[16/4 - 4/5/2007] Mayo services

[Mark Gleeson]

We all knew this was coming, note again a stupid error in the text

General News

Westport/Ballina to Athlone - resignalling project - services affected April 16th to May 4th 2007 by Corporate Communications

A major re-signalling project on the Westport / Ballina route will be commissioned on 5th May 2007.

The project involves the replacement of the current mechanical signalling system by a state of the art computerised signalling system on the Roscommon to Westport and Ballina section of the track.

This work is part funded by the Irish Government under Transport 21 and the European Regional Development Fund.

To complete this commissioning, trains between Westport / Ballina and Athlone will be suspended during the period - 16th April to 4th May 2007.

Alternative Bus transport will be provided between these Stations.

Normal services will operate between Athlone and Dublin. The following are the delays and alterations to Timetables.

WESTPORT / BALLINA – DUBLIN

Departure times are advanced at all Stations between Westport / Ballina and Athlone by 30 MINUTES. A Bus connection is provided to Athlone Station to connect with onward train to Dublin. (Please note times are advanced at all stations Monday to Sunday included.) Substitute Buses will operate for all services between Westport / Ballina and Athlone until from April 16th to May 4th 2007.

DUBLIN – WESTPORT / BALLINA

Passengers will be transferred from Athlone to their destination by Bus. This will result in a delayed arrival of approximately 20/30 minutes.

A revised timetable is available from all Iarnród Eireann Stations on the Route, or by phoning 1850 366222 or log on to www.irishrail.ie

This work represents a total investment of €30 million on the Westport / Ballina – Dublin Route.

Mobility Impaired Customers

Intending passengers who have mobility impairment or who have special needs should contact their local Station Manager in advance.

We wish to apologise for delays and inconvenience caused by this essential work.

[Oisin88]

These trains will inevitably be late on the Athlone to Dublin stretch causing delays to all Galway trains at crossover points.

Why can they not do it in phases and not have to cut out the whole Mayo route at one time?

[ACustomer]

If they did the job in phases the sum of the 2 or more phases might exceed the time taken to do it all at once. Also, while the phase nearest Dublin (Athlone-Claremorris?) was being done, you would have train Westport-Claremorris, then change to Bus as far as Athlone and then back on the train for Athlone-Dublin. Would that be any better? I don't think so.

On the other hand while the Claremorris-Ballina-Westport bit was being sone, there would be a gain. But taken overall, I don't think the strategy is too bad.

[Mark Gleeson]

Real question is why the Claremorris Athlone section cannot be sorted by the first week

[StephenM]

I would have thought sending Ballina/Westport people to Athlone would take much longer than sending us to Longford or somewhere on the Sligo line. The likes of Castlerea/Roscommon loads are not that big and so would comfortably fit on a Galway train I'm sure!

[Mark Gleeson]

But you won't fit on the Sligo train particularly on a Friday, now if we could have one of the Westport Mk3 or Mk2 sets you could make inroads into the capacity issue note a ticket to Westport/Ballina is valid to Sligo as well

If I was going by road Longford is the route I'd take, while the idea is good it would be extremely confusing different times, different stations, two different set of buses. The trains to Westport from Heuston must still run or else connections elsewhere fall apart