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Unread 15-11-2006, 21:06   #1
Ronald Binge
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Default An Hour and ten minutes

I'm stranded in Heuston until 2145, waiting for a train to the Hatch. Being a good citizen my car is parked there. In what way is such a huge gap justifiable between trains on one of the major routes out of Dublin? I can't help feeling that public transport timetables are designed around civil servants and bank officials finishing up after 5.30pm and not people like me running around sorting out tax in the mad scramble before 16 November.

The evidence around me doesn't give me any hope that a fundamental rethink on supply and demand for public transport is going to happen anytime soon. Jammed roads are going to continue to be the public's response to inadequate public transport, because the existing timetables, except for Luas and to a certain extent DART are a strait-jacket around commuting requirements for a growing number of people in this country.
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Unread 15-11-2006, 21:27   #2
Mark Gleeson
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Given the current rolling stock the best service possible on the Kildare local line is 1 train per hour in each direction, more than one an hour would be very very difficult, it would have been easier last year since you could turn the 2 four coach trains into 4 2 coach ones. Before anyone asks out of the 146 railcars allocated to Dublin 134-138 are required each day which means zero spare

so its 18:35, 19:45, 20:35, 21:45, 22:45

We have done some serious work on timetabling and hourly is as good as it will go since it has to fit around intercity services and we are taking account of the hourly service to Cork, for anything seriously better you are looking at Kildare Route project

We have developed a hourly service with a extra train every second hour however this only really works between 9am and 4pm, since you have use of all the trains in Dublin which arrived during the morning rush until they are sent back again during the evening rush

Irish Rail have refused a later train than the 22:45 (Its not in the 2007 tt) and have refused to run the 22:45 from Pearse despite it being possible which would have made it much easier to get home. That more or less captures Iarnrod Eireann's attitude its their train set and they will run their trains when they feel like it, eg Clonsilla has the same service more or less in the evenings and there are no restrictions on running a train every 30 minutes other than lazy management in IE

Don't get us started on the Sunday service.............

Last edited by Mark Gleeson : 15-11-2006 at 21:35.
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Unread 16-11-2006, 11:25   #3
Crusty Burke
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I'm based in England but my family live in the Celbridge area. My wife and I use Hazelhatch to go into and out of town when we're there. The service is good when it runs, but the complete lack of a Sunday service, large gaps between trains and no trains from Heuston after 10.45 at night means that the service is pretty patchy in my opinion.

It could be a whole lot better, even if there was only a train an hour, if IE could pull their fingers out.
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Unread 16-11-2006, 11:51   #4
Mark Gleeson
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Sunday service will arrive in January and its fairly crap, in fact its beyond crap its shocking can't give you times since IE will claim them wrong or draft but its a classic approach provide a service at a time that suits them with no consideration for the publics need

For a heap of reasons a hourly service is the best possible, you have to fit the train around the Cork trains which is easy enough

The worst gap is after the 15:09 Hazelhatch Dublin 1 hour 36 minutes, this is a pattern you will see elsewhere eg Maynooth line where rolling stock is pulled back to Dublin and held there for the evening rush
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