Punctuality and Reliability

[ACustomer]

I see that IE now have June-July performance statistics on their website. While we are all aware of timetable padding, lax criteria for "punctuality" etc, the data are revealing when it comes to comparative performance.

Most routes show 92 to 93% punctuality, including Dublin-Cork. Belfast wins the booby prize at 83%. However the star performer is the Waterford line, with 98.6% punctuality and 100% reliability.

The Waterford line is mostly single, it now has 8 incercity services each way with the consequent increases in crossings at loops. Moreover, the timings seem to be quite fast relative to recent years (some down trains are 2h 23 minutes with 7 en route stops).

Which raises some questions: if the Waterford line can operate to nearly 99% punctuality, what lessons can be learned so that similar levels of performance can be delivered on other lines?

Edit: I had an impression from the real-time arrivals indicator that Waterford trains were unusually good performers: nice to see it confirmed.

[James Howard]

I'm surprised that Sligo is down at 93%. I've obviously been lucky in the trains I've taken over the last month because I had thought things were good. Either that or there are delays affecting down trains only past Edgeworthstown.

The Sligo line tends to be patchy. Nearly everything will be on time for a month and then something will happen like flooding or level crossing upgrades and every single train will be 15 or 20 minutes late for the entire month. So a single month's stats on the Sligo line is largely meaningless.

I think the English idea of publishing stats for peak-time performance has much more bearing on the reality of the experience for the commuter than the Irish idea of including everything.

The stats are here.

[Colm Moore]

Table edited to improve readibility.

http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=861

Train performance: 21st June to 18th July 2010 by Corporate Communications

Train performance

21st June to 18th July 2010

ROUTE............... PUNCTUALITY RELIABILITY
Dublin - Cork:...... 92.80% ...... 100.00%
Dublin - Limerick:.. 91.00% ....... 99.05%
Dublin - Galway:.... 93.44% ...... 100.00%
Dublin - Tralee:.... 95.70% ...... 100.00%
Dublin - Westport:.. 89.60% ...... 100.00%
Dublin - Belfast:... 83.50% ...... 100.00%
Dublin - Sligo:..... 93.40% ...... 100.00%
Dublin - Rosslare:.. 93.60% ....... 99.17%
Dublin - Waterford:. 98.60% ...... 100.00%
Heuston Commuter:... 97.97% ....... 99.03%
Northern Commuter:.. 97.92% ....... 99.85%
Maynooth Commuter:.. 98.52% ....... 99.84%
DART:............... 90.36% ...... 100.00%

Punctuality = the percentage of trains arriving no later than 10 minutes after scheduled arrival time (5 minutes for DART figures).

Reliability = the percentage of trains which ran as planned.

While it might be a matter of amalgamation of groups of routes, there is no specific mention of:
Manulla Junction-Ballina
Galway-Athlone
Galway-Ennis-Limerick
Limerick-Ballybrophy (via Nenagh)
Limerick-Limerick Junction
Limerick Junction-Waterford
Waterford-Rosslare Europort
Rosslare Europort-Enniscorthy
Dublin-Gorey
Cork/Mallow-Tralee
Cork Suburban services (Mallow-Cork-Midleton-Cobh)
Longord-Dublin

[Mark Gleeson]

Its easy be on time if you leave huge lumps of padding in the system.

The DART quote of 100% reliability is false, June 25th, 07:15 Howth Bray service failed at Tara Street and was dumped in the loop in Pearse.

Dublin Belfast performance is appalling, bear in mind that excludes the disruption from security incidents and so on.

Waterford does well since the use of the railcars saves a lot of time at Kilkenny. The signaling was designed to ensure the best possible service, hence the loop at Thomastown got moved to Ballyhale to balance things out.

Obviously we need to keep an eye on these numbers. Its getting interesting how the numbers can be published on a wall poster by the 23rd, thats 5 days to get the signal cabin records back to Dublin, entered into the system, checked and analysed, possible to do yes but appears to be a bit quick.

[Kilkea]

[quote=Mark Gleeson;57470]Its easy be on time if you leave huge lumps of padding in the system.

QUOTE]

This is exactly what is happening on the Waterford line. The stats do look great on paper, but take for example the 06.10 Waterford - Heuston service which I get daily. The schedued arival time is 08.40, however we usually arrive closer to 08.20. This is great for us but raises serious questions around the validity of the 08.40 arrival time. It is very easy to arrive on time 98% of the time when you have 20 mins plus padding (and that is only between Athy and Heuston).
I don't mean to sound like I am complaining about the service, as in fairness it is a 1000 times better than it was 3-4 years ago, but still it begs the question, what exactly is IE's motive for the self serving padding times.

[neoncircles]

100% reliability on Cork and Belfast? Recent trends seems to be at least 1 failure a week for both these services!

[Mark Gleeson]

Dublin Belfast had a 29k make an out and back during the period in question

Dublin Cork had a failure on June 16th (outside this reporting period), plenty of delays but no service requiring passengers to change trains en-route as a result.

If there is a specific date and service which you think is missing let us know, takes only 2 minutes to check

[Jamie2k9]

Its amasing how the Waterford train can go a lot faster when the train has been delayed.

Yesterday the 15:10 to Waterford departed Cherryville Junction and it was running 20mins late.

The 16:50 to Heuston arrived in Thomastown with a delay of 30mins. When the train departed Kilkenny it was 33mins late. It made up about 10mins by the time it got to Ahty but when it departed Cherry Ochord it was only 5mins late.

So if the timetable was updated to the correct timings between Athy and Dublin you would see that it would not be on time a lot more.

Also the signals at Ballyhalte, if a train has to stop and wait for another train to pass after the train passes you would be waiting at least 5mins for them to change the signals. Its the same in Athy.

[ACustomer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but padding is no worse on the Waterford line than it is elsewhere, but the punctuality is better. Why?

My experience of delays in signals clearing when one train has arrived at a crossing point is not the same as Jamie2k9: I have seen a down train depart from Carlow just as the Up train I was on had come to a halt. Also I saw the new 1320 Heuston-Waterford arrive on time at 1535, having crossed the 1500Wateford-Heuston at Ballyhale, about 15 miles away, so the two trains between them must have covered 30 miles in 25 minutes: this is very slick working indeed, and why don't we have more of it?

As well as the intensive Intercity service, the Waterford line also copes with a significant numebr of freight movements, which do not impact on the passenger trains. So credit where credit is due: the real point is that other parts of the system could be improved if the example of the Waterford line were to be followed

[James Howard]

I guess the reasons for delays would vary from line to line. I would suspect the lack of a proper crossing point (Enfield doesn't realy count as it only has one proper platform) between Killucan and Maynooth has a serious impact on the on-time performance of up trains on Sligo line. This lack of crossing usually makes the 1905 Connolly train have to wait for 10 or 15 minutes at Maynooth although this seems to have got a bit better in the last couple of months.

If a train gets held at Killucan for a delayed down train, it is highly unlikely it is going to make up more 10 or 15 minutes between Killucan and Dublin even thought the normal running time for Edgeworthstown (Mile Post 67) to Connolly is around 90 minutes.

Colm Moore made an interesting point - why are there no stats for Longford-Dublin?

I've always found it bizarre that Irish Rail have never felt the need to add a passenger footbridge and resurface the second platform at Enfield. Before the early 60s there were no fewer than 6 crossing points between Mullingar and Maynooth and the only one that is still operational is the one closest to Mullingar. Anyway that is my Sligo line hobby-horse at the moment.

There is simply no contingency to mitigate knock-on delays on the Sligo line due to a shortage of crossings and the introduction of the 2 hour spacing has made it so that every train has to meet at least 2 others.

[Thomas Ralph]

Meanwhile when I was in Japan a couple of weeks ago a ten-minute delay to a train had polite station staff handing out apology dockets to passengers getting off the train, and a one-hour delay got written up in national newspapers.

[Mark Gleeson]

Dublin Longford is part of Dublin Sligo. All trains between Enfield and Dublin are Maynooth line commuter.

In the 1960's Mullingar was the first passenger station beyond Connolly!

[James Howard]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

Meanwhile when I was in Japan a couple of weeks ago a ten-minute delay to a train had polite station staff handing out apology dockets to passengers getting off the train, and a one-hour delay got written up in national newspapers.

I lived in Tokyo for a few months about 10 years ago and they have things slightly better organised there but then that is because they kind of have to. At the time Shinjuku station handled more than three million passengers per day and some lines had a train every 90 seconds. I think it is heading for 4 million per day at this stage.

So if it didn't all run perfectly it just collapsed altogether as tended to happen quite a bit at the time due to suicides.

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by ACustomer

Correct me if I'm wrong, but padding is no worse on the Waterford line than it is elsewhere, but the punctuality is better. Why?

My experience of delays in signals clearing when one train has arrived at a crossing point is not the same as Jamie2k9: I have seen a down train depart from Carlow just as the Up train I was on had come to a halt. Also I saw the new 1320 Heuston-Waterford arrive on time at 1535, having crossed the 1500Wateford-Heuston at Ballyhale, about 15 miles away, so the two trains between them must have covered 30 miles in 25 minutes: this is very slick working indeed, and why don't we have more of it?

As well as the intensive Intercity service, the Waterford line also copes with a significant numebr of freight movements, which do not impact on the passenger trains. So credit where credit is due: the real point is that other parts of the system could be improved if the example of the Waterford line were to be followed

Don't get me wrong i havn't had a delay over 25 minutes on the Waterford - Dublin line since 1 May 2009. The line has had many improvments with only 3 out of 18 level crossing been controlled by workers, so trains don't have to reduce speed on approch to the crossings which has cut times.

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by ACustomer

Correct me if I'm wrong, but padding is no worse on the Waterford line than it is elsewhere, but the punctuality is better. Why?

Most timetables got 20 minutes padding to allow for the Kildare Route Project. However, Waterford is the shortest (excluding perhaps Rosslare) and least congested InterCity route.

[Mark Gleeson]

Part of the problem with Waterford is if you speed up one section you are just going to get caught elsewhere waiting for a crossing train