Dundalk to Dublin Pearse train commute?

sheaman

hi does anyone know how reliable this is in the mornings? will be leaving around 7am.

kingshankly

sheaman wrote: »

hi does anyone know how reliable this is in the mornings? will be leaving around 7am.

Extremely reliable one leaves at 7 and another @ 7:10 takes approx 1:30

Carawaystick

I wouldn't go so far as to say extremely reliable.
There are usually ~1per month delays due to Irish rail failures
When it snowed in 2009/2010 there were delays of >30 mins every journey I took on the train.
Then you have the 3 months of no trains when Irish rail let a bridge fall into the sea at Malahide
Every autumn, Irish rail put up ads saying journey times may be increased due to leaves on the line
Then there are the delays caused by suicides

AngryLips

Carawaystick wrote: »

Then there are the delays caused by suicides

Agree completely, Irish Rail just aren't as proactive on mental health issues as they ought to be.

bikeman1

Carawaystick wrote: »

I wouldn't go so far as to say extremely reliable.
There are usually ~1per month delays due to Irish rail failures
When it snowed in 2009/2010 there were delays of >30 mins every journey I took on the train.
Then you have the 3 months of no trains when Irish rail let a bridge fall into the sea at Malahide
Every autumn, Irish rail put up ads saying journey times may be increased due to leaves on the line
Then there are the delays caused by suicides

I think that you are being a little unfair. Going back to the extreme snow (for Ireland) that we had. Irish Rail did a Stirling job in really tough conditions. Having men at Malahide station walking up and down ensuring the points didn't freeze is one such example. I think you would have suffered delays of more than 30 mins if you went by road. The bridge at Malahide was a terrible case and hopefully will never happen again.

Every railway network in a climate similar to ours suffers poor rail conditions in Autumn. The treatment this year seems to have worked well, with not very many delays compared to some years.

To bring suicides in is very insensitive.

OP,

The train from Dundalk is quite sufficient for the journey. 07:00 is a comfy 22k. You also have the enterprise to choose from as well. 16:50 ex Dublin is good, 1st stop Dundalk.

From a daily user of Northern Line Services.

Carawaystick

I wasn't clear in separating the cases Irish rail was responsible for, from the suicides, which they are not responsible for, but do happen and cause delays.

Re. the snow, I was delayed by > 90 mins one evening after someone slipped off a snow covered platform in Tara St, 3 days after the snow fell, it hadn't been removed. Luckily, there were no serious injuries, but that's hardly a pro-active response to the snow. The next morning, the snow had been cleared from all the platforms. But delays still persisted after several days of cold but clear weather.

I'd say there are signal failures or train breakdowns at least once a month to delay you by half an hour or so.

The leaves issue is still an issue reducing the train from the SP's extremely reliable level.

Hilly Bill

How many delays have you witnessed on the route and times that the OP mentioned?

Cookie_Monster

bikeman1 wrote: »

To bring suicides in is very insensitive.

why? it happens and causes delays and line closures. Should we just hush it up and refuse to face as was always the case in the past? it occurs frequently enough and it will cause delays at some point on that route over the course of a year. Refusing to face that fact is just pointless.

kingshankly

I drive the train in question quite regularly and I checked the departure times in Dundalk and these 2 trains have departed late twice in the last 2 years and anytime I was on them there never more than 3/4 minutes late on arrival which isn't worth boasting about as there's a lot of time built in to both routes
So I would say there extremely reliable.
As for delays the time of the bad snow irish rail was the only thing moving at the time, the snow was that bad you couldn't see the rails in places and there were dozens of people out in the snow clearing points