I find the general reliability on the Sligo line (Longford commuter) to be excellent and it is a lot better than it was a few years ago where we used to have to put up with 10-15 minute delays every single evening during leaf-slip season. I would estimate on the trains that I take, I get half-hour delays 3 or 4 times a year, and 10 minute delays around once a month. I normally take the 0545 from Sligo and the 1805 to Longford.
However, when something does go wrong, Irish Rail are comically useless at dealing with it - and they have got worse over the years. I guess this is because of the reduced number of staff on the line these days. This is something that they really could work on and any pressure that can be applied to Irish Rail to do this would be welcome.
If they are not prepared to play nicely, then using the NTA and the letter of the law in order to make things better is all well and fine. Just because things are reasonably good doesn't mean that they couldn't be better. For example, the Sligo line had close to 99% on-time last month. It would be well worth looking at getting these targets tightened or the timetable times made quicker.
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