Irish Rail new 8.45pm Connolly to Mullingar

techdiver

Hi,

I was reading the below article last night regarding a new 8.45pm service from Connolly to Mullingar :

https://www.midlands103.com/news/midlands-news/new-rail-service-for-busy-midlands-line/

This is obviously great news for those of us who commute as the existing service terminates with the 7.15pm train from Connolly.

One thing that concerns me though is the lack of any official source on the Irish rail website and/or the listing of the service on the timetable. According to the article the service should begin at the end of the month, but I cannot find anything in the journey planner to confirm this.

Is anyone else here "in the know" regarding this?

goingnowhere

Was promised over 10 years ago and was pulled due local politicians complaining.

No quote from Irish Rail, no dates, could be typical local councillors jumping on band wagon and misinterpreting a comment at a meeting.

It’s definitely on the roadmap but Irish rail is short drivers and it takes 18 months to train them so 2019 looks unlikely

thomasj

Irish rail have said on Twitter they're just awaiting confirmation on it.

thomasj

Irish rail have also said that it will be an extension of a maynooth service so am guessing will be an extension of the 20:47hrs Connolly Maynooth

GerardKeating

goingnowhere wrote: »

Was promised over 10 years ago and was pulled due local politicians complaining.

Why would they complain?

thomasj

GerardKeating wrote: »

Why would they complain?

Because the plan was to cut the 6.17pm ex Connolly (came from Bray) back to Maynooth and run it back into Connolly and then out to Longford at 9pm.

Folks west of Maynooth, were working south of Grand canal dock kicked up fuss and after their politicians getting involved it was pulled .

Jem72

That 6:17 train must be gone now for close to 10 years. It was a pretty pointless service beyond Maynooth, just like the one that left an hour before it and still runs. Both were about 10 minutes behind a non-stopping service so they never carried significant numbers beyond Maynooth. They were really just positioning movements to get sets in place for the morning Longford commuter services.
But as with all services, a small number of people come to depend on them and if they are vocal enough these people can easily hold up a service that would end up being a lot more useful to many more people.

Jamie2k9

Starts 30 Sep, 20.47 extended Mon-Fri. As a result 21.40 Maynooth-Pearse cancelled. Other DART/Commuter late night changes.

http://www.irishrail.ie/service-updates/new-mullingar-service