Anyone commuting daily from Cavan to Dublin?

termon8r

Hi,

I know it is probably madness but I will soon be commuting from Virginia to Dublin 3 days a week.

I was thinking of driving to Clonsilla and getting the train from there into town as I believe traffic on the N3 at the Blanch round-about can be bad from as early as 7am.

Any advice or recommendations from fellow commuters on the same route would be most welcome.

All the best,
Termon8r.

ofjames

termon8r wrote: »

Hi,

I know it is probably madness but I will soon be commuting from Virginia to Dublin 3 days a week.

I was thinking of driving to Clonsilla and getting the train from there into town as I believe traffic on the N3 at the Blanch round-about can be bad from as early as 7am.

Any advice or recommendations from fellow commuters on the same route would be most welcome.

All the best,
Termon8r.

clonsilla to virginia will take between 1hr 10mins and 1hr 30mins, depending on traffic. Worst spots are through navan, and in particular - kells.

two points regarding the option of using the train from clonsilla.

1) in the evening, trains from clonsilla run fairly infrequently. at most 2 per hour, so you could be in line for a lot of waiting around at a quiet station in the evenings.

2) as far as i know, the parking situation around clonsilla is very poor. there is no train station car park. might be a better idea to use coolmine, as it has a car park and is just as easily accessible from the N3

On another point, there are two speed camera's going each direction on the N3, in both cases (ie heading north v heading south) the camera's are located either side of navan. so watch out! even though they have the distinct look to me that they are not currently in use.

Colm R

If you don't want to bring your car into Dublin, which is a good idea, I would nearly be inclined to drive to Ashbourne from Navan and get relatively good and reliable bus service to the City. Remember these are double deck Bus Eireann buses which don't stop unless dropping off, once you get inside the M50.

dsane1

If your going northside of dublin it might be worth considering the navan to dcu via airport service runs on the hour from navan fire station ,beside the car park .Starts at 5am afaik .

termon8r

Thanks very much for all the info.

The problem is that I am working in south dublin therefore the train into city centre is probably the best option.

I have done the trip a few times and in the morning is fine but the evening can be a disaster.

Hopefully the M3 should help matters when completed.

Skyhater

ofjames wrote: »

.....
1) in the evening, trains from clonsilla run fairly infrequently. at most 2 per hour, so you could be in line for a lot of waiting around at a quiet station in the evenings......

Not sure what misinformation you're trying to pass on here:
termon8r is travelling into town in the morning, and back to clonsilla in the evening.
Train from Connolly to Clonsilla run in average about every 20 mins at peak time:
16:05
16:20 (15 min Gap)
16:41 (21 min Gap)
17:15 (34 min Gap - That's a Long One)
17:28 (13 min Gap)
17:46 (18 min Gap)
18:08 (22 min Gap)
18:18 (10 min Gap)

The same frequency applies for the morning rush hour.
You also have the possibility of getting a Docklands service that runs about every 30mins at peak times.

Regardless you won't "be in line for a lot of waiting around at a quiet station"

.......2) as far as i know, the parking situation around clonsilla is very poor. there is no train station car park. might be a better idea to use coolmine, as it has a car park and is just as easily accessible from the N3......

Parking situation at clonsilla station is poor. Clonsilla station was never meant to be (...and shouldn't be) a Park and Ride station. Unfortunately for termon8r the Pace P&R station is still several years away. Having said that, you can get parking on the roadside near enough to clonsilla station.... you just may have to walk a bit.
Coolmine is another option. Or the P&R at the new Phoenix Park Station (but you don't avoid the N3/M50 Junction traffic there).

My advice... get a job in Virginia

Victor

How about driving to Drogheda or Malahide and getting the train in?