https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/news/Timetable-Consultation-2024
I can't believe what I just heard on the 1.00 news on RTE. The Irish rail mouthpiece has acknowledged that the commuter services are all being badly delayed by the new timetable. He then says they are going to rectify this, and then in classic gobbledygook speak, he explains that they will restore the trains punctuality by... showing the delays as increased journey time, so they 'arrive' on time. In other words, sitting on a stationary train will be part of the timetable ffs! Something like 'arrives 8.45' next entry, 'departs 9.00', so 15 minute sitting at a red light or something. Thanks be to cheeses I'm retired, I took the Sligo train from/to Maynooth recently for a monrh of daily hospital treatment. Its Non stop most of the journey. It used to take 25 minutes to Maynooth in the 90s, but it was almost an hour most days, travelling at 15kph according to my speed app. You can travel over a 100km easily in that time in other countries, I could have been in Longford in that journey time. Now they're going to 'solve' the problem Ryanair style, by publishing really slow timetable journey times. Nothing more soul destroying than constantly stopped trains.
Thanks, that probably explains it. A bit of a pity. I could grab the 40e and be in Spencer Dock in 30 mins. Will use the Luas instead now.
It doesn't surprise me at all that they try to massage the numbers. When I first started getting the Dart to college I got an 8:14 train. It was fine for years then suddenly for months it was arriving at 8:16. So what did Irish Rail do? They changed the time to 8:16 so it makes their punctuality numbers look good.
Well if you’re faced with the reality that trains just aren’t able to make the running times that the new timetable has, then really the only option is to adjust them back to something achievable.
The Maynooth running times were cut in the new timetable and clearly it looks like they were cut by too much, and that has caused major problems.
People want a reliable service.
In that situation you need to come up with running times that are achievable.
There are any number of reasons why journey times need to be extended - more dwell time at stations due to increased loadings, increased frequency of services, more stations.
Sometimes you have to just bite that bullet.
Timetables that just don’t work in practice aren’t worth the paper that they are written on, and hence it’s not massaging figures, but rather delivering a timetable that is robust and achievable.
As for the non stop services between Maynooth and Connolly, yes they were faster in the 1990s, but they didn’t have to share the same pair of tracks with anything like the number of trains that there are now on the route. There is nowhere to overtake stopping services.
That’s why the strategic rail review advocates a new line from Maynooth to Hazelhatch to allow them a swift run into Heuston rather than having to share the same tracks as stopping DART services.
Ever since the new timetable came in the commuter train from Portlaoise to Heuston has been late getting into Park West where I alight. The new timetable means we start at Portlaoise two mins earlier which is meant to allow for a stop at the newly reopened Kishoge station. The arrival time at Park West therefore was supposed to remain the same. Unfortunately every single time I've got the commuter since the timetable change has resulted in us arriving at Park West at least 5 minutes late and ergo late for work.
It also grinds my gears that direct commuter trains travelling west bound from Park West in the evening leave at 16:28, 17:35 & 18:13. For a place with thousands of office workers you would think they could arrange the timetable so that it lined up with office hours - most finish between 16:30 and 17:00 with the 16:28 leaving too early and 17:35 too late.
Coming up with schedules that suit everyone is impossible. Delay those trains, and the people getting on earlier in Connolly or Heuston may not be happy.
They also have to fit in with the Intercity services west of Hazelhatch on a two track railway - that’s akin to threading a needle.
These changes will be changed again in a few weeks. 😂
Looks like it’s affected a lot of Maynooth services, at over 30 trains. But only four Drogheda trains, and only 2 to 5 mins, as not a lot of room to change things there.
It’s not just increased journey time. Services are also departing earlier to try avoid conflicts, as well as having increased run time. Increasing run time theoretically allows for better turnaround times.
Its getting worse as far as I can see
It isn’t likely to get any better until they implement the changes next week and even then they will have to keep the schedule under review.
Leaf season is bearing down on us too.
I would prefer them admit mistakes before the media picked up on passenger complaints. It was not acknowledged until this occured. Then the PR spin today and not have a schedule available until tomorrow at the earliest.
Looking forward to additional time sitting outside Connolly just might be considered on time now!
The new timetable is up. They added a lot of padding to the northern routes and Maynooth.
Lets hope this works
Is it normal for stations like the newly opened Kishoge not to have live train information? I don’t use trains much but could use this for commuting only the lack of live travel information makes this more difficult than it could be.
IIRC, that’s the same for 45 years! Buses have filled the gaps. The proposed turn back at Wicklow or Greystones could fill it in.
"all Dublin Connolly to Maynooth services have 3 minutes added to journey times, returning services to pre-timetable change journey times.
Most Maynooth to Dublin Connolly services have 3 to 7 minutes added to journey times."
I guess that fixes the current timetable, where everything is 10-15 minutes late. I do wish services could be improved rather than timetabled to run slower.
All stations should have these like in Britain. Very annoying that they don’t
When they opened Drumcondra Station way back, that saved my sanity, as you could get off and walk instead of the inevitable crawl and wait outside Connolly. The non stop Sligo intercity was a treat to come home on once, but now they crawl to Maynooth. Still, better than the horror of commuting by car.
I think someone has forgot to turn it on the website/app.
The station picks up the data for many years.
Kishoge has real time information in the Irish Rail app and has done since opening day
Left unpowered for years allows moisture ingress and corrosion internally, as theres no internal heat, so they fail when finally powered up. This happened many of the red led ones, installed for many years before being activated.
Would have thought that would be covered in the costs of opening the station, following closure.
The red led displays are in dire need of repair or replacement in general.
Now it's often something like this:
--.-….-. 8 min
#######h 21 min
They also don't display the backend data very well anymore, have noticed appearing on them a lot!
They're absolutely cat.
How was today on the rails around Connolly? Any improvement on the services with the revised times?
Northern line was disaster today, delays, overcrowding and cancellations, even worse than before. Train on the way home was like a mosh pit. Irish Rail blaming signalling issues.
The railways in and around Dublin are on a knife-edge with capacity and lack of rolling stock. One issue goes wrong and delays everything. Big knock on effects for all rail users.
More rail lines, more rolling stock and better signaling. Sounds easy, but no doubt costs millions (billions for new tracks) but is ultimately due to lack of investment over the years.
Yeah they need to bring in the blue ones that are showing up on the DART, city centre and new stations . Broombridge needs them as well.
Whats on the displays looks like something from 'The Matrix'. "Only you can choose your destination. Take the Red (screen) pill, or the Blue (screen) pill". Careful now, or you could end up in #$##__%$ or even ▪︎}[□▪︎~|<¤
