New Connolly Timetable

[bg07]

I see Irish Rail have provided feedback on the submissions they recieved in December. When is the new draft of the timetable due? Surely at this stage they will wait for the resignalling and Phoenix Park Tunnel upgrade to finish? I suppose once the tunnel is operational timetable updates in Connolly and Hueston will be tied together?


http://www.irishrail.ie/blog/post?a=631

[Mark Gleeson]

Everything is postponed due to the unions getting excited

Unlike Transdev, Irish Rail management haven't got the neck to insist on compliance with contracts of employment

[Jamie2k9]

Issues with changes to the Sligo line timetable 70 3.0%
ADDRESSED: Alterations have been applied to the Draft timetable in particular retaining post 16:00 Departure
The current Sligo timetable pattern could not be retained due to the implementation of the 10 min DART Frequency and also due to the implementation of additional speed restrictions on the route associated with sighting issues at level crossings as dictated by international Safety Standards.

Do these international safety standards just start lather this year or is the current timetable able to hide them now?

9 Issues with proposed time of new 15:35 Connolly/Sligo service 65 2.8%
ADDRESSED: This departure time will be deferred to 16:10 in response to customer feedback. This train will operate as a 7 car Intercity railcar to meet demand.

Guess that will mean extra capacity on the 07.00 up in the mornings however how warranted this is combined with the empty capacity scheduled ex Connolly in the mornings. Costs will only go one way and little if any gain in passengers.

Number 28 and 29 are utter bull, they could at least be honest and say demand wouldn't meet operating costs in most cases.

Are we to assume this will be the final draft or will they issue a second lather this year with Heuston?

[James Howard]

Interesting to see the provision of a later evening Longford commuter service coming quite high on the list of comments. There is obviously growing demand for some form of service significantly later than 1905.

Did they actually publish the latest draft anywhere? I couldn't see it and it would be helpful to see if the concerns really had been addressed. The biggest concern among the group of commuters I talk to on a regular basis was the earlier departure time of the 0545 from Sligo. The 1600 issue that is "addressed" is largely irrelevant to commuters since it leaves too early to be of any use. The "extra capacity" for this service is basically just them using the rolling stock that would have been used for the service that they dropped.

[Inniskeen]

No "approved" comments yet !

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

Do these international safety standards just start lather this year or is the current timetable able to hide them now?



Guess that will mean extra capacity on the 07.00 up in the mornings however how warranted this is combined with the empty capacity scheduled ex Connolly in the mornings. Costs will only go one way and little if any gain in passengers.

Number 28 and 29 are utter bull, they could at least be honest and say demand wouldn't meet operating costs in most cases.

Are we to assume this will be the final draft or will they issue a second lather this year with Heuston?

Looks like they've made quite a few changes based on feedback to that original draft looking at that list - I seem to recall you telling me before quite bluntly that nothing would change and that my approach of "wait and see" was nonsense.

[Jamie2k9]

Looks like they've made quite a few changes based on feedback to that original draft looking at that list - I seem to recall you telling me before quite bluntly that nothing would change and that my approach of "wait and see" was nonsense.

You will also then know I said they will only make minor changes of a few minutes like the majority of the above. The Sligo changes are the only significant ones because of the volume of complains and the path is already in place, not a lot of work needed for them to adjust. We shall see however if they have addressed the 3h35m journey that was scheduled for the 16.10 on Fridays......

[James Howard]

The response statement certainly looks very positive but it is not possible to judge it at all without seeing the draft. As I said, the biggest concern any of the commuters I spoke to had was the earlier departure of the main commuter train of the morning. Since there has been no mention of that, we can only assume that nothing at all has changed here.

But it's pointless discussing this and complaining based on assumptions. I'd need to see the revisions before having anything more to say it.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

You will also then know I said they will only make minor changes of a few minutes like the majority of the above. The Sligo changes are the only significant ones because of the volume of complains and the path is already in place, not a lot of work needed for them to adjust. We shall see however if they have addressed the 3h35m journey that was scheduled for the 16.10 on Fridays......

My basic point is that you are generally better waiting to see the outcome of a process like this rather than jumping to conclusions and frankly belittling anyone who takes a more considered approach.

[Jamie2k9]

My basic point is that you are generally better waiting to see the outcome of a process like this rather than jumping to conclusions and frankly belittling anyone who takes a more considered approach.

Maybe so but my basic point was no radical changes would of been made. One thing to watch out for with Sligo is if the 15.35 will operate on FO in place of the planned 16.10 as the way things stand as suggested above is that peak Fri between 15.00-17.05 there is 4 less coaches traveling to Sligo than the current timetable.

Really odd that they have published the above link months ahead of a timetable which might happen this year. They even appear to be proposing a Heuston timetable change before the line works are completed from what i'm told.

If they had any sense all new timetables would be stopped and not implemented until the 11th December and that includes not opening the PPT until this date as well even if ready in November. Both Heuston and Connolly (reissued) drafts should be published in October and a full 4 weeks consolation allowed followed by 4 weeks for IE to make any changes and 2 weeks notice to the public of new start date.

It's time to return previous years and a standard full timetable change/amendment/conformation no changes until following year.

[James Howard]

I'd agree that it makes little or no sense to implement this timetable at this stage in the game. Given that the unions are on the warpath anyway, by the time they've managed to negotiate rosters, they'll have to start again for the next round of revisions.

On the issue of waiting to see the outcome, that is great in an ideal world but the problem with Irish Rail is that by the time you see the outcome, it is too late to do anything about it. For example, the biggest issue with the Sligo timetable for me and any of the commuters I've spoken is the 10 minutes added at either end of the day if you're using the current 0545 / 1905 trains. This issue is marked as "addressed" by the retention of the 1600 slot. Without seeing the latest draft timetable, it is impossible to judge if the issue really has been addressed but it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect that it hasn't.

[Mark Gleeson]

At this stage we can throw away the timetable.

There will need to be a fresh revision in the Autumn to account for Kildare-GCD and the extra capacity as a result of signalling being fully commissioned

There is no mention of addressing the slow DART running times, solving that would address a lot of the northern line issues and save time on Belfast and Rosslare services and in fact would save money as you would need 1 fewer DART set and as a result fewer drivers...

[Inniskeen]

Finally somebody has copped on to the fact that more DARTs chugging along on ever slower schedules is a self defeating exercise that costs loads of money and delivers little more than congestion and instability for all users.

Once the Phoenix Park services commence the inherent instability has the potential to extend to the Cork line and result in service degradation there as well.

[Jamie2k9]

Once the Phoenix Park services commence the inherent instability has the potential to extend to the Cork line and result in service degradation there as well.

But as it won't be Cork services it's all ok Seriously I expect like Portlaoise commuter services they will have quiet a bit of padding on the Quad tracking.

By IE standards the disruption that the 06.15 ex Cork caused was resolved quickly, just think any future impact from like this will result in even more complaints. One would hope they have the intelligence to produce a realistic schedule this time round and not the pie in the sky they produced in 2013 with GalwayWestport and the 06.15 service.