Rail Users Ireland Forum - View Single Post - Longford services (all stops): Any point to it

John J · 23-10-2007, 20:14

The 18.17 to Longford definitely appears pointless.
The one time I caught this service to Longford I recall having four cars of a 29K set to myself for the last ten minutes, which was quite a surreal experience!
Hardly surprising though considering the train takes well over 2 hours and has an 11 minute layover in Mullingar.

The reason why this train runs to Longford seems to be that 8 cars need to go down to form the morning return service.
The following alternative was obviously beyond the reasoning of IE:
18.00 - run as an 8 car set instead of a 4 car, and overnight in Longford instead of returning to Dublin at 20.50 (doubt anyone uses that service anyway)
18.17 - run as a 4 car set terminating in Maynooth or Enfield

But IE would rather operate pointless services like the 18.17 to Longford, instead of providing us with a decent morning service, or a late evening train for commuters working late or socialising after work...

23-10-2007, 20:14	#6
John J Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Longford Posts: 50	The 18.17 to Longford definitely appears pointless. The one time I caught this service to Longford I recall having four cars of a 29K set to myself for the last ten minutes, which was quite a surreal experience! Hardly surprising though considering the train takes well over 2 hours and has an 11 minute layover in Mullingar. The reason why this train runs to Longford seems to be that 8 cars need to go down to form the morning return service. The following alternative was obviously beyond the reasoning of IE: 18.00 - run as an 8 car set instead of a 4 car, and overnight in Longford instead of returning to Dublin at 20.50 (doubt anyone uses that service anyway) 18.17 - run as a 4 car set terminating in Maynooth or Enfield But IE would rather operate pointless services like the 18.17 to Longford, instead of providing us with a decent morning service, or a late evening train for commuters working late or socialising after work... __________________ Commuting since 2004 - can't take much more. Last edited by John J : 23-10-2007 at 20:19.