Track bashing tales....

Judgement Day

Today I was in Dublin and had a couple of hours to kill before catching to train back to Enniscorthy, so I decided to pick off a couple of lines that I hadn't travelled over before - Clonsilla/M3 Parkway and the Docklands branch. I caught the 14.15 ex.Connolly and the return 15.10 ex.M3 Parkway. A handful of passengers in each direction and I won't be hurrying back to travel over either line. Anybody got passenger figures for the M3 Parkway branch - it looks a real dead duck? Work well underway at Clonsilla on a new Bay platform but to what end?


15.10 M3 Parkway/Docklands awaiting departure - 2 passengers aboard!

Not much to say about Docklands but I have it ticked off now and should I wish to visit the area again I will use the more convenient/frequent Red Luas line service.

Losty Dublin

I've only done Docklands twice since it opened and both times on rail tours. One was an ITG trip in 2007; the other was behind 186 this September with the RPSI. I know the angle is wrong way wide screen but it was to get a good idea of the climb involved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB9tLzzNbeY

foggy_lad

Judgement Day wrote: »

Today I was in Dublin and had a couple of hours to kill before catching to train back to Enniscorthy, so I decided to pick off a couple of lines that I hadn't travelled over before - Clonsilla/M3 Parkway and the Docklands branch. I caught the 14.15 ex.Connolly and the return 15.10 ex.M3 Parkway. A handful of passengers in each direction and I won't be hurrying back to travel over either line. Anybody got passenger figures for the M3 Parkway branch - it looks a real dead duck? Work well underway at Clonsilla on a new Bay platform but to what end?


15.10 M3 Parkway/Docklands awaiting departure - 2 passengers aboard!

Not much to say about Docklands but I have it ticked off now and should I wish to visit the area again I will use the more convenient/frequent Red Luas line service.

Do the passenger numbers rival those for the Western rail corridor? Do Irish Rail release passenger numbers for this route from Docklands/Clonsilla out to Dunboyne/m3 parkway?

Jehuty42

Yeah, passengers numbers aren't great. Fairly okay at peak times, but then it's going to Docklands, where less people want to go..

The problem is that it doesn't really go anywhere, it's a very short branch with two stops that just serves a single small town(Dunboyne). In all fairness it probably shouldn't have been built.

It can still work, if some feeder buses are introduced and the Hansfield station open up things might pick up.

n97 mini

What annoys me is that the service to Leixlip & Maynooth has been cut back to a certain extent to allow an increase in the Dunboyne/M3 P+R train frequency. Look at the Saturday timetable for example, it's a 50-50 split.

Now without too much effort I can see that the combined population of Leixlip & Maynooth is around 28,000 whereas the population of Dunboyne & M3 P+R is abour 6,000.

L1011

The weekend services should run as a captive shuttle on the branch with all trains serving Maynooth and meeting a Pace shuttle.

Judgement Day

While, in theory, a shuttle from Clonsilla to M3 Parkway looks good on paper and even on a model layout, I fear that it will further undermine the level of patronage on the line.

L1011

Judgement Day wrote: »

While, in theory, a shuttle from Clonsilla to M3 Parkway looks good on paper and even on a model layout, I fear that it will further undermine the level of patronage on the line.

Split the train? Would use more drivers than a shuttle (one extra for each trainse in use vs. one for the shuttle) though.

CIE

3:30 pm train outbound from Docklands? Who would be leaving work at that time of day?

Certainly one thing standing in the way of the Dunboyne/M3 line is the fact that it's not running all the way to Navan.

L1011

CIE wrote: »

3:30 pm train outbound from Docklands? Who would be leaving work at that time of day?

Someone starting at 7... but there's no inbound train for that time.

Niles

To be fair, M3 Parkway is/was part of a grander scheme, things might improve if the Navan-M3P section was ever re-opened. Even so, I'm not too sure if the double-tracking from Clonsilla Junction to M3P was ever really that necessary.

Judgement Day wrote: »

While, in theory, a shuttle from Clonsilla to M3 Parkway looks good on paper and even on a model layout, I fear that it will further undermine the level of patronage on the line.

I agree, having to change trains isn't going to encourage patronage if people can get a direct bus/drive directly in their cars.

Drimnagh Road

Until the line to Navan is built - where passenger numbers from there and Dunshauglin should be good - it will never be used to it's full potential.

The problem is however, that when the Transport Minister looks at the passenger figures for the line as it is now, (that is whenever funding is eventually found), he will say there is no justification for extending the line further.

murphaph

Judgement Day wrote: »

While, in theory, a shuttle from Clonsilla to M3 Parkway looks good on paper and even on a model layout, I fear that it will further undermine the level of patronage on the line.

It will if it's run as an Irish Rail style shuttle with no connecting train for half an hour. If it was run professionally with a cross platform change at Clonsilla then it would bring more pax in. Would need good marketing too of course to explain the (clear) benefits of more frequent trains on both lines.

n97 mini

Drimnagh Road wrote: »

Until the line to Navan is built

I'd say pigs will fly sooner.

And in the meantime services should be run to match the demand, and resources be used better elsewhere.

Judgement Day

Proving just how much of an ex.enthusiast I have become, I managed my first trip on the Belgard/Saggart Luas line today - it opened as far back as the 2nd July 2011! An uneventful trip but the new branch as little to recommend it for the general sightseer - unless you a connoisseur of wide open spaces and far off apartment blocks. I travelled as near to the footplate as possible (i.e. behind the driver) for security as well as viewing purposes. The outward, and return trips, were uneventful save for a reformed junkie loudly explaining to another passenger how he was off drugs and on methadone...Anyway, another line ticked off and only two to go now - Midleton and the WRC.

I did the Saggart extension on the opening day. However I still haven't done:

Castlerea-Westport/Ballina
Wexford-Rosslare Strand
Athenry-Galway

Maybe some day I might.

Judgement Day

There are a couple of ex.'freight-only' lines that I need but they are unlikely now I suspect. Mungret Cement Factory branch, Tegral Factory/Athy, Silvermines, Kilmastulla, and Navan/Tara Mines. I also need Tralee/Blennerville and Moyasta but one is dead and the other I'd be seen dead first.

newmug

I would have loved a go on the Kingscourt to Navan line, a nice little trip through my own county. Alas!

corktina

i'm way behind in bashing terms....cork line, belfast line, sligo line, galway line and Lim Junction to Athenry, a goodly chunk of that yesterday! You'd think I'd have done Banteer to Mallow wouldn't you!

Judgement Day

No to mention Kanturk/Banteer!

corktina

Judgement Day wrote: »

No to mention Kanturk/Banteer!

thats planned....the Peoples Front for Kanturk Railway are planning to buy some 27xx units to run it...