people on it - maybe a few more on a Friday night. I don't know, however, I don't think every decision for public transport should be driven by commercial viability, but there needs to be some balance between viability and provision of public service.

gobdaw

Saruman wrote:

.......as there is no train service after 6. I think about 6 is the last direct train. The next one you change at maynooth but that leaves castleknock at 6:53 and she only finishes at 6:30 so not enough time to get the bus down there or walk to station.

Taxi to Castleknock/Coolmine?