Greystones off-peak service

[JohnC]

Commuter population in the Greystones area continues to rise.
Not so the offpeak DART service, which can keep you waiting for up to an hour whilst rolling stock sits idle in Bray. Not the best way to get a return on capital investment surely?

[Colm Donoghue]

John,
You should see the quality service on the Kildare line before complaining about Greystones. Also Irish Rail's stock answer is there is no demand...

I suppose at least you're not in Wicklow...

[shweeney]

true, but the issue AFAIK on the Kildare line is lack of rolling stock and lack of track space. No such issues in Greystones - all they have to do is extend some of the Bray-terminating services.

I know the single track section presents some operational problems (compounded by IE's inability to get services to run on time) but again these are not so serious off-peak.

As someone who only really uses the DART during peak hours my main gripe is just how bloody slow it is - isn't the R supposed to stand for "Rapid"?? it takes 55 minutes to get from Greystones to Connolly, a distance of 18 miles. Even allowing for all the stops, it could definitely be quicker. And the commuter service isn't much quicker even with far less stops. Padding, long dwell times and general slow driving - there's plenty of scope for improvements.

[Mark Gleeson]

Fact is Greystones never deserved a DART service, it was an election stunt, FG lost the seat anyway so it serves them right. Same money would have brought the DART to Skerries which would have been infinitely more beneficial.

What should have happened was a diesel shuttle service from Greystones to Bray with alternate trains extended to Wicklow, fraction of the price

The DART punctuality and capacity problems are traceable to the extension to Greystones opening, I remember it personally and it was hell for the best part of 6 months until extra trains entered service and that was followed by several months of cancellations since the new trains where dodgy and a shortage of drivers.

The track layout in Bray is a problem since it was designed as a terminus not a through station in 1982, there is a pinch point leaving Bray which makes a high frequency service to Greystones quite tricky to run reliably. To implement a proper reliable service to Greystones, would require the following

Rebuild south end of Bray station to elimate the single track section just beyond platform 1.
Add a second track between Greystones and the substation at the level crossing north of Greystones

Before the relay of the track Bray Greystones was 15 minutes its now 10 minutes

Around Bray Head and between Killiney and Salthill speeds are restricted by the nature of the line its very twisty, if you travel in the very front of a DART you will regulary hear a solid tone followed by the brakes applying thats the computer intervening for a overspeed.

[shweeney]

is that why the DART sometimes comes to a complete halt and then starts up again immediately? (frequently happens on the way into the tunnel from Greystones). If so is this just bad driving?

I generally get the impression that the diesel railcars travel both these sections at a higher speed than the DART - is there different speed limits for different stock?

Anyway even allowing for all these things running times are ridiculously padded (eg the evening Arrow is given 11 minutes to get from Lansdowne to DunLaoghaire but I've been on it when it has only taken 6, and thats just one example over a short section of track). Even on the straight section trains rarely seem to run anywhere near the limit.

Add a second track between Greystones and the substation at the level crossing north of Greystones

greystones town councillors were asking for this recently - it'll never happen (for a start the line just north of the station goes through a cutting in solid rock).

[dowlingm]

send the councillors out with a few pickaxes?

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by shweeney

it'll never happen (for a start the line just north of the station goes through a cutting in solid rock).

The line was originally built to take 2 tracks

And they do drive at the limit, bit technical but the computer intervenes quite a lot to slow the train down