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Unread 30-08-2012, 14:14   #9
Thomas J Stamp
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http://www.independent.ie/national-n...c-3214942.html

Quote:
INTER-CITY rail services are to be cut because of falling passenger numbers, the Irish Independent has learnt.
The move to reduce the frequency of some trains is also linked to soaring fuel prices, bus competition, and the impact of the new motorway network.
It reverses the rapid expansion of services and frequency of trains over the past decade.
Passenger numbers have been falling sharply as inter-city commuters find it just as fast and as cheap to drive or go by bus. Rail passenger numbers have fallen by 25pc in the last five years.
Mainline rail services have also been hit by the increased frequency and lower fares offered by Bus Eireann and private bus operators.
Irish Rail was recently given a €36m cash injection to stave off cuts in services.
Hourly train services were introduced on some routes during the boom following massive investment in rail infrastructure. New trains and carriages were rolled out on routes linking Dublin with the other cities.
However, faced with a huge cash crisis, Irish Rail has been forced to look at cutting some mainline rail services from next year at times when there is little usage.
"In view of the impact of the ongoing economic recession on our business, we have to examine the level of demand for our train services on all routes at all different times of the day and week," the company said yesterday.
"Where there are trains that are greatly under-utilised, it may be necessary for us to amend the schedules accordingly," it added.
The company first has to get approval for any timetable changes from the National Transport Authority (NTA).
Expanding
"We also intend to publish any draft schedules on our website, and invite our customers to give us feedback as part of a public consultation on the proposed schedules," said Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny.
"Where timetable changes are authorised by the NTA, we would then give advance notice to the public before implementing any changes to the timetable."
Decisions on which services will be cut have yet to be made. However, Mr Kenny said that the company did not anticipate any changes for the remainder of 2012.
And he stressed that part of the review was to examine if there was scope for expanding services on routes where demand is still very strong.
The news comes as Bus Eireann yesterday announced a new non-stop coach service between Cork and Dublin in partnership with private coach operator GoBus.
Operating under a new GoBe brand, the joint venture is offering a three-hour, non-stop service from Cork to Dublin city and Dublin Airport starting next Monday.
Starting at 00.30am in Cork and 6am at Dublin Airport, there will be 15 services daily in each direction and they will include free WiFi and on-board toilet facilities.
Promotional fares of €20 return between the two cities and €25 to Dublin Airport will be offered online and a Bus Eireann spokesman said the pricing structure would be reviewed within a couple of months.
Bus Eireann already operates a coach service between Dublin and Cork for around €21 return, but the spokesman stressed this was not non-stop.
But he declined to comment on the fact that the new service would be in direct competition for customers with its sister-company, Irish Rail, where fares between both cities can range from €40 to more than €70 return, depending on when the booking is made.
- Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent
Irish Independent
So what is this about?

My first reaction is that this is Irish Rail-CIE doing what it usually does, indeed what government does. Incomes falling, raise fares. I posted about this circle of fun in the subvention thread this summer. They have realised they cant do it, it will lead to massive collapse and migration of passengers (who exist) to other forms of transport. Bonehead reaction number two is this - reduce services. Doing this will have the same result. I am a bit perplexed at Mr Kenny's, and Mr Hogan's thinking in this. I am wondering which services they think are doing very strongly, which will, it is hinted, get the trains being cut from very poorly performing services.

Lets look at this a more more closely. The article mentions Fuel prices. It also, paradoxicaly, mentions compitition from buses and cars which use the same fuel, so it cant be just that. A handy blame though. It mentions Buses. The routes which are in direct compititon with buses - intercity - would be Galway, Cork, Limerick, Wexford. Yet the first article mentions the Sligo line getting a cut. If that rationale is follwed through which route is safe? Meanwhile, the Captain is organising the Titanic to have cheap new leather covers on arse-numbing seats in First Class.

This whole thing just shows that, now matter what spin Irish Rail have put on things in the last 10 years, nothing culturally has changed in there. You cannot polish a turd, but you can roll it around in glitter. This sort of behaviour, and dont bet on the WRC or the Alan Kelly specials getting the chop here, has to stop. Whilst getting every seat to pay its way is important, this doesnt mean that you reduce the fleet to only a few thousand seats every day. What you are supposed to do is attract customers. How you do that by flagging price increases and reduced services is something that only those in IE managment seem to know. For the rest of us, they and their services are fast becoming a thing of the past. They have been sold short by their lack of vision and ambition, sadly so have the passengers.

When Bus Eireann starts trashing the Cork-Dublin "express" in the way that they will now proceed to do, you know you are truly doomed.
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