Christmas 2015 - good news for Irish Rail passengers

thomasj

We have late night services again!
http://www.irishrail.ie/latenightChristmasDARTS2015

Late Night Services

The following late nights services will operate on the Thursdays 10th and 17th, Fridays 11th and 18th and Saturdays 12th and 19th December:

00.30hrs & 01.30hrs from Connolly serving all stations to Bray
00.30hrs & 01.30hrs from Pearse serving all stations to Howth
00.40hrs & 01.40hrs from Pearse serving Tara St, Connolly, and all stations from Howth Junction to Dundalk
00.20hrs & 01.50hrs from Pearse serving all stations to Maynooth
New Years Eve

The following late night DART and Commuter services will operate on New Year's Eve:

01.30hrs & 02.30hrs from Pearse serving all stations to Howth
01.30hrs & 02.30hrs from Connolly serving all stations to Greystones
01.40hrs & 02.40hrs from Pearse serving Tara St, Connolly, and all stations from Howth Junction to Dundalk
01.20hrs & 02.50hrs from Pearse serving all stations to Maynooth

loyatemu

thomasj wrote: »

We have late night services again!
http://www.irishrail.ie/latenightChristmasDARTS2015

Dart to Greystones on NYE but only as far as Bray on the other nights, I wonder why?

Losty Dublin

loyatemu wrote: »

Dart to Greystones on NYE but only as far as Bray on the other nights, I wonder why?

Could be a positioning train or simply to get people home from Bray on NYE; people tend to stay more local than they would for Xmas parties.

Rashers72

Would have made a little more sense to run Northern Suburban trains out ahead of the Darts as they wil have to crawl behind them to Howth junction.
Ps good to see a Thursday service and no charge for existing ticket holders....

Grandeeod

I see the Kildare/Portlaoise route is ignored. I guess it will have to wait a little longer, much like it did for the Sunday services that according to IE wouldn't have any demand.:rolleyes:

Overall, its great to see these services, but as usual some places may have to make some noise if they are ever to get them.

Sean9015

Grandeeod wrote: »

I see the Kildare/Portlaoise route is ignored. I guess it will have to wait a little longer, much like it did for the Sunday services that according to IE wouldn't have any demand.:rolleyes:

Overall, its great to see these services, but as usual some places may have to make some noise if they are ever to get them.

You beat me to it. Drogheda and Dundalk apparently deserve services, Newbridge and Portlaoise don't. I wonder if they'll claim its because we have a 24 hour bus service? Only problem is, last year LUAS didn't run to Red Cow for us midlanders to catch it either!

n97 mini

Grandeeod wrote: »

Overall, its great to see these services, but as usual some places may have to make some noise if they are ever to get them.

My own theory is that Kildare has the poorest political representation. Certainly some TDs seem more interested in Siteserv etc than in local issues.

loyatemu

Once the Grand Canal Dock - Kildare service is up and running you might see late night services on that. I assume they don't want to open Heuston up for the sake of 2 trains.

PukkaStukka

Rashers72 wrote: »

Would have made a little more sense to run Northern Suburban trains out ahead of the Darts as they wil have to crawl behind them to Howth junction.

Unfortunately that would expecting Irish Rail to break with the habit of a lifetime. :mad:

Victor

loyatemu wrote: »

Once the Grand Canal Dock - Kildare service is up and running you might see late night services on that. I assume they don't want to open Heuston up for the sake of 2 trains.

They don't actually need to open Heuston. They could operate the trains from Connolly.

Rashers72 wrote: »

Would have made a little more sense to run Northern Suburban trains out ahead of the Darts as they wil have to crawl behind them to Howth junction.

How do you expect people to get from, say, Raheny to Ddonabate?

When leaving Pearse, the Dundalk train will be 10 minutes behind the Howth train. As the commuter will only be slightly faste than the DART. I don't see a problem.

loyatemu

Victor wrote: »

They don't actually need to open Heuston. They could operate the trains from Connolly.

I assume running trains through the tunnel currently requires some special signalling arrangement and a driver with route knowledge; at the very least it'll be easier when the Kildare-GCD service is live and they're doing it every day.

Losty Dublin

Victor wrote: »

They don't actually need to open Heuston. They could operate the trains from Connolly.
.

To do so requires rostering drivers out of either Heuston or Port Laois depots with route knowledge of Connolly and the PPT or to roster Connolly drivers with route knowledge of the line to Cork. Not impossible but as Heuston has more mainline links to deal with it gets more complex to have the right driver in the right place at the right time. Ensuring that train sets are in place for morning services on the Heuston links is another thing to look out for.

Connolly on the other hand has more suburban links and thus is easier to plan around and to slot drivers into. DART rosters are easier again to work around.

n97 mini

Victor wrote: »

How do you expect people to get from, say, Raheny to Ddonabate?

People only ever want to go from the city centre home. Ask Dublin Bus. They figured it out with the Nitelinks.

thomasj

interestingly, thursday 10th the only late night services home are irish rail

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Centre/General-News/Christmas-Nitelink-Service-2015/

https://www.luas.ie/night-luas-2015/

Jamie2k9

Dart to Greystones on NYE but only as far as Bray on the other nights, I wonder why?

Not sure if it's from Irish Rail or I read it here but running to Greystones requires an additional staff member for signalling.

Grandeeod

Losty Dublin wrote: »

To do so requires rostering drivers out of either Heuston or Port Laois depots with route knowledge of Connolly and the PPT or to roster Connolly drivers with route knowledge of the line to Cork. Not impossible but as Heuston has more mainline links to deal with it gets more complex to have the right driver in the right place at the right time. Ensuring that train sets are in place for morning services on the Heuston links is another thing to look out for.

Connolly on the other hand has more suburban links and thus is easier to plan around and to slot drivers into. DART rosters are easier again to work around.

Nicely explained and all correct, despite the fact that it was denied by IE 10 years ago for regular services via the PPT.

Realistically though, it's not a great excuse and to leave a Dublin area commuter rail route as the poor relation regarding late nite Christmas services, is simply BS harking back to old work practices. To think that the development of Dublin rail services are still dictated by "depots" etc. is rediculous. Modern needs require a modern approach.

Losty Dublin

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Not sure if it's from Irish Rail or I read it here but running to Greystones requires an additional staff member for signalling.

Bray-Greystones is controlled by CTC and it is already staffed 24/7.