[05/03/2012] Nenagh, Limerick and Commuter service improvements
 

The new direct that service at 13:40 should be earlier like 11:30. Although it will get the numbers for Limerick at Thurles. Templemore should also have been included.

How many people in Templemore will want to go to Limerick off peak? Enough to stop a speeding 22000 for?

19 passengers used the via Nenagh branch of the line on 5 March.

Wow 19, just about covers the extra hour on the staff wages. How many of that 19 were 'real' passengers, i.e. excluding journalists, hangers on and IE staff

It was 15 minutes late out of Ballybrophy on the 5th which delayed other trains, was about 7 minutes late this morning

Be interesting to see what the numbers are like in a months time

The 0515 from Limerick was less than three minutes late approaching Cherryville Junction on Monday. It was subsequently delayed by the late running 0600 from Waterford. In fact the Limerick train could have been been about 18 minutes earlier into Heuston had it preceded the Waterford train at Kildare and not been required to stop at Sallins, Hazelhatch and Adamstown.

The following 0725 from Portlaoise and 0515 from Westport arrived in Heuston one and a half and two and a half minutes late respectively.

How many of the 19 passengerd were migrants from the usual, later service?

Heard a very funny story about Alan Kelly today but Colm won't let me post it :D

Can't blame poor advertising if it doesn't pay off. Hmm 19 will go down to 8 next week and down to 4 after that.

Its been blasted around north tipp for the last two weeks and made the Independent (which they read in Tipp) so claims of we didn't know won't wash

Like they would be out of bed :D

Down to 18 as I can eliminate one Irish Rail manager and his camera

-3 Rail enthusiasts

If I understand correctly AK's big idea is having an impact on suburban punctuality?

Blasted around Limerick too. Also Alan Kelly appeared in numerous papers here holding a sign with €26 return wrote on it.

25 minutes late this morning

As well as incoveniencing the users of other services, that kind of punctuality is going to do nothing to promote the service.

While I understand the quality of the track is poor, that doesn't explain why they can't meet the published timetable. What is the reason for this?

The journey time given to the 5:15 for the Limerick Ballybrophy leg is 10 minutes less than any other train on the route.

Isn't helped by the fact an ICR is slower on the route compared to a 2700 railcar

So in summary they could have sent a 2700 up to meet the existing Cork-Dublin train which calls at Ballybrophy, kept the schedule and not wrecked suburban punctuality, but it wouldn't give AK's 10 best friends a one-seat ride to work :rolleyes:

And that train would have made it back to Limerick for 8:45 am

Now you're just making me mad.

Put that same 22K out of Heuston at 0600
Limerick Junction dep 0735 (arr ex Colbert 0710, dep for Colbert 0800 arr 0829)
Charleville dep 0755
Mallow arr 0810 dep 0815 < padding rather than at Kent.
Cork arr 0840

I've a funny feeling you could manage 19 from Charleville alone if those timings were reliable, since running times should only improve as more UIC60 goes down. (Current BE schedule dep 0725 arr 0845 although Parnell Place is 5-10mins closer to the city centre)

The attractiveness of Mallow commuter might pick up a bit of extra trade if you knew you were only going to be 15 mins down not 30 should you miss the 0800.

First Limerick-Cork connection now arrives 30 minutes before the first BE bus (0915) though the predatory sister company would probably move to fix that possibly by extending the Charleville service back to Limerick.

But Alan Kelly doesn't care so the farce will go on and IE will take a hiding in the Irish Times in a couple of months.

Has anybody made the NTA aware of this that this service is delaying other trains on the mainline?

the fall-back selling point of the service is that it calls to those stations.
Reality is that this is a typical square peg round hole solution by IE to fit in with the whim of a political master using the trains for parish pump advantage. This train was always going to call to those stations, it was to start off in portlaoise depot and head to dublin but it was pulled all the way back to limerick for this purpose.

it was 15 mins late in monesterevin this morning too. sort of defeats the purpose of getting into work before 9 am.

How many people used it today I wonder?

This is an additional service. The existing trains from Portlaoise, 0725 and 0743, are still there.

Is there a suggestion that there would have been an extra Portlaoise service anyway?

on the 7th of march

5.15am was 1/2 hour late - due to enginneers not clearing the line at drumkeen , limerick cabins didnt get control until 5.45am , by that arriving late in to roscrea
6.25am , was waiting in birdhill for 30mins for the 5.15 to clear the section , while the 6.25 arrived into nenagh late , so the 7.45 nenagh/limerick was late to !

on top of that the evening trains were subsuited by buses due to fire beside line near limerick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DIASTER ..same thing is happening what to the limerck/nenagh commutters ,!!!

no one is using it becuase they know about it .... advertising campain is being done according to manger nicolas morony !! so hopefully people will use it !!

The calls at Sallins, Hazelhatch and Adamstown and the scheduling of the new service behind the 0600 from Waterford mean that it is less attractive than it might be. There was already ample capacity at these stations and in any event logic would dictate that a fast run up the main line would compensate somewhat for the pedestrian operation on the branch.

It is clear that Irish Rail (and others) would prefer to see the service fail.

More like trying to make some money by stopping where there might be some actual business

Is there a big volume of high revenue business at Adamstown then ? As I said there is more than adequate capacity on pre-existing commuter services into Heuston without having to be supplemented by the 0515 from Limerick. Stopping at Hazelhatch and Adamstown also means using the slow line as the platforms serving the fast lines at these stations appear to be mothballed.

I think this train is meant to travel ahead of the 0600 from Waterford:

It is scheduled to travel 6 mins after the 0505 from Cork (at Portlaoise) which stops at Portarlington and Newbridge so the 0515 should be right behind the Cork train. The Cork train passes through Kildare at around 0730 so you would expect the 0515 to pass at 0735 and the Waterford to fall in behind at 0740.

As the 0515 uses the slow line, one would expect the Waterford to overtake it thus preserving it's 0820 arrival slot.

Clearly the 0515 failing to make this slot and ends up running between the Waterford and the 0725 from Portlaoise (0748 at Kildare) and delaying the later and following Westport services.

Couldn't a 2700/2800 do this service and it could meet a Portlaoise commuter service or the Cork-Dublin train on the mainline. Cost less and faster service. Alan Kelly wants a shiny new train though.

i dont agree, for once. I think that what they had to do was try and find a way to come to terms with the directive that this train had to serve the Nenagh branch line at a reasonable hour and still get into Heuston at a reasonable hour.

there seems to be, as it gets into Heuston full from having 19 or so at Ballybrophy (including a trainspotter and a CIE rep on the first day)

well, for 17 people, and we dont know how many of them are off the early trains to dublin from Templemore and Thurles, its a lot of effort. Pity that effort isnt put into having a train going the other way, into limerick, from Ballybrpohy at a reasonable hour instead. Although, that may be the next experiment after this one.

Nor, for that matter, how many are on free passes!

The 2700/2800 would be slower Ballybrophy to Portlaoise so you'd lose what you gained on the branch.

One option might be to swap the 0725 Portlaoise so it departed at 0716 and did the Nenagh service's stops. How late is the Nenagh service when it hits Portlaoise? If it's more than 9 minutes then you'd have to look at whether there is scope for say skipping Cloughjordan to save an additional minute if there are no pickups being made there and maybe Birdhill too with a moving pickup of the token?

EDIT: probably not doable - I'm guessing the 0615 Heuston arr 0720 Portlaoise is where that train comes from.

Nope. It does the 0743 not the 0725.

Birdhill normally has more passengers than Nenagh though. The trains use to have turned back in Birdhill most days.

I'm only saying for the 0515. If pickups are being made then fine.

Does anyone really get on at Castleconnel at all?

The problem with Castleconnell is that so much of its catchment lies close enough to Colbert that they get to Dublin faster that way. Drive to Castleconnell for the 0515 or to Colbert for the 0530 which gets there earlier than the Branch service or the 0620 which arrives on its heels?

The waterford train would clear Cherryville at 07.35 so the 05.15 would need to be at Cherryville by 07.30 to clear Kildare for 07.35.

I am guessing the stops near Dublin are to have passengers on the train and not having an empty train running.