Irish Rail September Timetable Changes

L1011

Rashers72 wrote: »

While I would kind of agree, they really should have made some PA announcements, even if automated on repeat, especially Thurs, Friday and Sat.

Very significant onboard and in station announcements on the Maynooth line particularly in relation to specific trains with big time changes

Maynooth services are running to 4 today which means they're crossing all active paths. Really isn't gaining anything operationally

dublinman1990

While everyone was looking at the new DART timetable last week; was that through the IE or TFI journey planner?

IE have the new timetable released in PDF format here if you haven't looked at it yet.

http://www.irishrail.ie/media/dart__commuter_-_090918.pdf.pdf

L1011

I used the IR journey planner as everything was point to point. It is useless for suburban transfers as it is based off protecting intercity revenue and hence gives huge transfer times - TFI planner is needed for those.

IR planner will make you leave Maynooth about a quarter of an hour earlier to get to Eastpoint for 0900 than the TFI planner due to padded connection time - the connection in this case being 6 to 7 and requiring seconds, not the 8 minutes or so IR expect

Ireland trains

Gm228
Just wondering how you know about whats happening in the next timetable change.
what happened to the thread 'timetable change 9 December 2018'.

Ohmeha

2 carriages less on my 8am howth southbound DART this morning along with a reduction in services

Colonel Claptrap

Ohmeha wrote: »

2 carriages less on my 8am howth southbound DART this morning along with a reduction in services

Same with the southbound Malahide service. It's already packed.

Deviso

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

Same with the southbound Malahide service. It's already packed.

Malahide service is busy. I'm currently on the 8:16 from Clongriffin. But that's to do with colleges being back today. It was always going to be busier.

Ohmeha

No room from killester onwards on my 8.00 southbound DART, they only have to wait 10 mins now for the next dangerously overcrowded DART to arrive. My DART is running at least five minutes beind schedule due to combination of delayed commuter arriving at howth junction and people running up the platform trying to squash themselves onto a carriage

As easily predicted irishrail have made a complete disaster of this schedule

gimli2112

Got down to the station at the normal time, next Dart 17 minutes away. It's a first world problem but a two track rail system isn't rocket science, is it?

L1011

0545 Sligo hugely late without explanation, but due to the ridiculous recovery time it's not going to be much late to Conolly. Almost came in to Maynooth at its old time

devnull

Every timetable change leads to this kind of issue in pretty much any place I've seen one implemented, because people turn up for the old times on the first few days until they get used to the new times and then loading spreads around a bit.

Judge it in a week or two, not the first day.

Colonel Claptrap

devnull wrote: »

Every timetable change leads to this kind of issue in pretty much any place I've seen one implemented, because people turn up for the old times on the first few days until they get used to the new times and then loading spreads around a bit.

Judge it in a week or two, not the first day.

Completely agree.

But I still think there's merit in sharing experiences today and watching how they trend over the next week or two.

IE are reviewing the Portmarnock situation in 3 months. The more people who are vocal now, the better. People become ambivalent over time and stop caring about the timetable change after a few weeks. I think it's important to hold NTA and IE to account now, especially while people are late into work, sweaty from a crush and angry about a poorly executed timetable change.

I see little point in sticking fingers in ears and saying come back to me in 2 weeks. Not suggesting you are saying this either.

PCros

devnull wrote: »

Every timetable change leads to this kind of issue in pretty much any place I've seen one implemented, because people turn up for the old times on the first few days until they get used to the new times and then loading spreads around a bit.

Judge it in a week or two, not the first day.

But why send a half length DART out at 7:51 into the city from Malahide? If that was a full length I'm fairly sure it would have been fine.

Also this was advertised as a 25 min trip but it came in at 32 mins - that's going to hurt their stats.

lawred2

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

Completely agree.

But I still think there's merit in sharing experiences today and watching how they trend over the next week or two.

IE are reviewing the Portmarnock situation in 3 months. The more people who are vocal now, the better. People become ambivalent over time and stop caring about the timetable change after a few weeks. I think it's important yo hold NTA and IE to account now, especially while people are late into work, sweaty from a crush and angry about a poorly executed timetable change.

I see little point in sticking fingers in ears and saying come back to me in 2 weeks. Not suggesting you are saying this either.

well the demands on Portmarnock are only going in one direction... hundreds of new houses currently being constructed within walking distance of the station. Reducing peak time services now seems dunderheaded..

lawred2

PCros wrote: »

But why send a half length DART out at 7:51 into the city from Malahide? If that was a full length I'm fairly sure it would have been fine.

Also this was advertised as a 25 min trip but it came in at 32 mins - that's going to hurt their stats.

the 814 from Portmarnock was about the same

Cloudio9

lawred2 wrote: »

the 814 from Portmarnock was about the same

834 also 6 mins slower than timetable in to Tara.

LEIN

PCros wrote: »

Also this was advertised as a 25 min trip but it came in at 32 mins - that's going to hurt their stats.

That has been classed as 'on time'. Only trains at 10+ are recorded as being late.

lawred2

LEIN wrote: »

That has been classed as 'on time'. Only trains at 10+ are recorded as being late.

surely a more correct measure would be a ratio of the original scheduled duration

sure 10 minutes late on a 24 minute service would be a service that took 41% longer than scheduled

Colonel Claptrap

LEIN wrote: »

That has been classed as 'on time'. Only trains at 10+ are recorded as being late.

It was 10mins late by the time it reached Pearse.

Jamie2k9

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

Completely agree.

But I still think there's merit in sharing experiences today and watching how they trend over the next week or two.

IE are reviewing the Portmarnock situation in 3 months. The more people who are vocal now, the better. People become ambivalent over time and stop caring about the timetable change after a few weeks. I think it's important to hold NTA and IE to account now, especially while people are late into work, sweaty from a crush and angry about a poorly executed timetable change.

I see little point in sticking fingers in ears and saying come back to me in 2 weeks. Not suggesting you are saying this either.

All you need is under 800 signatures on a petition and make a good case to get a stop added....

NuMarvel

LEIN wrote: »

That has been classed as 'on time'. Only trains at 10+ are recorded as being late.

For DARTs, late trains are those that are more than 5 minutes late.

Which seems excessively generous now, with the 10 minute frequency.

Decuc500

So let me get this straight.
There are more people using the Dart on the Malahide line because the diesels don’t stop at Portmarnock and Howth Junction. And some darts are shorter.
Apparently passengers have been left stranded on platrorms further up the line.

Also there are less trains running from Howth in morning rush hour. And they are also reduced to half size!
My short dart from Kilbarrack at 8:53 was jammed by Killester. A woman near me had to sit on the floor with her head down as she was feeling weak.
People were running up the platform trying to get in a door that wasn't jammed.

Have I missed anything else with this super duper improvement?

devnull

Decuc500 wrote: »

So let me get this straight.
There are more people using the Dart on the Malahide line because the diesels don’t stop at Portmarnock and Howth Junction. And some darts are shorter.
Apparently passengers have been left stranded on platrorms further up the line.

Also there are less trains running from Howth in morning rush hour. And they are also reduced to half size!
My short dart from Kilbarrack at 8:53 was jammed by Killester. A woman near me had to sit on the floor with her head down as she was feeling weak.
People were running up the platform trying to get in a door that wasn't jammed.

Have I missed anything else with this super duper improvement?

Every timetable change leads to this, because people turn up for the old times on the first few days until they get used to the new change and then loading spreads around a little bit.

I was once on a DB route that was every 20 minutes that went to every 10 minutes during peak. For the first little while the 7.20am and 7.40am were packed and standing room only and the 7.30am was empty.

After a week or so the load was much more evenly spread.

murpho999

Decuc500 wrote: »

So let me get this straight.
There are more people using the Dart on the Malahide line because the diesels don’t stop at Portmarnock and Howth Junction. And some darts are shorter.
Apparently passengers have been left stranded on platrorms further up the line.

Also there are less trains running from Howth in morning rush hour. And they are also reduced to half size!
My short dart from Kilbarrack at 8:53 was jammed by Killester. A woman near me had to sit on the floor with her head down as she was feeling weak.
People were running up the platform trying to get in a door that wasn't jammed.

Have I missed anything else with this super duper improvement?

Are you trying to make out that she felt weak due to crowding and/or timetable change?

Decuc500

murpho999 wrote: »

Are you trying to make out that she felt weak due to crowding and/or timetable change?

I'm suggesting that she felt weak because the train was jammed packed and very hot and this is due to the new timetable because the previous darts from Howth at this time weren't this full, so yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Is the reduced to half size true? I suppose they have get some stock for the services.

ohnonotgmail

Decuc500 wrote: »

So let me get this straight.
There are more people using the Dart on the Malahide line because the diesels don’t stop at Portmarnock and Howth Junction. And some darts are shorter.
Apparently passengers have been left stranded on platrorms further up the line.

Also there are less trains running from Howth in morning rush hour. And they are also reduced to half size!
My short dart from Kilbarrack at 8:53 was jammed by Killester. A woman near me had to sit on the floor with her head down as she was feeling weak.
People were running up the platform trying to get in a door that wasn't jammed.

Have I missed anything else with this super duper improvement?

Wait, there are LESS trains running from howth with the new timetable? Should there not be more trains with the increase in frequency?

Decuc500

devnull wrote: »

Every timetable change leads to this, because people turn up for the old times on the first few days until they get used to the new change and then loading spreads around a little bit.

I was once on a DB route that was every 20 minutes that went to every 10 minutes during peak. For the first little while the 7.20am and 7.40am were packed and standing room only and the 7.30am was empty.

After a week or so the load was much more evenly spread.

I'd like to think this would happen with the new timetable but it won't. 4 carriage darts in rush hour every 20 minutes from Howth will always be jammed.

Anyway, what annoys me is we're being told more darts! Better frequency! The reality this morning was less darts! Less frequency! Shorter trains!

Where exactly is the improvement? Oh yeah, 3:00pm in the afternoon.

LEIN

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

Is the reduced to half size true? I suppose they have get some stock for the services.

I spotted a few 4 car DARTs on the way this morning.

murpho999

Decuc500 wrote: »

I'm suggesting that she felt weak because the train was jammed packed and very hot and this is due to the new timetable because the previous darts from Howth at this time weren't this full, so yeah, that's what I'm saying.

But in truth you have no idea if she was ill beforehand.

People who are likely to get weak in a packed train should not travel in rush hour in any major city.
You can’t blame Irish Rail for everything.