Timetable Padding

[James Howard]

On Friday, I caught the 1715 Connolly - Longford at Maynooth which is a train I very rarely get as there is a faster train that leaves 10 minutes earlier. However, it did serve to highlight just how ridiculously padded the Longford/Sligo timetimetable is. I didn't notice what time we left Maynooth, but by the time we got to Enfield, it was 5 minutes early and it actually left early.

We arrived in Mullingar a full 15 minutes early where we had to wait for an up-train. We left Mullingar about 3 minutes late and again, by Edgeworthstown we was 4 or 5 minutes early. I never noticed the speed being excessive at any point - indeed at some points we were dawdling along.

The thing is that the current timetable is an impediement to a lot of people commuting. Few people are as mad enough to stick more than a couple of years of 3 hours per day on the train. Given that this line has had millions poured into it over the last 10 years, it is rediculous that there has been no journey time improvement with the exception of one morning service being replaced with an express. There is obviously huge potential for improvement if a 29k can beat its timetable by 20 minutes.