Newry to Dublin Early morning train

Northerner

Hi there

I don't understand why there still isn't a service from Newry to DUblin, arriving in Dublin about 8am. The Enterprise arrives after 9 and leaves before 5 which is less than ideal and not employer friendly.

Currently I take the 6.35 from Dundalk, but I don't know why they don't extend it to Newry, given that the Dublin commuter belt has now extended to there. No new infrasturcture is needed, only a starting point of 15 miles further North.

Anyone agree with this? Also, is there a message board where Irish rail respond to notes like this?

Thank you.

Northerner

murphaph

Northerner wrote: »

Anyone agree with this? Also, is there a message board where Irish rail respond to notes like this?

Hahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha. That is all.

Dundalk Daily

Yes I agree its a ridiculous system that the earliest Enterprise gets in after 9 considering its a service between to capital cities. Nothing is a surprise with Irish Rail. I used to get the 6.35 but the overcrowding is such a put off. I have switched to Matthews coaches which most mornings get in quicker and leave Dublin every half hour in the evening. All for €40.

Ham'nd'egger

Northerner wrote: »

Hi there

I don't understand why there still isn't a service from Newry to DUblin, arriving in Dublin about 8am. The Enterprise arrives after 9 and leaves before 5 which is less than ideal and not employer friendly.

Currently I take the 6.35 from Dundalk, but I don't know why they don't extend it to Newry, given that the Dublin commuter belt has now extended to there. No new infrasturcture is needed, only a starting point of 15 miles further North.

Anyone agree with this? Also, is there a message board where Irish rail respond to notes like this?

Thank you.

Northerner

Newry is out of the State so Irish Rail would not be able to begin a service from here without enormous legal complications between it, NIR and the British Transport ministry; a lot of legwork for the sake of 15 miles. I understand that there is some tentative plans for an earlier departure for the Enterprise in the next year or two so this may also explain reluctance to do otherwise.

Victor

murphaph wrote: »

Hahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha.

+1

You can of course go here: http://www.railusers.ie/forum/

Slice

Perhaps, but to encourage commuting from such a distance is at odds with Dublin City Council strategy to consolidate the urban area. Why not move closer to where you work or work closer to where you live?

ardmacha

Whatever about Dublin City council's policy there are early morning services from places like Longford, Wexford and Waterford that are further from Dublin, which suggests that it is more a case of pointless partitionism at work here.

What Vision?

I seem to remember a commuter service been started about 8 or ten years ago by IÉ. It was on Newsline at the time. But maybe there wasn't the demand ten years ago.

Richard

Northerner wrote: »

Hi there

I don't understand why there still isn't a service from Newry to DUblin, arriving in Dublin about 8am. The Enterprise arrives after 9 and leaves before 5 which is less than ideal and not employer friendly.

Currently I take the 6.35 from Dundalk, but I don't know why they don't extend it to Newry, given that the Dublin commuter belt has now extended to there. No new infrasturcture is needed, only a starting point of 15 miles further North.

As others have said, NIR would have to be involved, but this isn't really beyond the realms of possibility, given the way things work in continental Europe.

I wonder whether there is demand, however. It is more difficult for an ROI public sector company to justify a service which starts over the border if there isn't enough demand for it to break even.

Zoney

murphaph wrote: »

Hahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha. That is all.

You're right there

Mind you, they do usually come up with some sort of answer if you email or write to them. It may or may not be useful or the answer will be a fudge, but it's probably the best option available.

Metrobest

Dundalk Daily wrote: »

Yes I agree its a ridiculous system that the earliest Enterprise gets in after 9 considering its a service between to capital cities. Nothing is a surprise with Irish Rail. I used to get the 6.35 but the overcrowding is such a put off. I have switched to Matthews coaches which most mornings get in quicker and leave Dublin every half hour in the evening. All for €40.

Shocking that in 2008 its not possible to take a train from the second biggest city on the island of Ireland (Belfast) and arrive in Dublin before 9am.

What Vision?

Because the line crosses an "international border" any private company can operate a service between Dublin and Belfast. It some EU rule about cross border transport.

shamwari

Leaving aside the legal & commercial considerations here, Translink don't have stock available to work any earlier services than present. And at that hour, current IE stock working out of Dundalk are already crowded long before they reach the city centre, so from a capacity point of view, serving another station is simply not an option when commuters are screaming blue murder about overcrowding.

The only way that something might be managed is if some "soon to be redundant" MKIII's were added to supplment the existing Enterprise stock. In my opinion, addressing the fact that there are only three temperamental sets running the entire Dublin-Belfast route is where there is the greatest scope for improvement, and from this it should be possible to run earlier and later services. On top of an earlier service, there are gaping holes in the current timetable. For example there no trains going Dublin-Belfast between 16:50 & 19:00 which is slap-bang in the middle of the evening peak.

There has to be a will on the part of IE, Translink and the politicians to make things better.

positron

I remember there was some talk (rhetoric) of increasing the Enterprise service frequency to one every hour... This was around 2007, and never heard anything about it since... just like almost every other promise by the authorities..! :rolleyes:

KC61

positron wrote: »

I remember there was some talk (rhetoric) of increasing the Enterprise service frequency to one every hour... This was around 2007, and never heard anything about it since... just like almost every other promise by the authorities..! :rolleyes:

There was indeed talk about it and there still is. However, to do it requires additional rolling stock - either new or refurbished Mark 3 stock.

To do that requires funding and there is not very much of that about right now.

It was never going to happen until 2010 at the earliest, but would appear to be on hold pending funding decisions.

With any transport project there are always lengthy lead-in times and people tend to forget that.

Ham'nd'egger

KC61 wrote: »

There was indeed talk about it and there still is. However, to do it requires additional rolling stock - either new or refurbished Mark 3 stock.

To do that requires funding and there is not very much of that about right now.

It was never going to happen until 2010 at the earliest, but would appear to be on hold pending funding decisions.

With any transport project there are always lengthy lead-in times and people tend to forget that.

The stumbling problem is now the lack of motive power and rolling stock on the NIR side. There is the option to buy or lease stock from Irish Rail but NIR is currently looking to purchase new railcars and to take in second hand stock from Irish Rail will weaken their position to obtain the finances to buy new trains of their own. If the service is to increase, Irish Rail would need to go it alone on the additional services which is unlikely in the short term for several reasons.

dowlingm

Metrobest wrote: »

Shocking that in 2008 its not possible to take a train from the second biggest city on the island of Ireland (Belfast) and arrive in Dublin before 9am.

:rolleyes: You must have a very nervous disposition.

The Enterprise has always been a politically sensitive service and political sensitivity is inversely proportion to rational decision making. The problem at present is that both NIR and IE seem to have to be flush at the same time to do anything with it, both in terms of adding stock and in terms of increasing line speeds to what we have been promised for decades.

The best thing that could happen would be for the service to be split from IE and NIR entirely and run by a third party who could raise funds in its own right. That, however, is highly unlikely in this climate.