19:05 Connolly - Sligo

[Mark Gleeson]

We had some fun on Friday night alright

Usual not in any hurry Irish Rail, leaving the now obligatory 2 minutes late from Connolly and a very cautious bit of driving resulting in the train arriving outside Maynooth at 19:33 where we sat for only 2 minutes until the 17:00 ex Sligo flew past

The whole show in Maynooth between 19:20 and 20:00 seems designed to cause delays

The 18:22 Pearse Maynooth terminates in platform 2 in Maynooth so everyone has to cross the footbridge, platform 2 is not accessible (accessiblity -1)

The 17:00 Sligo Dublin arrives into platform 1 at 19:34, and a pile of people cross over to platform 2, again not good since its not accessible, (accessiblity -2)

The 19:05 Dublin Sligo is sitting outside Maynooth waiting and finally gets into platform 1

The 19:50 Maynooth Pearse departs from platform 2 which forces the 19:00 Pearse Maynooth due in at 19:50 to sit outside Maynooth (accessiblity -3)


What should happen is

The 18:22 Pearse Maynooth terminates in platform 1 and crosses to the siding

The 19:05 to Sligo uses platform 2, while the 17:00 from Sligo uses platform 1 (accessiblity -1)

The 19:50 service draws forward into platform 1 collecting the passengers off the 17:00 from Sligo and the 19:00 ex Pearse terminates in platform 2 allowing a perfect no one getting in each others way (accessiblity -2)

So the solution is more reliable and reduces the number of accessibilty issues