Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AS AUTUMN ROLLS on, delays have increased for public transport commuters.
There are a number of reasons for these seasonal delays, however.
Firstly, for rail users, there’s the annual issue of autumn leaves on train tracks.
Around this time of year, trains need to make slower journeys and brake much sooner before approaching a train station due to mulch from compressed wet fallen leaves.
The problem is experienced by many Northern European railways at this time of year, and some North American ones too, an Irish Rail spokesperson has said.
The issue is set to clear up by the end of the month. “We anticipate improvements in punctuality as a result.”
Between mid-term break ending, schools resuming, weather detiorating it is the busiest time of the year for public transport, says Rail Users Ireland (RUI) spokesperson Mark Gleeson.
“All the schools came back on Monday morning. Overcrowding went from being tolerable to being crazy.”
Last month, Dublin Bus added over 390 extra journeys each week to Route 1, Route 14, Route 15a/b, Route 27 and Route 84.
“These improvements represent an increase in peak and off-peak frequency Monday to Friday,” a spokesperson has said.
The company is currently assisting Dublin City Council with its annual traffic count. Last year’s figures showed that over 50% of city commuters are now using public transport.
In September, Irish Rail tweaked timetables in an effort to improve services.
And with more passengers, this service is at capacity, the company has said.
‘Additional Capacity’
On DART and Commuter services, Irish Rail says that growth has averaged 10% in each service over the last three years.
“This is the single most significant factor in the current capacity issues being experienced on peak services,” according to a spokesperson.
However, “shorter-term capacity enhancement measures are urgently required,” they added.
Dart frequency is set to increase by the end of the month, according to the spokesperson. All peak services will be six or eight carriage trains with capacity of up to 1,300 per train.
In November, National Transport Authority Chief Executive Anne Graham told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action that the rail network is at full capacity and that all fleet carriages are being used.
“Irish Rail has no additional capacity available,” she said. “We need to purchase fleet.”
Options for additional fleet in the shorter term, however, are complicated.
These options – which would not be in place until late 2020 – include ordering intermediate carriages for the existing fleet and leasing trains from UK providers.
The NTA has said, however, that these solutions are hampered by the fact that the Irish rail network operates to a different gauge than the UK and most other European countries, and any second-hand vehicles would require modification for Irish use.
“A decision on the viability of the second-hand vehicle option approach will be made later this year,” an NTA spokesperson has said.
These short-term options also need to deliver “at least 40 carriages” to meet demand, Irish Rail has said.
To put it simply, there isn’t a train shop you go into to buy trains and get them running immediately.
Over the next 10 years, the train service also needs an additional 300 carriages. There are currently 629 carriages in operation.
A third short-term option – the refurbishment and reuse of 28 disused train carriages – was shelved, the Irish Rail spokesperson has said, when anticipated costs ran to over €30 million.
‘Practical Solutions’
Irish Rail operates DART (frequent stop service), Commuter (limited stop service) and Express (Intercity and Enterprise) services over a two-track railway.
Therefore, a minor delay on one service can have an impact on all others.
Irish Rail has said that it “appreciates the frustration any delays can cause customers”.
We are at all times working to minimise delays particularly at a time of year for us where we experience both low rail adhesion and the highest levels of demand.
As more leaves fall, though, and the NTA works on its secondhand vehicle option, there are practical options to ease the pressure on an already congested public transport system and its beleaguered passengers.
“If you don’t have to travel at peak hours, don’t travel at peak hours,” says RUI’s Gleeson.
In poorer weather conditions, Gleeson also suggests allowing extra time for journeys.
Gleeson advises pregnant commuters to wear ‘Baby on Board’ badges, launched in July to encourage passengers to give up their seat.
If you feel uncomfortable or you feel ill, disembark the train at the next station and seek assistance from another member of the public or a member of staff.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
And the roads leading into the city for country commuters are car parks. Edenderr to Dublin, two hours, crazy. 12 hour shift at work, two hours up and 50minutes home. Work life balance, does not exist.
@William Bryan: traffic into Edenderry is getting worse in the evenings. The M4 has been a car park most of this week.
@neuromancer: Edenderry is getting worst, no idea why?
We’ve known that additional trains were needed for years now and we’re still being told the same things.
Explaining that there isn’t a magic train shop where we can instantly get trains..
Order the bloody things already!!!!
@Tom: The Irish gauge is broader than the UK and EU (standered Gauge).All rolling stock eg carragies ,Railcars and locomotives are built to order .it is not like the atmotive industry .however there are locomotives that cost 2millon new back in the 90s I think 1995 sitting in inchcore works and been used for parts .Also Irish rail had a fleet of what where called. MK3 coaches scraped , the same coaches can been found operational in the UK and have been modified with retention tank s .they could have been stored and with similar modification been put back into service .but sadly they were all scraped after the purches of the Hyundai Railcars used on most of Irish rail intercity services .at the time of the big economic crash some of these (Hyundai Railcars )where stored for a short period through a system of fleet rotation .there is Also some commuter Railcars both Diesel and dart electric rail cars sitting in Inchcore work s the darts where not that old and where parked up as a result of the crash (they where apparently a bit of a white elephant as reliability)hence they where taken out of service along with the other Diesel Railcars .I not sure if Irish rail has been allocated funds to rebuild these and put back into service maybe you could as Shane that question????
And this morning we had the usual 10 min delay for a dart in Raheny station only for it to speed through the station without stopping. No reason given by Irish Rail via their twitter account or pa system.
@Macker: Ahhh the leaves clearly this express DART train you saw had no problem with leaves or whatever excuse they care to peddle out on an hourly basis.
Incompetence. You forgot the leading factor there.
Anne Graham is way out of her depth, hasn’t a clue & will hear no criticism of her friends in Go Ahead despite the fact it’s a joke of a company. Why no mention of all the people at the mercy of an incredibly shoddy service?
The new timetable is a joke. With all due respect to commuters who use the maynooth/dundalk trains why have Irish Rail never ran these trains to Connolly when coming from those locations and then have those travelling further catch a dart from Connolly? They cud do the same for wexford train for anyone going other way
The 15B is route is a complete joke. An route that turns into an express from Rathfarnham is badly needed. It’s packed from when I get on in the morning in Ballyboden. it took me 1Hr 45 Mins to get to Dame st this morning, Then I had to change and get the 140 out to Finglas. Took 2 Hr 40 mins to get to work. It’ll will be the same on the way home.
It’s not all Dublin Bus’s fault however. No policing of traffic management at bottlenecks at the Dodder, Zion Road, Rathgar, Rathmines, Portobello and through the city. Taxi’s, Tradesmen and delivery trucks blocking Bus lanes and busy arteries into the city the whole way into town around rush hour is scandalous. Why is there no enforcement of simple traffic management and keeping these routes free from blockages.
If the city is forecast to grow at the rate predicted. An Underground to more areas than will be needed. College Green seems as bad as every. We need to take more traffic off this route. Putting one metro line along the already Luas line seems to make no sense when it’s needed in many more areas.
The City is Choking to death. Plain to see for everybody
@Wing Back: They need camera’s on bus lanes. Bang. 400€ fine, 4 penalty points. Make it so prohibitively expensive, that you get caught once, you will never do it again. Then people will stop using the bus lanes, and causing chaos.
The endless stream of partly full 15 busses looks nice from the super cramped, fill or cancelled 40s
As an aside, the green line Luas into the city was quite roomy this morning. The students must be afraid of melting in the rain.
“To put it simply, there isn’t a train shop you go into to buy trains and get them running immediately.”
This is astonishing, truly astonishing. Irish Rail must think its customers are idiots with this kind of nonsense.
As a company, they are supposed to have a strategic, long term plan to manage increase demand.
Trains on the Maynooth line in the morning and evening are an absolute disgrace. Packed if you can actually get on and constantly stopping here and there for five mins. The stopping in the middle of nowhere for no reason has been going on for over 25 years if not longer.
@Paul Kelly: and the drivers are allergic to using the PA to explain what’s going on
: The Irish gauge is broader than the UK and EU (standered Gauge).All rolling stock eg carragies ,Railcars and locomotives are built to order .it is not like the atmotive industry .however there are locomotives that cost 2millon new back in the 90s I think 1995 sitting in inchcore works and been used for parts .Also Irish rail had a fleet of what where called. MK3 coaches scraped , the same coaches can been found operational in the UK and have been modified with retention tank s .they could have been stored and with similar modification been put back into service .but sadly they were all scraped after the purches of the Hyundai Railcars used on most of Irish rail intercity services .at the time of the big economic crash some of these (Hyundai Railcars )where stored for a short period through a system of fleet rotation .there is Also some commuter Railcars both Diesel and dart electric rail cars sitting in Inchcore work s the darts where not that old and where parked up as a result of the crash (they where apparently a bit of a white elephant as reliability)hence they where taken out of service along with the other Diesel Railcars .I not sure if Irish rail has been allocated funds to rebuild these and put back into service maybe you could as Shane that question????
have your say