There is a massive performance difference. There was a Sunday morning Dun Laoghaire Drogheda train which called all stops. It routinely was 5 minutes down against published time by Pearse which was longer than a DART time
The old times were based on a railway were absolute priority was granted at all level crossings, no delays due congestion plus there was a tendency to be a bit generous with the rules and speed limits. Trains ploughing through Merrion Gates was a routine event.
We have submitted to the NTA 2030 vision that the level of priority granted to DART and Luas services be increased significantly at crossings. This would take minutes to implement and save hours literally on a daily basis. The DART is assigned level 6, the lowest level.
Each stop costs minimum 75 seconds, 150 seconds, add 2 minutes for the level crossings and further minute for the ATP. The net time would be 35 minutes vs 45 minutes
The northside is a different animal as the line speed is 70mph, DART is limited to 60mph and the gaps between stations are significantly longer than on the southside. I'd still bet money on a DART in rush hour conditions winning an all stops race. Do the numbers on running costs and the DART wins by a large margin. There was an assessment in the DART business case which compares diesel vs electric times which shows a significant time saving.
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