!8.50 Dublin Connolly-Belfast Alteration

[Inniskeen]

The obvious path for this train is 1905 from Connolly which would result in an arrival in Drogheda at the same time as departing at 1850 or 1900.

Since being changed to 1850 this train has only reached Drogheda on time on bank holiday mondays when it has been up to 10 minutes early !

The Belfast timetable is a mess with many trains never on time, notably the 0645, 1035, 1235 and 2005 from Belfast. In the opposite direction the 0735 and 1850 almost never run on time. The 0930, 1120, 1320, 1520, 1650 all run to time wasting schedules and with the exception of the 1120 routinely linger in Drogheda or Dundalk for anything up tp 13 minutes.

For some reason best known to Irish Rail there is an 1111 Pearse to Dundalk which is due ex Connolly at 1117. Occasionally this traIn leaves Connolly after the 1120, in which case the Belfast train arrives up to 8 minutes earlly in Drogheda while the local train avoids a pointless visit to the loop at Clongriffin and then typically arrives early at Portmarnock.

To think the EU invested money in this shambles shows how easily it can be hoodwinked into supporting projects where no effort is then made to properly exploit the expenditure incurred.