Improved train service

Murt10

From Joan Burton's website

"Commuters using the Maynooth line should see some improvements in the service in 2008 but will have to wait until at least 2011 or even 2016 to see a full DART-style service operating on the line. ....

Joan Burton, TD recently met Iarnród Éireann’s Barry Kenny .....

Iaranród Éireann have promised that next year should see the current 4-carriage trains being doubled to 8-carriage trains ....

In addition Iaranród Éireann has promised Joan Burton additional services at early morning and peak times which will hopefully commence in January and ease the terrible overcrowding of trains. "

http://www.joanburton.ie/?postid=750



That's the good news. On the other hand, the more trains you put on, the more people will use them, and the more cars that will be parked in the housing estates around the train stations in Clonsilla, Coolmine and Castleknock. Roselawn Road is now a nightmare to drive down duing the day with large numbers of cars parked on either side of the road and I'm just waiting on a kid to run out from between the cars.

I also heard that they (Fingal?) are going to start charge for parking on the road beside the canal at Clonsilla.

I suppose that when the new train station opens on the Navan Road, that that this stop is going to slow the trains down by a couple of minutes each way, and at the same time make the trains even more packed.

Pity CIE don't turn Coolmine into a free or cheap multi story carpark.

Stark

Murt10 wrote:

I suppose that when the new train station opens on the Navan Road, that that this stop is going to slow the trains down by a couple of minutes each way, and at the same time make the trains even more packed.

Train station on the Navan road? I haven't heard anything about that. There's nowhere that a new train station would make sense anyway. The two points where the train line comes close to the Navan road are right next to Castleknock station and Ashtown station.

Murt10

Stark wrote: »

The two points where the train line comes close to the Navan road are right next to Castleknock station and Ashtown station.

It's in between Castleknock station and Ashtown station. I don't use the train on a regular basis but I think the new station is nearly finished now.


Murt

RasTa

I sometimes use that train week on week off. It's hell in the mornings and hell coming home. They do come pretty swift in the morning but they need to make bigger platforms yet again in order to accomdate more people. Also that new station is a waste of time, for people living in Phoneix park racecourse.

Zaph

I'm back using the train after a year of not being on them and it's incredible the amount of extra people using them. I get the 7.18am from Coolmine and the car park is noticably fuller than it used to be. Even wiorse though is the number of people waiting for the train. It used to be standing room only, but reasonably comfortable, now it's like a Japanese subway train. There's a 20 minute gap between trains (7.18 to 7.40) that IR really need to fill. When the Phoenix Park station opens it's going to be absolutely crazy.

Xavi6

I got the train to work up until I left and it was crazy. People squashed like sardines and you were almost guarenteed a fainter a day. The service is too infrequent imo. At supposed off peak times there is pretty much a train an hour which is not much use to anyone.

I think it's a good idea to increase the amount of trains, if only to make travel more comfortable and safer. Valid point about the volume of passengers increasing as well but I can't see the proportions being equal.

Oh and the Phoenix station is a waste. They could walk to Ashtown no hassle. Has Broombridge been done away with yet?

Nevyn

No it hasn't and it is unlikely to happen with a lot of the old factory site being slated for developemnt as appartments

Gaspode

The new station will service the Racecourse development and the developments that will take place along the river road in the next few years.
Broombridge wont be done away with I'd say - there's too much land around it just ripe for redevelopment so it will never be short of passengers.

With more trains the traffic around stations with level crossings will be even worse. It's mad here on the river road every time a train comes through.

Oh, and if people were willing to walk to train stations, then there would be no problems around clonsilla, coolmine, etc. with cars parked in estates all day.

Pat Dunne

deswalsh wrote: »

.Oh, and if people were willing to walk to train stations, then there would be no problems around clonsilla, coolmine, etc. with cars parked in estates all day.

C'mon Des how would you fancy walk from Clonee or Littlepace to the Clonsilla station each morning?

In the absense of feeder buses to the stations people are forced to drive.

Dublin Bus in their wisdom have yet to put feeder buses to any of the stations unless they happen to be on an existing route. As they feel they are a competing service against the trians and not a complementary service to the overall public transport solution.

Surely some local private buses company could run a feeder service to and from Clonee, Castaheany, Littlepace and Damastown Ind Est to Clonsilla station. Who knows if there was a serious of proper routes servicing the various stations I am certain that there would be a well supported.

Gaspode

No that's not what I was getting at at all, I was just responding to an earlier comment from Xavi6 that the new station would be a waste and people should walk to Ashtown. People on the far side of the racecourse development simply wouldnt walk that far.

MrJoeSoap

The Docklands train is the greatest invention since sliced bread. I've walked a bit of the Dunboyne extension and you can see where its going to go, there's definite progress being made. When it will be done is the question.

Zaph

I agree, the Docklands train is great, but the only problem in the morning for me is that the 7.03 from Coolmine is way too early, and there was no parking left when I went for the 7.48 and I nearly missed it because I had to go off lokking for parking elsewhere. But it's brilliant in the evening, no problem getting a seat on it.

What bugs me most about the trains though are the huge gaps in the timetable. As I previously mentioned, there's a 20 minute gap at peak time in the morning and there's also a half hour gap between the 16.41 in Connolly and the 17.10 Docklands train, with another leaving Connolly 5 minutes later. That's just ridiculous scheduling IMO.

MrJoeSoap

zaph wrote: »

I agree, the Docklands train is great, but the only problem in the morning for me is that the 7.03 from Coolmine is way too early, and there was no parking left when I went for the 7.48 and I nearly missed it because I had to go off lokking for parking elsewhere. But it's brilliant in the evening, no problem getting a seat on it.

What bugs me most about the trains though are the huge gaps in the timetable. As I previously mentioned, there's a 20 minute gap at peak time in the morning and there's also a half hour gap between the 16.41 in Connolly and the 17.10 Docklands train, with another leaving Connolly 5 minutes later. That's just ridiculous scheduling IMO.

Agreed. I'm fairly lucky in that I'm pretty much equal distance between Connolly, Docklands and Drumcondra in where I work, so if one timetable doesn't suit the other one always does. Got the 16.46 home from Drumcondra today... reckon I'll stick to the Docklands one at that hour from now on.

fast1

What they need is a bus from Clonee and Little Pace to go Clonsilla station to ease the parking issue. But that will just make the trains more crowded. At the moments it is a 25-30 minute walk from Little Pace to Clonsilla.

The more trains they put on, the more people will use them, making parking more of an issue.

The more parking there is, the more people will use the trians, making the trains jam packed.

They need more trains, every 10 minutes from 7am. They need more parking at the stations because I am sick of getting notes from the estates saying "don't park here, the garbage collection truck couldnt get trough, there is free parking at the station"

Anything they do, whether it be more parking, more trains, buses to train stations, more stations, etc, will just have a knock on effect causing more traffic, fuller trains and less parking.

I don't know what the solution is?

MrJoeSoap

fast1 wrote: »

I don't know what the solution is?

An upgraded line to allow more traffic (ie - more trains) on the line. Would almost certainly involve a massive investment (including doing away with all the level crossings on the route) but it has to happen eventually.

Murt10

Here's a link to a forum where our train line is specifically discussed.

http://forum.platform11.org/forumdisplay.php?f=41

Nevyn

Thats nice murt10 but someof use want to dicuss it here.

Personally it makes my blood boil when i give out about the 39 and people say to be just get the train and assume that all of the d15 area is with in 15 mins walk of a station and that the trains are frequent enough.

Murt10

Thaedydal wrote: »

Thats nice murt10 but someof use want to dicuss it here.

Personally it makes my blood boil when i give out about the 39 and people say to be just get the train and assume that all of the d15 area is with in 15 mins walk of a station and that the trains are frequent enough.

I got the 39 home about 4 years ago.

I still remember it. It was terrible. I was in Town near Hawkins St. I realised that I had just missed the train. Being close to the 39 bus stop, I decided to take it, thinking I'd save time, rather than walking over to Connolly and waiting for another train. It was well over 2 hours before I got off that bus. I still get dizzy just thinking about it, and I am amazed that people are accepting this treatment on a daily basis.

The 39 bus goes along a so called QBC on the Navan Road. CIE are really taking the p*** calling it a it a QBC. The Navan Road, on the way out of Town, as far as the 1/2 way house in just too narrow for a QBC. A lot of it is single lane. Stop, start, stop, start, it's just a huge joke to them. Also on the 39 route is that other traffic nightmare, Manor Street. And the government is suppost to be encouraging us to use public transport.

There is a perfectly good road down the middle of the Pheonix Park. It is a shortcut that avoids the worst of the traffic blackspots. The main Pheonix Park road is well capable of taking buses as well as cars, but CIE are not allowed to use it. Realistically, there must be a lack of will on the part of CIE to use it, otherwise it would have been done years ago.

When I was travelling into Town, on a daily basis, I used to drive down through the Park. It was much much faster than taking the bus. With a Green Government, why don't they just ban cars from the Park during rush hour and give it over to buses entirely. It would certainly speed up the journey into and out of Town for the majority of commuters from Dublin 15, and not just from there, but from Clonee, Navan, Dunshaughlin etc. as well.

Gaspode

Murt10 wrote: »

There is a perfectly good road down the middle of the Pheonix Park. It is a shortcut that avoids the worst of the traffic blackspots.

The Pheonix park is a park , not a thoroughfare. Personally I think there's too much traffic in it already.
The answer surely is not to destroy a terrific amenity by shoving a load of buses through the middle of it. I'm sure I dont know what the answer is, but the pheonix park aint it.

PauloMN

fast1 wrote: »

I don't know what the solution is?

A combination of a number of different ideas and trials is the solution. There's no one answer, but speaking as a resident of Castaheany for almost 10 years, a number of things stand out:

- in an area with almost 4000 houses, we have no dedicated bus service. None. Tweaking existing routes like the 39 - which is already too long - is not a solution, and besides doesn't run close enough to a lot of estates.
- no bus shelters at most stops. Do Dublin Bus expect people to get out of cars to stand in the pissings of rain at a stop with no shelter? Dream on.
- no feeder bus to train stations.
- peak services not frequent enough. People need to be able to know they'll be on a bus/train direct to town within 5 to 10 mins of arriving at a bus stop/train station.
- integrated ticketing/live bus timetables etc. - all the stuff we were promised has not happened.

They only way people will be encouraged out of cars around here is for Dublin Bus and Irish Rail to trial run a frequent and direct service into town and feeder services to the trains every few minutes. People have to get used to the idea of having reliable, quick and comfortable public transport and that means investing in a long term trial with lots of complementary solutions to change peoples' mindsets.

If Dublin Bus do their usual trick of sticking on a new (infrequent) service on for 2 weeks, then complaining that nobody is using it and taking it away again, we'll be back to square 1.

ciaran76

Earlier on in the year there was a meeting in The Paddocks with some guy from Dublin Bus and Joan Burton.

Basically he said Dublin Bus dont want to be feeding buses to the train stations as they (Irish Rail) are competition so that was 1 reason they dont have as many feeder buses to Clonsilla/Coolmine etc etc.


He didnt say it exactly like that but in a general way.

daymobrew

ciaran76 wrote: »

Earlier on in the year there was a meeting in The Paddocks with some guy from Dublin Bus and Joan Burton.

Basically he said Dublin Bus dont want to be feeding buses to the train stations as they (Irish Rail) are competition so that was 1 reason they dont have as many feeder buses to Clonsilla/Coolmine etc etc.

He didnt say it exactly like that but in a general way.

In the same meeting I thought that the guy said that on one of the morning 39s from Ongar a ton of people get off at Clonsilla. So, even if they don't want to be a feeder services, they already are.

fast1

Thats a poor excuse from Dublin Bus. Surely they will see increased revenue with people of Little Pace, Ongar and Clonee getting the bus to Clonsilla train station. People are going to get the train whether they get a bus to it or drive.

More feeder buses = less cars on the road = quicker journey times for buses = happy people. I'd hate to be on a 39 bus going past clonsilla and coolmine stations in the mornings.

I don't know much about the Irish transport system being an Aussie, but I take it Irish Rail and Dublin Bus are both privately owned companies?

In Sydney trains and buses are owned and operated by the Government, meaning we get buses from most residential areas outside the city to train stations, then jump on a train into the city. In peak hour there is a city bound train every few minutes, buses from residential areas every 10-15 or so. I used to travel 30kms in 45mins getting both a bus, train and then walking. Sydney people complain about the transport there, especially trains. They should live here for a while.

The Irish system is a joke, and it will never improve if Dublin Bus see the trains as their competition. They should be working together. The are meant to provide a service, and at the moment the service sucks, both the buses and the trains.

I could understand the situation if Dublin had a population of 10 million people.

They are playing catchup due to the rapid population increase, but they will always be behind. The new metro is 10 years away, whats the population going to be like then?

Zaph

fast1 wrote: »

I don't know much about the Irish transport system being an Aussie, but I take it Irish Rail and Dublin Bus are both privately owned companies?

Bizarrely enough, they're both divisions of a semi-state company, CIE. However, instead of combining to work for the greater good they seem to feel that they should be competing with each other.

billius

Just while we're on the subject of trains...the planned train station at Ongar has been scrapped - not sure if this is news or not but I'm disappointed!!

Here's an email I received today from the Ongar Residents Association -
"Ongar Residents Association Committee is pursuing the implementation of Hansfield Train Station, which has recently been scrapped by those responsible for its planning.

We are all deeply concerned and will be forwarding a letter in this regard to all those involved with demands of the station to be operational as planned by 2009.

This information was advertised on Mr. Brian Lenihan’s pre – election flyer. We have contacted the minister in this regard and are yet to receive a response.

Their will be an Oral hearing shortly, I understand on Monday the 10th of December, but I am yet to receive confirmation on this.

We recommend all to send letters of concern regarding the ‘non-construction of Hansfield’, to the Minister of Justice, Brian Lenihan, The Minister of Transport, Fingal. Co. Council Mangers and planning department.

If this new plan is excepted, Ongar will not have a train station as promised."

fast1

From IE....

MAYNOOTH COMMUTER SERVICES

New services on the ever-growing Maynooth line include (from 21st January 2008) 06.38hrs Maynooth-Connolly; 08.10hrs Maynooth-Connolly (non-stop to Drumcondra), and extra evening services at 16.20hrs (from Connolly) and 19.29hrs (from Pearse). Additional Sunday evening services will also operate.

Additional capacity will also be delivered on key peak services on the Maynooth and Northern lines during 2008.



Will this help anyone????

I would have though putting on another train somewhere between (arriving at clonsilla) 7:50 and 8:20 would help more and another from Pearse in the afternoon between 17:45 and 18:00

No idea how they decide on when to put new trains on, but 16:20 and 19:29 would be outside peak times.

Zaph

The additional capacity may help, although I thought most peak hour trains are as long as they can make them now? There are definite gaps in the scheduling that need to be plugged, but those new services manage to completely avoid them. More annoyingly will be when we hear Barry Kenny going on about how they've put extra services on the route, completely missing the point of when they are actually needed.

Pat Dunne

"billius" Don't know exactly who has put out the information on the proposed Hansfield Station. As I have not seen it myself and that there are at least three different Ongar residents groups for the various parts of Ongar.

Just to clarify one thing there was never going to be an Ongar Train Station in the first place. The new station is to be located in Hansfield.

The original plan was that the Hansfield Special Development Zone (SDZ) would be based on the Adamstown model which is located near Lucan. The Station was originally to to built before any of the houses were released to the public for sale. Similarly to what happened in Adamstowns whereby all the various services would be in place ie. Schools, Train station, Shops etc, before or shortly after the new resdident moved into the area.

Would like to see a copy of the document you have "billius" from the residents group.

I will also ask some of the local Councillor's as to what is going on.

Pat Dunne

Good news on the Hansfield train station.

I spoke with Joan Burton TD on the matter last week and she informed me to day that. The Hansfield train station will be built in tandem with the Clonsilla/Dunboyne spur line and will open at the same time as of when the new rail services come on line, which will be in 2009/2010.

The announcement was made as a result of an agreement been reached between
the Developers, Fingal Co. Co. and Irish Rail, during the course of a public hearing on the new rail line, which was held last week.

http://www.joanburton.ie/?postid=771