Dunboyne station opening delayed "indefinitely"?

CUCINA

According to an article in today's Evening Herald, the opening of the new line has been delayed indefinitely. Apparently, the delay is because of some access road not yet built by a developer, or some such...
Someone tell me that this is not true. This new train station is one of the few good-news stories around, to combat the depressing 25-billion Anglo bottomless pit etc, only to be knocked on the head by some paddy-wackery planning cock-up...

NufcNavan

Train line? Delay?


Hmm....

gipi

I think the article referred to a train station at Hansfield as the one that has no access road. Hansfield is a strategic development zone (like Adamstown) and should have had all infrastructure in place as part of its planning approval.

Shouldn't stop the Dunboyne station opening on time, but it will mean that the train goes slowly through an empty unused station (like the Drogheda-Dublin trains did at Clongriffen for a year or two).

thomasj

The article in the herald was referring to hansfield station.

The line is due to open on September 2, with operational stops at dunboyne and m3 parkway. It will also benefit maynooth line passengers from stations such as Clonsilla, coolmine etc

CUCINA

Thanks for the clarification, guys...so no need to despair just yet!
Not great news if you live in Hansfield, though. Actually, even though I live in Dunshaughlin, I'm not sure where Hansfield is, other tha that it is somewhere near Ongar. And I did'nt know where Ongar was until I went looking for it a few years ago after reading David McWilliam's book, "The Pope's Children".
In the book, he describes Ongar village as a "pretend village" because of the deliberately cramped layout of the streets and buildings.
Actually, I became a regular visitor to there en route from work, having discovered that it had a decent bakery and butcher shop, two things badly lacking in Dunshaughlin.
Sadly, the bakery shop is no more. At least that was the case when I was last there a while ago.
That digression aside, I am looking forward to the opening of the new train service. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Pace car park is going to be free to use. I might even make a day of it on 2nd Sept and take the train from there with my better half to the city centre.
Even though I have fair idea what a tracker mortgage is, I don't know where Spencer Dock is, so I guess I'll find out then!

Dubh Geannain

Irish Rail opens new commuter service

The new Dunboyne to Dublin commuter rail service is open to the public today.

The service will operate from the new M3 and Dunboyne Stations to the Docklands Station from Monday to Friday - and to Connolly Station at weekends.

The new service follows a €160m investment.

Irish Rail has said peak journey times from Dunboyne to Dublin will take 27 minutes.

From M3 parkway, where there is a 1,200 space park and ride facility, it will take 31 minutes

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/irish-rail-opens-new-commuter-service-472006.html

gipi

I hope the first day of the new service went well.

I smiled at one of the AA roadwatch reports this morning - it announced the new rail service from Dunboyne, including the 27 min journey time, and then proceeded to tell the listeners that the busiest route into Dublin city was the M3/N3.....:D

Archeron

Seen a train in the station today as well, great to see. And my grandma, what a big park and ride car park you have!

PauloMN

What's the story with the park and ride? How much is it?

CUCINA

The park-and-ride facility north of Dunboyne village is free but the one in Dunboyne village costs 2 euros per day, as far as I know.
The fare from the M3 Parkway is 4.2 euros and from Dunboyne village ,a couple of hundred metres down the line, it is 3.6 so a slight premium to be paid for the "free" parking but we won't quibble about that! (I believe it costs two euros per day to use the Dunboyne village park-and-ride).

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone yesterday and he was saying that if you use the train from Monday to Friday and you want to get off at Connolly station instead of going to Docklands, that you have to change at Clonsilla. And that this was because Connolly can't cope with the extra traffic. Can anyone confirm this? This might be a issue with some people who might feel that the Docklands station is a bit less salubrious an area to roam around in.

Skrynesaver

The line couldn't be opened until the new station @ Docklands was open because Connolly can't take any more traffic

As to the relative salubrity of Amiens St. / Portland row /Sheriff St. and the National Conference Centre / IFSC / Docklands, You may have them the wrong way around

Dubh Geannain

CUCINA wrote: »

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone yesterday and he was saying that if you use the train from Monday to Friday and you want to get off at Connolly station instead of going to Docklands, that you have to change at Clonsilla.

To improve your chances of a seat then I suppose you'd get off at Clonsilla. You could also change at Coolmie, Castleknock, Phoenix Park or Ashtown.

The wait time for the next train to Connolly seems to 10minutes max.
http://www.irishrail.ie/your_journey/printed_timetable_pdfs/2010/Dublin%20Maynooth%2010-2.pdf

TheChrisD

CUCINA wrote: »

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone yesterday and he was saying that if you use the train from Monday to Friday and you want to get off at Connolly station instead of going to Docklands, that you have to change at Clonsilla

Yup, you need to change at Clonsilla. Better than changing anywhere else further down the like during peak hours, if I recall the morning trains are practically at bursting capacity by the time they get to Castleknock.

The wait times are also a little fiddly. Sometimes as little as 4 minutes, other times 20 minutes+ :mad:

stomprockin

Is there anybody from Dunshaughlin using this services who work in Dublin?

Just curious if its worth while, cost etc...

Skrynesaver

I come in from Skryne - it saves me a lot of time in the evenings, I'm in early in the morning and miss the traffic but the 6 yard bumper shuffle until I get out of town was driving me nuts in the evenings, I'd arrive home fit for nothing.

From a purely financial perspective a day return is €6, which is cheaper than the fuel costs of driving in and out daily.

stomprockin

Skrynesaver wrote: »

I come in from Skryne - it saves me a lot of time in the evenings, I'm in early in the morning and miss the traffic but the 6 yard bumper shuffle until I get out of town was driving me nuts in the evenings, I'd arrive home fit for nothing.

From a purely financial perspective a day return is €6, which is cheaper than the fuel costs of driving in and out daily.

Tempting, but for the 5 days return is around 30 euro plus a bus from town to D4 where i work for 5 days..say 36 euro,is there car parking charges ? if so that may bring it to about 40 euro for the week ish?.. cant see the incentive for me tbh.
But i will look into it further..

Thanks Skrynesaver

Dubh Geannain

Parking if free at the M3 Parkway/Pace and is charged at Dunboyne. Can't recall the cost for parking at Dunboyne.

GSF

Dubh Geannain wrote: »

Parking if free at the M3 Parkway/Pace and is charged at Dunboyne. Can't recall the cost for parking at Dunboyne.

€2 per day in Dunboyne