[05/03/2012] Nenagh, Limerick and Commuter service improvements

[Thomas J Stamp]

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

"Is there a big volume of high revenue business at Adamstown then ? As I said there is more than adequate capacity on pre-existing commuter services into Heuston without having to be supplemented by the 0515 from Limerick. Stopping at Hazelhatch and Adamstown also means using the slow line as the platforms serving the fast lines at these stations appear to be mothballed."



Yes but the following 0725 from Portlaoise is now half empty !

While Irish Rail probably considers this service to be a temporary irritant imposed on them by their paymaster, one would have thought that it would afford an opportunity to improve other services. For example the 0505 from Cork could perhaps have been altered to run non-stop from Ballybrophy to Heuston, with the Limerick via Nenagh service serving Portlaoise and Portarlington only. There is no shortage of capacity at either Hazelhatch or Adamstown and stopping the new service at these stations is both frivilous and unnecessary.



The last time I travelled to Limerick (via Nenagh), the train picked up no passengers for Limerick at the intermediate stations, but dropped passengers from Dublin at Roscrea, Cloughjordan, Nenagh and Birdhill. While there may be some potential for commuter traffic into Limerick, the failure to provide a decent service to/from Dublin is the primary reason for the minimal usage of this line.

depends on the time of day, however the horse has bolted, it takes me about 50 mins to get from Roscrea to the courthouse in Limerick thanks to the motorway and ring road. we had a big push here four years ago to have a proper running commuter shuttle service on the line from Ballybrophy to Limerick which would ahve catered for the fact that in the morning the traffic is mostly going into Limerick when the train is coming out. The train split/short return from Nenagh was an odd result, the whole thing seemed to be dictated by the fact that the drivers were in Limerick. Change them to Portlaoise and you have a more interesting potential situation.

anyway as I say, horse has bolted now with the motorway so perhaps this is a reasoning behind a service that, as far as I am aware anyway, wasnt being demanded and isnt really being used anyway.

and it was late again today.

[Thomas J Stamp]

Originally Posted by doherty jack

very good article !! in the paper quoted there!

your own work may I ask?

[Jamie2k9]

Was the service on time today and how did things work out as it was not behind the Waterford train as all Waterford services were delayed 30-45 mins.

[comcor]

It wasn't on time anyway.

The 06:15 from Cork and 06:35 from Galway were pretty heavily delayed. I'm not sure whether that was related to the Nenagh service or the Waterford problems. Both overtook a train in Kildare station.

[2200DMU]

The 06:15 from Cork and 06:35 from Galway were pretty heavily delayed. I'm not sure whether that was related to the Nenagh service or the Waterford problems. Both overtook a train in Kildare station.

Think there were points problems at Cherryville which would of stopped everything, otherwise it was Waterford but judging by the tweet time it was cherryville.

[Mark Gleeson]

I will pull the trace but Im fairly sure the Nenagh train was already late before it got anywhere near cherryville

[Mark Gleeson]

Train was 24 minutes late leaving Portlaoise so the delay was not as a result of the Cherryville issue

Train was 17 minutes late into Heuston

[dowlingm]

Is it possible to see what the situation timewise was at Ballyb? From Ballyb on a 22K should be a known quantity.

[comcor]

Was it the cause of the delays to Cork and Galway trains or was that the Cherryville problems? Seems to be enough of a gap between it and the affected trains that it might not have been to blame.

[Thomas J Stamp]

late again today.... this is goign to be some kind of record, untill IE just moves the arrival time so it cant be late....

[dowlingm]

If I'm reading this right, this morning's problems were Branch related:
http://api.irishrail.ie/realtime/rea...20m ar%202012

<Departure>07:21:16</Departure>

Scheduled departure from Ballybrophy is 0702.

[Mark Gleeson]

I wouldnt trust the trace at Ballybrophy as it seems to be manually entered as platform 4 isnt on the mainline signalling

Train was 10 late into Heuston

[Thomas J Stamp]

late again today. alan kelly was on newstalk at around 9.35 saying that the costs of the service are only €600 extra.

[Colm Moore]

Excluding infrastructure costs:

251 intercity carriages cost €186,993,000 per year or €2,052 per carriage per day.

332 DART / commuter carriages cost €72,988,000 per year or €606 per carriage per day.

I take it then that he is only quoting the incremental cost - the difference between running the 2700 Limerick-Ballybrohy and the 22000 Limerick-Portlaoise.

[Thomas J Stamp]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

Excluding infrastructure costs:

251 intercity carriages cost €186,993,000 per year or €2,052 per carriage per day.

332 DART / commuter carriages cost €72,988,000 per year or €606 per carriage per day.

I take it then that he is only quoting the incremental cost - the difference between running the 2700 Limerick-Ballybrohy and the 22000 Limerick-Portlaoise.

he was quoting, in a roundabout way, a letter he says was sent by irish rail to the irish independant to rebut their €20,000 a day claim. he said it cost €19,400 less. i think the figure is the differential in having a 22k going from portlaoise to limerick and back to ballybrophy as against a 27k going from limerick to ballybrophy. i would actually include the whole way to dublin as the passengers it picks up from portlaoise onwards would be on the next scheduled service anyway and are therefore revenue neutral.

[dowlingm]

TBH I find the lateness more infuriating than the cost. Someone should have to answer for how this service was slapped together. Funny that AK is talking to the papers but if asked a Dail question I suspect the "operational matter for IE" line would make an appearance.

[doherty jack]

all evening trains late this week -(shocked) .......

[Mark Gleeson]

The costs are considerably more

The train needs a guard, all the signalmen and gate keepers need to be paid for an hour more and someone once a week has to lug the signaling staffs from Ballybrophy to Roscrea. Someone extra in Ballybrophy to work the branch release

If you took 600 and multiplied by the number of trains a day on the Nenagh line you only get 1.4 or so million, but the line is losing over 2 million pa

[Mark Gleeson]

The fun and games have begun. Major timetable change this morning without any notice or warning

05:15 Limerick Nenagh Dublin will leave Limerick 5 minutes earlier at 05:10 and will then become the 07:25 Portlaoise Heuston arriving Heuston 08:33

07:16 Portlaoise Heuston arrives 08:25

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The fun and games have begun. Major timetable change this morning without any notice or warning

05:15 Limerick Nenagh Dublin will leave Limerick 5 minutes earlier at 05:10 and will then become the 07:25 Portlaoise Heuston arriving Heuston 08:33

07:16 Portlaoise Heuston arrives 08:25

Service is two minutes earlier from Castleconnell, one minute earlier from Nenagh, two later from Cloughjordan, five later from Roscrea and seven later from Ballybrophy.

Most time is lost between Limerick and Birdhill due to the condition of the yard in Limerick (walking pace to Ennis Junction) and the litany of speed restrictions between Killonan Junction and Birdhill.

This episode does not reflect well on Irish Rail operational competence - a bit like the mess made of the morning express from Cork a few years ago. This was initially scheduled to take 2½ hours and then changed to operate to a significantly slower schedule after two weeks.