How could the Train journey time to Dublin from Sligo be cut these days?

Andy From Sligo

It takes a good 3hrs to get from Sligo Station to Dublin Connelly (on a good day if it dont get delayed) what things could be done to cut down this journey time? - Cut out some stations it stops at along the way? (but what stations?) - upgrade the track for the trains to go faster? - the 22000 class top speed gets up to a max of 160 km/h but i dont know what the maximum speed it reaches to on the sligo to Dublin Line.... Im predicting 80-100km/h at the most? should it cut out all stations after Longford maybe and just let a commuter train/service run from Dublin to Longford? - Divert some of the track so the intersections that the rail go over the road goes over a bridge instead? - replace single track areas with 2 track areas?

ballsymchugh

a second track

Sh1tbag OToole

You could have one fast one that really only goes from Dublin to Sligo and stops nowhere else but would enough people use it?

Cookie_Monster

spend billions upgrading it to a TGV line

Kevin McCloud

Shovel more coal into the boiler.

The Backwards Man

Put it on wheels and drive it to Dublin in two hours.

For Forks Sake

Monorail is the obvious solution

Andy From Sligo

my son just sent me this video - the rollercoaster travels faster than our trains!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154948512780112

ballsymchugh

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

You could have one fast one that really only goes from Dublin to Sligo and stops nowhere else but would enough people use it?

it'll still have to stop at stations along the way to let trains coming the other way pass. all the friggin trains are timed to meet at stations because it's only one track.

Yellowblackbird

If both Dublin and Sligo are travelling in the same direction and Sligo is moving at .9c and Dublin at .1c, then without turning on the engine the train will reach Dublin quicker than you could pull out the tables for firewood. Or thereabouts.

Andy From Sligo

ballsymchugh wrote: »

it'll still have to stop at stations along the way to let trains coming the other way pass. all the friggin trains are timed to meet at stations because it's only one track.

some boffin (if there is any in IR) must be able to come up with a solution of sharing the one track areas so they dont have to wait for another train surely??

P. Breathnach

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

It takes a good 3hrs to get from Sligo Station to Dublin Connelly (on a good day if it dont get delayed) what things could be done to cut down this journey time? ...

Seriously: why bother? The cost of making any big change would be enormous, out of proportion to any benefit.

Kevin McCloud

A quick flight from Knock to Dublin would be a better option.

Whosthis

Go faster, imo.

kneemos

Whosthis wrote: »

Go faster, imo.

Is that an honest opinion or just a ordinary opinion?

Whosthis

Its a general purpose opinion, should have been more precise, imgpo.

the_syco

Whosthis wrote: »

Go faster, imo.

If both trains went faster, they'd probably just end up stopping for longer periods.

hfallada

Just dont go to Sligo. There is literally nothing good in it.

Stay in Dublin (close thread)

Andy From Sligo

When the the 22000 class were being introduced on the Sligo to Dublin line they had an 'open day' at Sligo station to let people view, somebody asked the driver about travel times and im pretty sure the driver said that in the 70's it took 2 and a half hours to get to Dublin station on the train and these days it takes 3hrs so it actually takes longer now if that is true!

Quite a few years back there was loads of sections of track 'upgraded' causing lots of disruptions and cost millions and I think at the time they promised that with the upgraded track the trains would be able to travel faster and cut journey times - that never ever seemed to have materialised!

kneemos

Is Dublin to Sligo faster than Sligo to Dublin?

Kevin McCloud

kneemos wrote: »

Is Dublin to Sligo faster than Sligo to Dublin?

Sligo to Dublin is quicker as its all down hill.

Muahahaha

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

When the the 22000 class were being introduced on the Sligo to Dublin line they had an 'open day' at Sligo station to let people view, somebody asked the driver about travel times and im pretty sure the driver said that in the 70's it took 2 and a half hours to get to Dublin station on the train and these days it takes 3hrs so it actually takes longer now if that is true!

Quite a few years back there was loads of sections of track 'upgraded' causing lots of disruptions and cost millions and I think at the time they promised that with the upgraded track the trains would be able to travel faster and cut journey times - that never ever seemed to have materialised!

When the Belfast to Dublin Enterprise service first began in the 1990's it did the Drogheda to Connolly leg in a very quick 24 minutes iirc. Then the DART got extended to Malahide and the same journey time went up to something like 42 minutes. The thing to do would have been to build a spur off the mainline so the Enterprise had its own dedicated line into and out of the city and could maintain delivering commuters to the city in express times. The opportunity was there to do it during the Celtic Tiger but the powers that be decided to piss our booming economy against the wall.

Andy From Sligo

Muahahaha wrote: »

When the Belfast to Dublin Enterprise service first began in the 1990's it did the Drogheda to Connolly leg in a very quick 24 minutes iirc. Then the DART got extended to Malahide and the same journey time went up to something like 42 minutes. The thing to do would have been to build a spur off the mainline so the Enterprise had its own dedicated line into and out of the city and could maintain delivering commuters to the city in express times. The opportunity was there to do it during the Celtic Tiger but the powers that be decided to piss our booming economy against the wall.

yep if anything major was to be done it should have all been during the Celtic Tiger i agree with you there . they should have put in an extra line on the sligo to dublin line ... long gone are the days when a single line sufficed on a service like this

shruikan2553

Why on earth would you want to go to Sligo? We should just help people move away from there and get rid of the train station there.

Andy From Sligo

shruikan2553 wrote: »

Why on earth would you want to go to Sligo? We should just help people move away from there and get rid of the train station there.

now, now - we will have none of that, we all know that people from the smoke retreat to sligo when they want to get away from the rat race once in a while

But anyway what about the people who wanna get away from Sligo to get to Dublin in the quickest possible time these days especially now the local airport has ceased - 3hrs on the train just dont cut the mustard!

catallus

Are you really from Sligo, Andy?

Andy From Sligo

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

You could have one fast one that really only goes from Dublin to Sligo and stops nowhere else but would enough people use it?

when i lived in uk years ago there was trains from luton to london that stopped at every station and took an hour, then alternated with what we called 'fast train' which stopped at a few stations at first and then didnt stop at the rest of the stations and that took 30-40 mins.

Im just trying to think where the single track is on this line, its not single all the way to Dublin - I think it might go 2 lines after Edgworthstown. _ would be fascinating to see how much it would cut off the total journey time if say longford was the last station it stopped at and the next station it stopped at would be Dublin Connolly

SpaceTime

Rename Blanchardstown Sligo. It's an ideal bureaucratic solution from the Sir Humphrey school of public transport reform.

JupiterKid

Simple. Double the track from Maynooth to Sligo.

Andy From Sligo

catallus wrote: »

Are you really from Sligo, Andy?

it depends what you mean from Sligo - ive been living in Sligo 20 odd years so yeah I guess im from sligo

catallus

Really?

Andy From Sligo

catallus wrote: »

Really?

naw - Im a blow-in really , always will be :rolleyes:

Cookie_Monster

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

When the the 22000 class were being introduced on the Sligo to Dublin line they had an 'open day' at Sligo station to let people view, somebody asked the driver about travel times and im pretty sure the driver said that in the 70's it took 2 and a half hours to get to Dublin station on the train and these days it takes 3hrs so it actually takes longer now if that is true!

I'm pretty sure the same can be said about journey times between all major cities by rail.


edit: piece from 2008 showing that is the case
http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=4214

catallus

I knew it! :pac:

Andy From Sligo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I'm pretty sure the same can be said about journey times between all major cities by rail.

why though? - shouldnt modernisation and changing times depict a faster travel time, not the same travel time or slower as time goes on? or is it because there is more trains on the lines these days that it has got slower?

kneemos

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

when i lived in uk years ago there was trains from luton to london that stopped at every station and took an hour, then alternated with what we called 'fast train' which stopped at a few stations at first and then didnt stop at the rest of the stations and that took 30-40 mins.

Im just trying to think where the single track is on this line, its not single all the way to Dublin - I think it might go 2 lines after Edgworthstown. _ would be fascinating to see how much it would cut off the total journey time if say longford was the last station it stopped at and the next station it stopped at would be Dublin Connolly

You'd need another train to service Longford to Dublin...as if.

braddun

jet propulsion pack




or play the ryan air jingle

another ontime arrival

Andy From Sligo

kneemos wrote: »

You'd need another train to service Longford to Dublin...as if.

would not the IE 29000 Class Commuter trains suffice?

Andy From Sligo

the UK Intercity 125 trains got you fast from one place to another in uk they were like lightening - ran faster than the Intercity ones over here.

To be honest we havent got any decent motorway from sligo to dublin (a proper motorway i mean not the N4) so really there should be more pumped into the mainline railway and speed that journey up

Cookie_Monster

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

why though? - shouldnt modernisation and changing times depict a faster travel time, not the same travel time or slower as time goes on? or is it because there is more trains on the lines these days that it has got slower?

extra trains using the lines, more crossing conflicts and more suburban services clogging the lines.
extra padding built into the timetables to enable better on time statistics
increased number of speed restrictions as maintenance is put off and H&S requirements increase incessantly.
Stock not specced properly for high speed running and track incapable of supporting it.

Ruu

Have the train built by Acme.

Tail Docker

It's Sligo. They ought to be stunned, amazed and grateful that anyone even bothered laying a track to there. Never mind running actual trains on it.

anncoates

Cut the price of drink on it and nobody will care about the journey time

Grayson

JupiterKid wrote: »

Simple. Double the track from Maynooth to Sligo.

there's still huge stretches of the track where the train slows to a crawl

Marcusm

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

some boffin (if there is any in IR) must be able to come up with a solution of sharing the one track areas so they dont have to wait for another train surely??

Uh, does the world have any boffins who can allow two trains to share a single rack when travelling in opposite directions? Basically this is the problem with Irish regional rail. Single tracks over long distances preclude operating the rolling stock at anywhere near peak efficiency. However, the cost of laying dual track is an inhabitant when compared with, say, dual carriage/motorways as there is higher usage.

snubbleste

How could the Train journey time to Dublin from Sligo be cut these days?
With a sharp scissors

Jawgap

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Monorail is the obvious solution

What are we? Shelbyville??

Remove IE from the equation and hand the running of the line over to a proper train company.

It's doubtful they can speed things up - you probably need to straighten and improve the track - but they might improve the quality and customer experience.

ClovenHoof

take the bus - faster and cheaper and a more frequent service.

oppenheimer1

The reason the new trains cannot reach their top speed is because of the curves on the line. This is due to the line following the route of the royal canal for most of the way.

To improve journey times would require the entire track relaid along a brand new alignment. If you were doing that you may as well double track and electrify it as well.

Grandeeod

In fairness the line only follows the canal to Mullingar. Overall it was cheaply built originally. However since investment, curves have been banked to allow higher speeds, the Shannon bridge was rebuilt, the line and signalling have been brought up to standard and yet its still plugging a 3 hour trip, like it was many years ago. Extra trains on the route were introduced and this does actually slow stuff down. Return it to its original timetable and increase the speed. Then its better. Unfortunately IE thought more trains at the same journey time was progress. Eh....no.

Cookie_Monster

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

The reason the new trains cannot reach their top speed is because of the curves on the line. This is due to the line following the route of the royal canal for most of the way.

To improve journey times would require the entire track relaid along a brand new alignment. If you were doing that you may as well double track and electrify it as well.

or simply bank the corners or invest in tilting trains