Massive rail service expansion in NI

Hungerford

Translink have issued the new NIR timetable effective from January 6th. Anyone who is travelling up North should review it as the new timetable contains a lot of changes due to significant service expansions on the Derry and Larne lines.

The main changes are:

Derry line:
* Services between Belfast and Coleraine/Portrush now run hourly from Monday to Saturday [previously every two hours].
* Services between Belfast and Coleraine/Portrush now run every two hours on Sundays [previously every three hours].

Larne line:
* Services between Belfast and Larne now run hourly on Sundays [previously every 90 minutes]
* Changes in terminus stations: Trains to/from Belfast Central extended to Great Victoria Street; Trains to/from Carrickfergus now extended to Whitehead.
* Random skipping of minor stations by all-stops services will cease.

Portadown/Bangor line:
All trains serve Titanic Quarter.

Enterprise:
Belfast Central departures have been re-timed. In most cases, they seem to have been brought forward by five minutes.

There are also a lot of timing changes throughout as a result of the above.

Judgement Day

Aw! I thought it was an announcement that the GNR Derry Road was to reopen.

CIE

Judgement Day wrote: »

Aw! I thought it was an announcement that the GNR Derry Road was to reopen.

Same here. It would be the only thing that would fit the hyperbole of the thread title after all.

Hungerford

CIE wrote: »

Same here. It would be the only thing that would fit the hyperbole of the thread title after all.

I would have thought that doubling the number of services on a key route would have been described as massive. And I would have assumed that most posters knew that there is a 0% chance of the Derry Road reopening.

CIE

Hungerford wrote: »

I would have thought that doubling the number of services on a key route would have been described as massive. And I would have assumed that most posters knew that there is a 0% chance of the Derry Road reopening

If anything outdoes the Republic's Luddism in regards to railway modernisation, it's the North's Luddism.

And no, "doubling" is meaningless.

Hungerford

I think that passengers would disagree with your views of doubling services.

In any case, I don't think that NIR can realistically be accused of Luddism. They are doing an excellent job in the face of an arguably hostile parent department and politicians whose attitudes to rail transport are coloured by how much the 'other side' might benefit from an investment.

Unlike many IE services, their trains are comfortable, clean and offer competitive journey times. Plus the staff tend to be both friendly and professional. The company also has a relatively clear idea of what it wants to do in the future if the politicians provide the necessary funding.

CIE

Hungerford wrote: »

I think that passengers would disagree with your views of doubling services

On what basis? If the result is slower services, then there is no reason why passengers should use them, because they can outdrive the train every time. That is how I would view things as a passenger.

Hungerford wrote: »

In any case, I don't think that NIR can realistically be accused of Luddism. They are doing an excellent job in the face of an arguably hostile parent department and politicians whose attitudes to rail transport are coloured by how much the 'other side' might benefit from an investment.

Unlike many IE services, their trains are comfortable, clean and offer competitive journey times. Plus the staff tend to be both friendly and professional. The company also has a relatively clear idea of what it wants to do in the future if the politicians provide the necessary funding

If the only comparison is with IE, then they are relatively non-Luddist; but given the history of railways and what they have had to put up with in NI, then that's a rather fine degree of relativity; razor-edged, even. Jamming up existing railway lines with more trains is not necessarily a "massive expansion" (more wear and tear on both infrastructure and rolling stock for possibly and most likely little gain), but expanding the actual rail miles of the network would be, by comparison with that.

funkey_monkey

Is there any reduction in the travel times for the Derry - Belfast line?

Hungerford

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Is there any reduction in the travel times for the Derry - Belfast line?

The changes have increased average journey times by four minutes on all services between Belfast and Coleraine because they have to cross an extra train.

On the other hand, journey times from Belfast to Larne will be reduced by an average of 13 minutes.

Hungerford

CIE wrote: »

On what basis? If the result is slower services, then there is no reason why passengers should use them, because they can outdrive the train every time. That is how I would view things as a passenger.

The journey times are still competitive. In absolutely ideal conditions, you can apparently drive from Coleraine to Belfast in 80 minutes. I've never managed to achieve that time. NIR are offering a time of 90 minutes at all points during the day.

The same thing applies to the Bangor line. In absolutely ideal conditions, you can drive from Bangor to Belfast in 28 minutes. NIR offer express services during peak periods which can do the distance in 30 minutes.

The only routes where they aren't time competitive is Belfast to Derry [beyond Coleraine] and Belfast to Larne [beyond Whitehead] and that's due to the geography of the lines that they have inherited.