2023 Proposed Timetable Changes Irish Rail

Jamie2k9

Proposed timetable changes from 10th December 2023

Extra services on Cork, Carlow, Westport, Portlaoise, Mallow and Drogheda routes, and existing services with added stops at Clara and Ballinasloe are highlights of the draft timetable

Iarnród Éireann in conjunction with the National Transport Authority is planning to implement timetable alterations from 10th December 2023. The company has published details of the proposed schedule, and invites the public to submit feedback in advance of the finalisation of the new timetable.

Please note feedback is welcomed for all routes as part of this consultation, whether changes are proposed or not.

Changes are currently proposed on the following routes:

Highlights of the proposed new timetables are:

New Services

• Additional 06:00hrs Dublin Heuston to Cork service (Monday to Friday) arriving at 08:32hrs, giving a pre-09:00hrs arrival to Cork city
• Additional 12:20hrs Dublin Heuston to Carlow and 15:15hrs Carlow to Dublin Heuston service daily (Monday to Friday)
• Additional 16:20hrs Westport to Athlone and 21:08hrs Athlone to Westport service daily (Monday to Saturday), providing connections to/from Dublin Heuston at Athlone.
• Connection from/to Ballina to the new 21:08hrs Athlone to Westport above.
• Significant expansion to Heuston to Portlaoise Commuter Sunday services, with 8 additional Commuter services from Portlaoise to Heuston, and 7 from Heuston to Portlaoise, extending existing Heuston/Kildare services; there will also be additional stops on a number of Heuston/Cork services at Portlaoise, to connect with these Commuter services
• Morning peak service each way between Cork and Mallow, operating at 07:20hrs Cork to Mallow, and 07:50hrs Mallow to Cork
• Additional 12:20hrs, 13:27hrs and 14:20hrs Dublin Connolly to Drogheda, and 11:40hrs and 12:40hrs Drogheda to Dublin Connolly services (Mon to Fri)

Additional stops on existing services

• Four Heuston to Cork and five Cork to Heuston services on Sundays will additionally serve Portlaoise, to provide connections to the enhanced Portlaoise Commuter service
• 19:35hrs Dublin Heuston to Galway (Mon to Sat) and 18:45hrs Heuston to Galway (Sunday) will additionally serve Clara, providing a later final service to Clara.
• 06:25hrs Galway to Dublin Heuston (Mon to Sat) will additionally serve Ballinasloe

Journey time and other significant timetable changes

• Kishoge Station will open in 2024 with local Heuston & Phoenix Park Tunnel services serving this station. This timetable has made provision in train timings for the future opening of this station at Kishogue.  
• Journey time improvements on many Dublin Heuston to Cork and Limerick services, arising from recent infrastructure works.
• Significant changes to Saturday and Sunday DART timetables to improve performance, with time changes resulting on other routes to/from Dublin Connolly as a result
• A number of other minor schedule alterations to improve punctuality.

https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/train-timetables/Proposed-timetable-changes-from-10th-December-2023

road_high

Don’t get the extra Carlow one. Why not another late evening on to Waterford. A real gap in the schedule

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121106753#Comment_121106753

Either no train or no drivers available to do it I would imagine.

They are constrained by the rolling stock at the moment in the evening or morning. The extra intermediate cars won't enter service until sometime later next year. We will have to wait to see what they facilitate.

The extra Carlow service fills a gap in the daytime service on the line, when they are likely to have some spare stock, and clearly now they have enough drivers to do it.

loco_scolo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121106771#Comment_121106771

Does the new timetable finally mean they have trained new drivers?!!..

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121107342#Comment_121107342

They have been training new drivers all the time since Covid restrictions were lifted, but, as I’ve said before, most of the intake since then have been replacing leavers and retirees.

But having said that, with each timetable change they have been increasing the services where resources allow it. It depends on the depot.

Jamie2k9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121106771#Comment_121106771

They won't be constrained when they can make an ICR available for 06:00 Heuston-Cork! Lets not argue on that point as we won't ever agree...

Are you saying the intermediate cars are delayed by a year, they were due to start entering service from later this year or fully in service next year?

Ireland trains

How is the 06:00 to Cork going to get back to Dublin

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121110821#Comment_121110821

I would imagine that the 06:00 Heuston-Cork is going to use a Mark IV set rather than an ICR? Presumably the set off the 09:00 Heuston-Cork, with the Cork set now doing the 05:40 ex-Cork?

Regardless of that, I don’t know if they have enough drivers in Waterford to do an extra overnight round trip Waterford service.

I’d also suspect that once reforming ICR sets starts happening in earnest that it will, temporarily at least, make ICR fleet availability a little tighter for a short while.

As for the intermediate ICR cars, I meant that you won’t see them making timetable changes that reflect the increased number of sets until they are all in service later next year - introducing new stock always has teething issues and they’ll want to be sure they all work reliably first.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121111198#Comment_121111198

Presumably on the 09:25 Cork-Heuston.

Ireland trains

https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/train-timetables/Proposed-timetable-changes-from-10th-December-2023/Full-draft-timetables-and-detailed-summary

Some extra change include:

A Limerick connection to/from the 06:00 Cork will be introduce in the first half of 2024.

05:40 Cork-Heuston now mark IV.

06:15 Cork-Heuston express journey time of 2h 14min.

Less Sunday intercity services will call at suburban stations such as Newbridge, Kildare etc due to expansion of Portlaiose commuter services.

16:10 Heuston-Waterford (Fri) journey time of 1h 40min.

“Customers travelling from Mallow to Cork can now avail of a circa every 20-minute service frequency between 07:29 hrs and 09:08 hrs.”

The additional summer Enterprise services will continue at weekends, with 10 departures each way on Saturdays.

Weekend DART services have been “revised completely.”

Future pattern-based timetable: “As we make step changes to our services and increase service levels this approach will be applied to future timetable proposals. It is intended to transition our services to a more regular pattern towards the end of 2024.”

TranslatorPS

Looking at the draft timetables, I would honestly love for Irish Rail to stop using a double full-stop and start using a vertical bar for the intermediate stations. The current arrangement is a right pain to read as it's not instantly obvious what's continuing far below and what's already finished in a given column.

trellheim

Still using DMUs on Cork Dublin, still no 20:00 to cork. As a long time user of the 0700 to Cork, adding the 0600 is nice but most people I know don't care really, 0930 is arr is OK cos you can work for most of the way down anyway (instead get some decent 4g reception for the last 20 miles ) . That 0600 is only so they can pull a set off the charleville commuter . Where is the spare MK4 set that is sitting around . Service is specced to run entirely Mk4 and that would free up the DMUs for elsewhere - badly needed.

Not extending that Carlow down to Kilkenny or Waterford is ridiculous.

Jamie2k9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121111746#Comment_121111746

I think the later posts confirm its will an ICR on 06:00 and of course will help with wheel slip. I guess 21:00 might lose some capacity to form part of 06:00 but that probably depends how busy commuter part is today.

If Waterford are short drivers then its just not getting priority from IE. They have trained a good few unless loads have left. I believe there is some doing it now as well.

There hasn't been increased service at Waterford for 5+ years apart from resumption of XPO but I would say timber is down slightly.

Then you see some classes starting that are not full as per Irish Rail Jobs.

Jamie2k9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121122169#Comment_121122169

I agree about 06:00, its nice to have but not really critical. I think with more WFH and flexibility around hours its even less so.

Still IE, NTA and political reps can say how great they are with this addition just like they did with the ground breaking 06:15 non stop and 10 minute DART!

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121126247#Comment_121126247

I don’t think that the posts confirm that the 06:00 Dublin-Cork will be an ICR at all.

Surely the MK IV set that currently does the Charleville commuter and the 09:25 ex-Cork will do the 05:40 ex-Cork as noted above and then do the 09:00 Dublin-Cork?

The Mk IV set that currently does the 09:00 Dublin-Cork would instead do the 06:00 Dublin-Cork and 09:25 return.

That would make far more sense than using an ICR?

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121122169#Comment_121122169

The lack of an 06:00 Dublin-Cork was one of the top 20 issues if you go back to the consultation results last year, while the lack of a 20:00 didn’t feature in the top 30? So maybe not as big an issue as you think?

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

bikeman1

06:00 isn’t really that early. A badly needed service in my view, and one that will properly allow for a 09:00 meeting in Cork or onward connections from Cork.

The 06:00 is planned for a MkIV with it picking up the link as LXFlyer points out.

A later Waterford has to be in the mix in future. Something along the lines of a 19:45 with the Carlow deferred further to 21:05 or something giving people most of the evening in Dublin for Athy and Carlow.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121127171#Comment_121127171

I'd agree with you - the 06:00 will now offer the possibility of connecting into the 09:30 237 bus to Skibbereen and reaching the far end of West Cork before noon on public transport from Dublin at long last.

I'd also concur on your second point - the missing link on the Waterford line is an 09:xx service out of Waterford (that could also do a commuter service into Waterford from Clonmel beforehand), and a later evening service down from Dublin as you suggest.

Jamie2k9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121126893#Comment_121126893

I would always cautious of the feedback because plenty of "advocates" provide generic responces for particular services or routes. That is not me suggestiong an 06:00 isn't a high priority.

One year in I would be interested to see the net gain of new customers verses the transfer of existing ones to a particular service.

dowlingm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121135644#Comment_121135644

The Limerick connecting service promised for H1 2024 will hopefully be a nice additional nudge. Wonder how many people the 0505 Ballina-Manulla and 0708 Athlone-Westport will end up carrying.

Jamie2k9

Final Timetable from 10 December with some further additions.

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

cianboy

Does anyone know when trains from cork to Dublin on Dec 10th will show up online to book?

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121353110#Comment_121353110

The link in the post above yours answers that in the second sentence.

L1011

That 'late' Saturday Carlow service added in the further revision is going to be fairly popular with people I know in Carlow and Athy.

Poxyshamrock

“Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023.

IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilities for implementation at a later stage”

Same as last year so can presumably expect to see the same again in 2024?

road_high

A copy and paste job to nearly every request

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121354466#Comment_121354466

Well the reality is that it’s correct. What do you want to write?

They are adding services incrementally as more new drivers pass out, but given the limitations of it taking a year to train a new driver before they can drive on their own, and presumably a limit on the numbers that can be in training at one time, it’s a slow process.

Some of the new drivers will be replacements for retirees and leavers too.

There are more trains added in this timetable, and it’s likely that when the ICRs are all reformed next summer that there will be more new services added.

Expecting large scale change in one go is unrealistic - but every timetable change since Covid has seen incremental changes made and that’s clearly the way they will be delivered going forward.

Jamie2k9

They must hae come under pressure to add the Limerick J connection to 06:00. They don't just go from no drivers/capacity available until 2024 but suddenly making it happen!

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121354622#Comment_121354622

Looks like it. Maybe the maintenance cover is being used for one trip?

Jamie2k9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121354640#Comment_121354640

Whatever the exact reason line capacity is going to be extremely tight.

Presume they have had to alter the 07:25 and 07:40 ex Limerick and probably alter the Thurles service from Limerick J. No room for any delays!

Its not great that IE published the final version and not put it online though said they did. I mean so little has changed it should have been ready to view immediately.

Jamie2k9

Timetable on JP now.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121371284#Comment_121371284

Up on the ticket page too but no tickets available yet.

trellheim

someone told me the reason the 1450 waterford to dublin was 3 coaches because its off the Clonmel line - I thought the platforms were longer than that ?

Jamie2k9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121371920#Comment_121371920

Yes same for 13:15 ex Heuston. They were 4 car until they switched Limerick J to ICRs.

Cant remember if the issues is the stations or having to move the train of the split platform at Limerick J.

trellheim

i thought LJ was famous for long platforms ?

dowlingm

How have things been going since the timetable change? I’m specifically interested in how busy the 0600 Dublin-Cork and the connecting Limerick service have been.

Jamie2k9

The OTP Stats for 2024 are down on 2023 by a lot and thats despite the 10 min rule and generous scheduling by Irish Rail.