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Irish Rail admits 'teething problems' - but passengers say new timetable 'a disaster' for some areas

Shorter trains are causing problems for passengers on the northside of Dublin.

IRISH RAIL HAS agreed to meet with a group of locals from the northside of Dublin, after admitting its new timetable has led to reduced capacity on some lines. 

A new nationwide schedule came into force yesterday morning. 

Passengers on the Portmarnock and Malahide line in north Dublin say they appear to be bearing the brunt of the problems caused by the new schedule. 

An Irish Rail spokesperson acknowledged today that the company was experiencing a number of “teething problems, particularly with capacity” as a result of the changes.

Residents of Clongriffin, on the Portmarnock and Malahide DART and Commuter line, held a public meeting last night to discuss the impact of the new timetable. 

Local Solidarity councillor Michael O’Brien said people are very annoyed. 

“They’ve spread out the pre-existing carriages so now you’ve shorter trains at peak hours,” according to O’Brien.

He said locals wanted greater investment in the service, and the purchasing of new carriages to meet capacity. Those who attended the gathering last night asked for a meeting with the company to discuss the issues, which has since been granted. 

Passenger representative group Rail Users Ireland has described the first 24 hours of the new timetable as disastrous.

Spokesperson Mark Gleeson said:

An unmitigated disaster probably isn’t strong enough. 

Gleeson said bringing in the new schedule just after schools returned from the summer break was a bad idea. He said passengers feel the change was “sprung on them”.

However he has conceded some services have seen improvements as a result of the new schedule.

It will get better, but clearly  it’s not well thought out. On a positive note if you happen to live on the southside of Dublin you have a better service than previously.

Irish Rail’s spokesperson said in a statement that “the vast majority of the timetable is working very well, but with all new timetables, there can be teething problems and we will work with the NTA to rectify these issues”.

She went on to say they were happy to meet with members of the travelling public to address their concerns and that the company may have to make further adjustments to the timetable. 

A date has yet to be set for Irish Rail’s meeting with Clongriffin residents.  

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    Mute Decko Kelly
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    Sep 11th 2018, 6:29 PM

    And 64 of these geniuses are on over €100,000 a year.

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    Mute Damien Gill
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    Sep 11th 2018, 6:18 PM

    It’s ridiculous that commuter trains don’t stop at Howth Junction or Clongriffin. Passengers are now being forced to go all the way into city centre wait 10 minutes and go back the way they came along the line for another 10 or 15 minutes. All so the commuter train can save 30-45 seconds at a stop?

    Then going from City Centre back the commuter again doesn’t stop meaning less capacity along the line.

    Doesnt take the brightest of sparks to see how utterly silly that decision was.

    191
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    Mute sue
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    Sep 11th 2018, 7:07 PM

    @Damien Gill: doesn’t actually save any time. the journey is now longer than before as the train is stuck behind the dart. it just means the train is crawling through the stops.

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    Mute Shane Corry
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    Sep 11th 2018, 8:08 PM

    @Damien Gill: “Passengers are now being forced to go all the way into city centre”
    Or go the other way and change at Malahide?

    It’s to do with the scheduling, the DART and northern commuters share the double-track to Malahide so there isn’t availability at times for the commuter to make those extra stops without slowing down the trains behind it.

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    Mute Paolo
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    Sep 11th 2018, 9:19 PM

    @Damien Gill: When IR sought views on their proposed times etc a number of months ago I replied citing exactly this. It’s the reverse if someone wants to go Northbound in the morning from HJ. Trip to town to then hopefully pick up a connecting train with minimal delay to go past HJ to go northbound. Nice to see my views were ignored and you know what has hit the fan

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    Mute Joe Bloggs 1980
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    Sep 11th 2018, 7:52 PM

    The area around Clongriffin (plus Baldoyle on the other side of the tracks) and south Portmarnock beside the train station are potentially undergoing around the largest population expansion in the country at present and this trend is set to continue for the next few years. The frequency and capacity should be increasing to reflect this and not decreasing at peak times. We need the northern commuter trains back ASAP

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    Mute S Gaffney
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    Sep 11th 2018, 6:29 PM

    None too plussed about this.

    59
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    Mute Daragh Cassidy
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    Sep 11th 2018, 10:38 PM

    This was sold as an improvement in service. But they’re simply using existing capacity to run a more frequent service. This can only be done by literally chopping the trains in half so that they’ve half the number of carriages as before. You couldn’t make it up. It’s as Irish as it comes.
    Also, the new 10-min frequency is no major improvement at peak times either, as trains used to run every 8, 8 and 15 minutes (then repeat) between 7.30 and 9.30 anyway. So at peak times with the shorter trains they’ve really actually reduced the capacity. It’s ridiculous. I’ve never seen the Dart as packed.

    58
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    Mute David Linehan
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    Sep 11th 2018, 9:54 PM

    They’ve always been a disaster of a company. 2 fücking sets of tracks running side by side, absolute imbecîles running that organization. Jobs for the lads no doubt at the top. Quintessential Ireland

    48
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    Mute Anthony newey
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    Sep 11th 2018, 10:14 PM

    I see it’s all about Dublin as usual .The last train leaves Sligo at 6pm .

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    Mute Bill Brown
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    Sep 11th 2018, 11:44 PM

    @Anthony newey: you’re salty tears are tasty

    21
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    Mute Amanda Rogers✨
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    Sep 12th 2018, 6:25 AM

    @Anthony newey: totally agree. On sligo line they don’t give a toss after maynooth stop even though the number of commuters from the likes of longford and mullingar is increasing every week

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    Mute Darryl Noonan
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    Sep 11th 2018, 10:16 PM

    Why don’t they build a siding somewhere between rush & malahide. Use it and the siding in clongriffin to allow commuter trains to move aside and allow express trains pass.

    31
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    Mute Danny Rafferty
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    Sep 12th 2018, 1:22 AM

    @Darryl Noonan: Been proposed, at least a third track from there into Connolly but I guess it just got shot down.

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    Mute Jonathan Gray
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    Sep 11th 2018, 7:15 PM

    This is why we needed dart undergroud to increase capacity! The government once again not future proofing our city! They’ll only make a half ass attempt to fix it just before its about to crumble!

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    Mute Irish Cottage Rental
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    Sep 11th 2018, 11:44 PM

    Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael don’t do infrastructure. Surely this is obvious by now. Will you remember that at the next election?
    Nah – course you won’t!

    29
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    Mute Fergus Reilly
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    Sep 11th 2018, 7:22 PM

    We they dont run a shuttle on the Howth Junction to Howth Spur to link up with mainline

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    Mute Danny Rafferty
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    Sep 12th 2018, 1:20 AM

    @Fergus Reilly: Shuttle between Howth and Malahide through HJ would help a lot of people at peak hours

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    Mute COYBIG
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    Sep 11th 2018, 6:17 PM

    How can anyone possibly think that capacity on already packed trains can be increased without an increase in infrastructure, happens all over the place. Idiots…

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    Mute Shane Corry
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    Sep 11th 2018, 8:13 PM

    @COYBIG: Infrastructure was improved – they redid the signalling over the line between Connolly and Malahide over the last few years at the cost of millions.

    The biggest problem that remains now for the DART is that they have limited rolling stock available. They’re essentially running more frequent but shorter trains now. Many of the trains at peak will now need to be 6 or even 4 carriages instead of 8.

    If they had 8-care trains every 10 minutes at peak then we would have seen an immediate reduction in how full each train is but running the same capqcity more frequently only achieves a moderate increase in peak capacity.

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    Mute Trevor Wallace
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    Sep 11th 2018, 11:23 PM

    Try commuting from Greystones folks! The new timetable has destroyed my commute times. Working in the city centre it is a 15min walk to a station. Even if I manage to finish by some miracle at 5.30 there is a Dart at 5.32 and an Intercity 7 mins later. Both no use to me! So have to make the 6.02 dart or wait 38 mins for the 6.40. May as well drive and pay for a parking space at this rate.

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    Mute Jonny Duffy
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    Sep 12th 2018, 12:01 AM

    @Trevor Wallace: Jesus mate, that’s terrible. Have you tried ringing Irish Rail and explaining to them that you can’t get out of work at your finish time to see if they can change the timetables to suit your working patterns? Driving and paying for parking may be your only solution though, the short wait for the 6.02 Dart is a ridiculous burden for anyone to have to manage.

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    Mute Sean
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    Sep 11th 2018, 8:29 PM

    I cycle to work. This doesn’t affect me in the slightest. Every time they change any schedule there is a rumpus for a few days but it soon dies down. I’m guessing that this is where this is headed.

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    Mute Tina Paulick
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    Sep 12th 2018, 9:14 AM

    Teething problems? Sorry but it was obvious that trains with less carriages would be packed even if they are more frequent. Shortening trains at rush hour. seriously who came up with that. and trying it out in September. The Irish Rail people who came up with this should be made to get the Malahide trian every day.

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    Mute Jonny Martin
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    Sep 12th 2018, 10:12 AM

    Even with the removal of stops in Clongriffin, Portmarnock and Howth Junction, the new timetable has longer journey times than before on the Dundalk/Drogheda line. Every train from my station in the morning now leaves earlier and every train in the evening leaves later and all taking more time. These ‘service enhancements’ add about 5/10 minutes each way to a normal working day. The reduction in service to Clongriffin, Portmarnock and Howth Junction has been of no benefit to commuters north of those stations.

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    Mute James Kiernan
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    Sep 11th 2018, 9:06 PM

    Well i cant wait to get the 18.00 train starting from Connolly in the evenings. Ten minutes earlier than previously. Happy days!

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    Mute Stephen
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    Sep 12th 2018, 11:09 AM

    What’s bizzare is that Clongriffin has a new slip platform where a dart or non-dart train can stay off the main lines allowing other trains to pass through and take on passengers at the same time. Hardly if ever used even though years of work done to complete it. As for Portmarnock users- welcome to what Clongriffin users have been used to – diesel trains stopping at malahide/portmarnock/Howth Junct and ignoring us- in both directions. Not an issue when you passed the crowds at Clongriffin and we get it even worse now as our trains are even more packed now.

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    Mute Ger Kelly
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    Sep 12th 2018, 8:30 AM

    On paper most services look great, but that’s just on paper, dart every 10 mins with longer stops at every station , multiple stops between stations and you have the original time table with limited improvement, past howth junction where there should be an improvement it has turned disastrous with no commuters stopping etc

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    Mute Sundrive244
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    Sep 12th 2018, 1:50 PM

    For all those people in Portmarnock and Howth Junction who are upset, tough – at least you have the dart. I take the first train out of Donabate in the morning, standing room only because of housing developments beyond Malahide. This train used to run straight through to Howth Junction. It is now stopping at Malahide. Why? There is a dart from Malahide at 6.20 and 6.40 so why stop our train there at 6.36 ? This was supposed to give better service to those beyond Malahide – load of rubbish!!

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    Mute James Mc Loughlin
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    Sep 12th 2018, 3:21 PM

    Irish rail should not deal with the nta,but should sort out the problems themselves,look at the mess on the buses,There is no point of having a management if they have to consult with the NTA,

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