Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan French
10.45 Dundalk-Connolly stops at Clongriffin and Howth Junction. There is no 11.30 from Malahide, and passengers turning up at 11.30 catch the Dundalk train at 11.44. So there shouldn’t be an hour-long gap for Clongriffin passengers.
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If longer distance services are to be used to serve inner suburban stations then already unattractive journey times become even less attractive. Why would passengers from Dundalk, Drogheda, Laytown etc be attracted to rail travel if the train offers no advantage in terms of cost, comfort or journey time. The combination of a suburban railcar, intercity fare structure and hopelessly uncompetitive journey times just doesn't cut it I am afraid.
This issue is even more of a problem on the southside. While the half-hourly DART service to Greystones looks great on paper, the consequences for longer distance commuters has been catastrophic as in the absence of overtaking facilities, trains travelling to stations south of Greystones must closely follow DART services. The DART to Greystones is really really slow and barely averages 20 mph from the city centre - hence services to/from stations south of Greystones are hopelessly uncompetitive with the alternatives.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan French
Notice that when the Enterprise leaves on the hour (as in 11.00 or 19.00), it gets in the way of the regular pattern for Malahide trains.
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Even the most casual glance at the time table suggests that the 1100 and 1900 to Belfast should depart at 1105 and 1905 to avoid unecessarily encountering adverse signals as early as Clontarf Road/Killester. Yes there are departures for Sligo at 1105 and 1905 - these (and all Sligo departures) should leave at xx07 and spend less time waiting outside Maynooth station.