[PR] Heavy Rail Census of 2012 published by National Transport Authority
 

It is really quite a little rail network when a single train accounts for more than 1% of all passengers.

1 person used Roscrea station in the whole day...

I think that figure of 1 refers to alighting passengers.
15 passengers boarded at Roscrea (Appendix A, page 42).

Not so bad then.

I'd be interested to know why 55 people got on trains at Ballybrophy-Limerick line stations that day, but only 15 got off. That sounds like quite an anomaly.

If it was a Friday when there are very different patterns on non-commuter lines, it might make sense, but this seems to have been a Thursday.

Well they could be through passengers to Dublin Cork line destinations or onwards to Ennis/WRC

This sort of thing is great to have and also important for development of strategy direction. Obviously drawbacks include not having data for a proper statistical analysis or other types of days and seasons.

Fingers crossed the rollout of leap card nationwide pushing people to swipe on and off will one day soon provide this big jump in statistics while at the same time making visible other demographic data: age, sex, socio economic background, etc. And they won't need so much staff and DIT students in order to do it!

Here we get to see a danger in the way this data can be interpreted

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland...in-250699.html

That is on a Thursday in November.

On a Saturday or Sunday in July, that number will be far higher.

It may have the biggest variability in demand of any station in the country.

I was thinking that myself.

November is the right time to hold a census on commuter routes, as it is the peak travel period, and allows for everyone to have adjusted their travel patterns after the colleges return.

However, I'm inclined to think that a second census should be taken during the summer as well for Intercity routes to reflect the much higher loadings that they get at that time of the year.

It's like all statistics, you have to take into account the circumstances behind them and not simply take the figures as gospel.

No question this census will tend to under-value leisure services/weekend services and over estimate DART and Commuter. It therefore only provides a partial picture.

Does Carrigaloe have significant demand any day of the week? There seems to be almost nowt near it. Is it a legacy from when IFI Marino Point was going?

Note than Great Island has no bus service.

Traditional station from when rich people got the train to civilisation and just never closed. IFI would have carried it in the 1980s and 1990s. It might have potential as a park and ride, although it might be better relocated to the ferry site at Ballynoe, although I'm not sure the cost could be justified.

The terrain around Carrigaloe would make a P&R site tricky. Also note that the population of Great Island is about 14k-15K. 80% of them live within walking distance of Cobh or Rushbrooke, so there isn't really a huge catchment for P&R.

More likely to provide customers is that the town of Cobh has been steadily creeping towards Carrigaloe. That's stopped with the property market slowdown in recent years, but is likely to resume if the economy gets going again.

Had the same thought but was trying to figure out for whom a ferry-Cobh rail line would be compelling with or without integrated fares. A few working in Little Island maybe?

Great Island people working in Ringaskiddy / Passage West / Monkstown and Passage West / Monkstown people working in Little Island / Carrigtwohill. Unfortunate that the Cobh-Haulbowline ferry (island users only) doesn't serve Ringaskiddy.

IR has recently upgraded the station with new path , gates etc

Most of the line in the area is elevated above the road and Carrigaloe offers one of the few main access points for IR staff doing work on the line