Irish Rail Waterford-Dublin Timetable Changes

johnnykilo

I see Irish Rail are proposing changing the time of the 7am Waterford to Dublin Commuter train to leave earlier so that it'll now stop in Kilkenny. As someone who moved back to Waterford during the pandemic and takes this train regularly when going to work in Dublin, I think this is a step backwards. If anything there should be more express trains from Waterford to Dublin, bypassing Kilkenny, especially at commuter times.

They could mix it up by having some additional Kilkenny to Dublin services but that express train in the morning is great - 2 hours Waterford to Dublin stepping out onto the Luas at 9am, so don't go changing it would be my opinion on it. Anyway, they have a consultation form on the proposed changes, so just in case this affects anyone else who regularly takes this route, you can have your say here:

https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/news/Proposed-timetable-changes-from-11th-December-2022

914

Presume it's more bums on seats by stopping in Kilkenny as you now will have people working in Kilkenny from Waterford and working in Dublin from Kilkenny will now have the option for the train.

I see it's a 10 min earlier departure but still arriving in Dublin for 9am.

• "07:00 hrs Waterford to Heuston will additionally serve Kilkenny at 07:28 hrs; train is advanced to 06:50 hrs from Waterford, but no change to arrival time in Heuston at 09:00 hrs as a result."

Would love to see high speed trains in Ireland, the dream.

johnnykilo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119640222#Comment_119640222

That's a busy train as it is, there's regularly no seats or even people standing by the time it reaches Carlow or Athy. So I don't know where all the people are going to go, unless they add on more carriages. Again, it goes back to my point though, if there's that much demand from Kilkenny just run a separate train.

I know people might just say it's only 10 minutes, but it all adds up. Look at the billions they're spending on HS2 in the UK and while that will increase capacity on lines from London to the North, it's only going to knock 20 minutes off the journey.

I was lucky enough to ride on the Maglev in Shanghai, fastest train in the world, top speed of 430KM an hour. Could do Waterford to Dublin in about 19 minutes 🤣 To quote Irish Rail "A lot done, more to do!"

BBM77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058264112/irish-rail-waterford-dublin-timetable-changes

10 minutes early excluded. From a Waterford point of view who cares if it stops in Kilkenny, still arrives in Dublin at 9am, just 10 more minutes to have a rest when coming from Waterford. If the train is full when it reaches Kilkenny or Carlow that is their problem.

GandhiwasfromBallyfermot

Should have a lot more trains going between Waterford & Kilkenny to be honest. Two of the biggest urban areas in the southeast, there's a lot of people working in both Waterford & Kilkenny within the catchment area of that line. Re-opening the Mullinavat, Ballyhale, & Bennettsbridge stations in addition to Thomastown for a regular commuter train between Kilkenny & Waterford would be the dream. If the M9 wasn't there I think demand would be much higher.

PTH2009

hate seeing 'extra services to & From Dublin for matches/concerts' for the likes of Limerick, Galway, Cork,etc

Where's we get **** all of that and instead have to endure Buses. Think Kilkenny-Waterford got a late night service for the Bob Dylan show a few years back but that was in July

johnnykilo

Irish Rail announced new Timetables changes today:

https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/news/public-consultation-2023

New services Dublin to Cork and annoyingly a new Dublin to Carlow service which terminates in Carlow instead of continuing to Waterford among the highlights.

At the end of that page are the top 50 concerns raised in the public consultation process Irish Rail ran, with the number 3 concern being no late night train to Waterford (the current latest one leaves Dublin around 6.30pm). It's obviously a fairly poorly constructed top 50, as various concerns are listed slightly differently instead of being consolidated into 1 topic. For example the lack of a later train from Dublin to Waterford is concern 3 and number 46, instead of being combined into one.

In addition to the query on a later train, people have also requested an earlier train from Dublin to Waterford and more trains in general on that route.

Grassy Knoll

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119650835#Comment_119650835

To correct something you said Carlow town is now bigger than Kilkenny City in population terms now, so CW is the second biggest urban area in the South East after Waterford City. Who would have thunk it …