Dundalk 06:30 train to Dublin???

wiggy123 · 02-12-2009 10:43AM #1

Could someone please explain this?

This train use to leave at 6:35 pre new timetable! And pre viaduct collapse this train would arrive in Pearse station @ 8:04. On a good day (very) and maybe 5 mins later. Common occurrence!

Since new timetable, has come in on Monday pass! The train leaves now at 6:30, but has not gotten into Pearse train station, any day this week till 8:10....why is this? Train leaves 5 min's earlier but arrives 6 min's later...could someone please explain! It equals a 11-15 minute delay...

This is a joke...a farce! And we paid the most per mile, than any other train journey from my reckoning in Ireland

Like its €259 for a monthly from Dundalk, but Drogheda is €195 a month...difference of €64...for what off a difference! You can check all ticket prices and some are ridiculous, i.e. €28 return from Dundalk to Dublin on a Friday...joke!

Angers me so much! That Dundalk gets such a poor service!

smcelhinney · 02-12-2009 10:53AM

CAPS LOCK? Seriously?

Anyway, its reasonable to assume that there would be some teething issues with the new timetables (from Dec 1) and for the sake of, as you say, 11-15 mins delay, its probably not worth getting worked up over.

If you feel aggrieved by it, why not write a) a hand-written letter to their customer care department, or b) an open letter to a newspaper. You may find other like-minded commuters, or you may find that you're over-reacting, either way you'll be able to vent.

Im in Drogheda, and I havent had any major issues with the line since the viaduct reopened (except for the publicised ones on day one of the reopening). It takes me an hour to get to Tara. No more, no less.

Cookie_Monster · 02-12-2009 10:56AM

essentially to accommodate all the clockface DART timetabling a lot of commuter services have had to slow down as they no longer have priority over DART when it comes to timing

wiggy123 · 02-12-2009 10:59AM

smcelhinney
you would say that...sure drogheda has a great service--2 trains to dundalks one..morning and evening time

also with bus's..that time--who got looked after best???? drogheda

so i'd forget about ur opinion!

positron · 02-12-2009 11:35AM

I am from Drogheda, and I understand Wiggy's concern. There's a 6 mins added each way to my journey time, which makes it 12 minutes more on board the train - and when you do this daily, it quickly adds up. My wife, also a commuter, has nearly 30 mins added to her daily train-life.

We are now looking for slightly bigger bags to bring some useful stuff to the train - we are considering bringing quilts, coffee, breakfast, new paper and some pictures to hang on the seat in front - because at this rate we will soon be spending more time on the train than at home.

PS: If IrishRail would pay, I could use a visit to the doctor as I really have bad backache, from standing in a strange twisted angle on the 5:28 service from Tara, while it crawled along for ages behind a DART service.

covert · 02-12-2009 12:23PM

wiggy123 wrote: »

AND WE PAID THE MOST PER MILE,THAN ANY OTHER TRAIN JOURNEY FROM MY RECKONING IN IRELAND

LIKE ITS €259 FOR A MONTHLY FROM DUNDALK,
BUT DROGEHA IS €195 A MONTH...DIFFERENCE OF €64...FOR WHAT OFF A DIFFERENCE!

Ehhh....it's 31 miles Dublin to Drogheda by rail and 54 miles Dublin to Dundalk - therefore you're paying LESS per mile than Drogheda, not more....

MysticalSoul · 02-12-2009 03:51PM

By any chance is the train stopping at more stations? This has happened with some of the commuter trains with the new timetable.

cargo · 02-12-2009 05:43PM

Isn't there not a new temporary speed limit over the repaired bridge (and surronding area) that was adding a few minutes to journeys?

Search the end of the related threads to the bridge collaspe and you may see the stats worked out there.

ixoy · 02-12-2009 05:58PM

It's been pretty poor so far. The 8:12 from Portmarnock was moved to 8:19. So we'd be in later already except that, so far, it's always been 5 minutes late - so we're now 12 minutes later than we used to. It's later because there's a queue of commuter line trains all being squeezed into a very small window and the delays there have a knock on effect. Seems very poorly planned.

positron · 02-12-2009 06:35PM

ixoy wrote: »

It's been pretty poor so far. The 8:12 from Portmarnock was moved to 8:19. So we'd be in later already except that, so far, it's always been 5 minutes late - so we're now 12 minutes later than we used to. It's later because there's a queue of commuter line trains all being squeezed into a very small window and the delays there have a knock on effect. Seems very poorly planned.

I think some of the new stops were introduced just to get the trains to fit into that slot. 'Poor planning' is too kind - "absolute ignoramuses with crayons" if you ask my honest opinion!

ixoy · 02-12-2009 07:09PM

positron wrote: »

I think some of the new stops were introduced just to get the trains to fit into that slot. 'Poor planning' is too kind - "absolute ignoramuses with crayons" if you ask my honest opinion!

Indeed. For another example, there used to be a 19:52 train to Portmarnock with the next train at 20:17 (rail car) and then another dart at 20:54.
Now the 19:52 is moved to 20:21. So instead of 20-25 minute gaps, we've a 40
minute gap, a 3 minute gap, and another 40 minutes.

How does that make sense? Why would you put 2 trains in the same direction mere minutes apart and then leave a gap for 40 minutes? Do they draw up plans independently of each other for the two lines?

fh041205 · 02-12-2009 08:34PM

wiggy123 wrote: »

€28 RETURN FROM DUNDALK TO DUBLIN ON A FRIDAY...JOKE!

This is false AFAIK. See below.

http://irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=575

Hungerford · 02-12-2009 09:23PM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

essentially to accommodate all the clockface DART timetabling a lot of commuter services have had to slow down as they no longer have priority over DART when it comes to timing

The issue is more complex than that. Basically, commuter services never had priority over DART services - indeed even the Enterprise doesn't. The theory is that they can make up the lost time once they leave the DART area.

Basically as a result of the clockface timetable, the number of DART services to/from Malahide have been cut. To pick up the slack, the commuter services, which didn't stop there before, now do.

That's your six minutes folks.

KC61 · 02-12-2009 09:29PM

The train now calls at two extra stations en route (Gormanston and Malahide) which uses up the 5 minutes that it has departing earlier. However it is now right behind a DART from Malahide leaving at 0730. This means that it takes longer to get to Connolly than before.

positron · 02-12-2009 10:45PM

The more you look at the timetable, its getting bad to worse! facepalm's all around..!

What can we do to kick some sense into these lads? Can these people be sued for inefficiency or incompetency or something like that? I mean, if they wanted to do it right, they could have easily avoided such obvious mistakes - so this has to be professional negligence or intentional misconduct, right? This is really not good - they are wasting our tax money, right?

ecom · 03-12-2009 08:57AM

last years timetabling on the northern commuter line (and the previous years etc) resulted in some dangerous overcrowding on a daily basis.

Now that all nothern bound trains appear to stop at Howth Junction, Portmarnock and Malahide I witnessed overcrowding the likes I have never seen before on Tuesday last.

Why are these incompetent fools allowed to get away with this sort of timetabling? Yes I've sent letters, made phone calls etc, but all to no avail. They genuinely dont give a rats!

wiggy123 · 03-12-2009 11:14AM

fh041205

i seen that--but thats for the month od december only!
read ur facts please!
incentive for ppl to use the train!

KC61 · 03-12-2009 11:33AM

The fundamental problem boils down to this:

The DART has beeen reconfigured into a clockface timetable (with a small number of exceptions) between Greystones and Howth Junction. Services beyond Howth Junction are not split evenly between Malahide and Howth, but in a haphazard manner, caused by the availability of slots at Malahide and the desire to maintain a similar level of service to/from Howth as before.

Added to this, the Northern and Maynooth lines have not had clockface or regular interval scheduling introduced, with management deciding that they wanted to retain pretty much the same service pattern on both as was.

Now that is basically trying to operate a hybrid service. The result is that because of the reduction in the number of DART services to/from Malahide that most diesel services now also serve Portmarnock and Malahide. Because the existing northern line service pattern has largely been retained, many services are now taking longer as they have extra stops and are trying to fit around a reconfigured DART service.

What should have happened? IE should have bitten the bullet and introduced a standard interval clockface service on all routes out of Connolly, with an integrated service pattern that facilitated connections and where possible avoided "semi-fast" services being held up due to operating directly behind DART services. Instead there is a hotch-potch that is managing to annoy everyone on the the diesel operated commuter routes.

Effectively the problems have switched from DART customers complaining about long gaps to Commuter users complaining about longer journey times and more stops.

Issybella · 03-12-2009 03:08PM

there is a commuter train that stops at portmarnock in between 08.12 and 08.19 but no-one can get on, its already got people literally falling out doors. Which means getting the dart at 08.17 (but its been late every day this week - 08.21 etc which gets into connolly 8:45 if its going well. no more getting into work by 9am depending on how you have to walk...

MysticalSoul · 03-12-2009 04:24PM

Issybella wrote: »

there is a commuter train that stops at portmarnock in between 08.12 and 08.19 but no-one can get on, its already got people literally falling out doors. Which means getting the dart at 08.17 (but its been late every day this week - 08.21 etc which gets into connolly 8:45 if its going well. no more getting into work by 9am depending on how you have to walk...

This is why I've been getting the commuter train which leaves Portmarnock at 7.56 - still no seats, but there is at least breathing room.

BenShermin · 03-12-2009 06:25PM

The simple way to solve this would be to scrap direct services to Howth in favour of a shuttle between Howth Junction and Howth. By doing that you could keep the clockface Dart timetable to Malahide and ensure that all northern commuter trains are non stop to Malahide as there would no longer be frequency issues for Malahide and Portmarnock passengers.

shaungil · 03-12-2009 06:47PM

Guys excuse my ignorance but what is the clockface timetable mean. Is this reference to the 15mins darts.
Skerries commuter also totally peeved no response from Irisharail, trains from 5.20 in evening take longer more stops etc and longer gap leading to overcrowding.
Any groups on Facebook for commuters or user groups around. Public reps aren't great on this.

KC61 · 03-12-2009 07:26PM

Clockface means that buses/trains leave at the same minutes passed each hour.

Combined with regular interval departures (i.e. same gaps between trains/buses) it is generally accepted as the best method of timetabling as it generally does not require passengers to look at a timetable more than once and should minimise waiting time.

KC61 · 03-12-2009 07:28PM

BenShermin wrote: »

The simple way to solve this would be to scrap direct services to Howth in favour of a shuttle between Howth Junction and Howth. By doing that you could keep the clockface Dart timetable to Malahide and ensure that all northern commuter trains are non stop to Malahide as there would no longer be frequency issues for Malahide and Portmarnock passengers.

Until the issue of siding space at Malahide is addressed that will not work. This is needed so that the DARTs can wait there without blocking commuter and Enterprise services. There is a need for a siding north of the station, but as commented in another thread local residents blocked that. The existing sidings are south of the station and the movements to get to and fro use up too much time.

fh041205 · 03-12-2009 10:24PM

wiggy123 wrote: »

fh041205

i seen that--but thats for the month od december only!
read ur facts please!
incentive for ppl to use the train!

I've read them. They are right. You were/are wrong. It is NOT 28e Dundalk-Drogheda return on Friday, its 10. Even pre-bridge collapse it was 10 for most of the day.

I suggest you get your own facts straight since most of your claims in your OP have been proven to be wrong.

positron · 03-12-2009 10:29PM

fh041205 wrote: »

I've read them. They are right. You were/are wrong. It is NOT 28e Dundalk-Drogheda return on Friday, its 10. Even pre-bridge collapse it was 10 for most of the day.

I suggest you get your own facts straight since most of your claims in your OP have been proven to be wrong.

fh041205 - as far as I know, the €10 is a brand new offer from IrishRail, post bridge-opening and aimed at Christmas season shoppers etc. It was not there before - or IF it was there all along, that would mean that the woman at the counter in Drogheda station scammed me big time, because I paid nearly 20 quid for a ticket on particular day in October...

kormak · 03-12-2009 10:34PM

wiggy123 wrote: »

smcelhinney
you would say that...sure drogheda has a great service--2 trains to dundalks one..morning and evening time

also with bus's..that time--who got looked after best???? drogheda

so i'd forget about ur opinion!

I know of quite a few Enterprise I would like to get home to Drogheda to shorten my day but only go direct to Dundalk...
it's not all boo-hoo for Dundalk commuters!

kormak · 03-12-2009 10:44PM

Also for what it's worth...
I will not be renewing my annual ticket.
My journey from work is now taking 2 hrs eachway with the new timetable.
Before it was an almost bearable 1-1.30 hours each way.
There's a public meeting in the Westcourt next Monday night with Irish Rail reps and T.D Fergus O' Dowd present. I would call on ALL commuters to act with their feet and show up with a wagging fist full or rage!! :mad:

Rashers72 · 03-12-2009 11:05PM

I think this has been a bad week on the Northern suburban line. I have spent an extra 5-10 mins each day each way this week, waiting behind DARTS in the Howth Junction - Connolly section. That is on top of the extra stops at Malahide and Portmarnock etc. I also had the normal train and signal failures to deal with.
I would hope that IE makes a much bigger effort after this week to get DARTs operating on time. Their new timetable requires no delays to DARTS to ensure the Northern suburban services can make their slots, and thats even having extended their journey times.
I was on an off-peak service today at 11am, and we still spent 10 mins sitting outside Connolly.
I wonder when they open Clongriffin, will all the suburban services stop there also?
I would also be interested to hear what IE will say to all the issues at the meeting in Drogheda next week.

fh041205 · 03-12-2009 11:23PM

positron wrote: »

fh041205 - as far as I know, the €10 is a brand new offer from IrishRail, post bridge-opening and aimed at Christmas season shoppers etc. It was not there before - or IF it was there all along, that would mean that the woman at the counter in Drogheda station scammed me big time, because I paid nearly 20 quid for a ticket on particular day in October...

http://irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=368

Thats the offer that I was talking about (sorry should have linked it originally) which has been in place for over a year at least. I think 18 months actually. I'm just disputing the suggestion that its €28 all day every friday which annoyed me.

Is there a predefinded purpose to this meeting. Is Fergus O'Dowd the only 'big name' representative at the meeting?

fh041205 · 03-12-2009 11:24PM

kormak wrote: »

I know of quite a few Enterprise I would like to get home to Drogheda to shorten my day but only go direct to Dundalk...
it's not all boo-hoo for Dundalk commuters!

Fortunately the 15.20 on a Fri now stops although it took a lot of pursuading from what I hear. How I could have done with that last year:rolleyes:

Dundalk 06:30 train to Dublin???

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