Gorey Train Services

[KSW]

Can i ask if a train left Gorey at 06.20 and arrived at Connolly at 08.00 would i be correct in saying that it would complete the journey. The current 06.00 Gorey Sligo service has to far to many spare minutes or padding......

[paddyb180285]

It has to stop in Blackrock as it is an interchange for buses to Sandyford Industrial Estate as many people from the Arklow/Gorey region may work there.Sure,If it has that many spare minutes,it can afford to stop in Dalkey also.I know you are trying to encourage a faster train ride.

[ACustomer]

Keith/Gorey: there may be padding in the existing timetable, but your proposed times are not feasible. Gorey-Arklow is 10.5 miles, cannot be done in 9 minutes given acceleration, braking and 70mph max. Similarly 9 mins for Rathdrum-Wicklow (9.5 miles) is not doable, and 9 mins for 8.5 miles from Wicklow to Kilcoole is hardly possible, given the tight curve and slow start out of Wicklow.

Also you seem to have overlooked Grand Canal Dock, which would be a necessary stop for a Gorey train.

Now padding on the Rosslare route South of Gorey is another matter....

[paddyb180285]

What is the meaning of that phrase padding?

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by paddyb180285

What is the meaning of that phrase padding?

Extra minutes added in between stations to ensure a punctual service

1. Reliability is much much more important than end to end journey time

2. On paper it is possible to do Bray Connolly in about 26 minutes assuming there are no other trains running and absolute full priority is granted at the level crossings, to do it in the rush hour would see at least 3 DART services cancelled (each carrying over a 1,000 people) and would result in traffic chaos as level crossings would be closed for a considerable time.

3. General punctuality on the Rosslare line is less than great which would suggest the padding is not excessive, its only when a 29k runs the service that the times are beaten by a considerable margin which is understandable since it is a much much more powerful train better able to cope with the curves and hills

4. Signalling upgrade will save several minutes on a journey

[Edward Ryan]

This mornings 06.45 Gorey to Dundalk service was delayed 33 min in Gorey. The cause was said to be signalling problems. The train sat at Gorey till some man in IE uniform arrived at the station wearing a red armband. He then got on the train and we left all most straight away.

I then noted the same man leave the train at Arklow station. Was it really signalling or more likely a fault with the train itself? If it was signalling why would the man have to travel on the train? Strange one.

Ed

[Mark Gleeson]

If the signaling goes down and the old fashioned ETS system used on the Rosslare line is troublesome the signalmen between the two effected signal boxes agree to instigate pilot working, the man with the red armband must travel with each train, there being only one man with the armband == no risk of collision, just a pain when two train want to go the same way, he must drive back by car

[Edward Ryan]

Thank you Mark. I just could not figure out what was going on.

Ed

[John J]

Originally Posted by Keith/Gorey

ITS NO WONDER 97% Commuter trains arrived on time..

Keith apparantly "On time" is defined by IE as being "up to 10 minutes late".

I must be an incredibly unlucky person, as if only 3% of trains are more than ten minutes late I must be getting far more than my fair share.
But these are IE's incredibly accountable, externally audited figures - who are we to doubt them?

Tell you what - for the next 100 days, I'm going to arrive into work 10 minutes late for 97 of those days. On the other three days, I'll either be several hours late, or not show up at all.
When my boss demands an explanation, I'll offer up something about "operational difficulties" or "signal failures", making sure I mutter my words sufficiently to make them totally incomprehensible.

If it's good enough for IE, it's good enough for me.

[Rushed2nowhere]

I saw this in this week’s edition of the Wicklow Times (a free weekly) - 31/10/07:

"Council urged to "get together with CIE to reopen Avoca Station"

Minister Dick Roche has been in contact for some time with the CIE group regarding the reopening of Avoca railway station and he has revealed that his latest contacts with the chairman of the group, Dr. John Lynch have provided, "the first tangible evidence that Coras Iompair Eireann is willing to actively reconsider its position on Avoca Station."

In correspondence to Minister Roche the Chairman of the CIE group has pointed out that in other parts of the country Iarnrod Eireann is now cooperating with councils and developers on the reopening of former stations.
"Given the very significant amount of new estates developed in Avoca, Aughrim and in other towns and villages which could provide a 'catchment area' for a commuter service from Avoca, the chairman of the CIE group has suggested that in Wicklow the same policy could be adopted as has been adopted in other counties which links development activity with the reopening of railway stations"
Welcoming Dr Lynch's letter, Minister Roche said 'This is the first time that we have had a positive indication from Iarnrod Eireann or the CIE group that it would positively consider the reopening of Avoca.I suggested to the County Council that it might become much more pro-actively involved in the project than it has done to date and that it should make every effort to ensure that development in the Avoca catchment area in the future is linked to the possibility of reopening the station. I believe very strongly that the council could, as the planning authority, operate to bring together development interests and the CIE group to good effect in this case.'"

[KSW]

Avoca Statin but is there a demand for this area, Will people be commuting to the Capital every weekday(Mon-Fri). Avoca is that either at the Golf Course or at Ballykissangel.

[Colm Donoghue]

avoca's population is 724 up from 564 in 2002

Ardrahan's pop. is up to 480 from 375 and
Craughwell's pop. is 1363 from 1169


Avoca's 7km from Arklow and about the same from Aughrim and about 11 km from Rathdrum. Rathdrum's about the same distance from Aughrim, so there's no real chance to "pool catchments"

Avoca station house was sold and is privately owned now.
CIE tours regularly do tours by bus to Avoca, so there'd be an amount of "passing trade" but 'twould need to be researched.

Avoca is served by Bus Eireann from Dublin, but unlike Arklow the bus takes longer than the train... Dunno if you could get to Dublin and back the same day though.

Woodenbridge golf club is nearer Arklow.
There was a station here back in the day when people could give speeches about fighting for the freedom of the little nations/taking a nice break in eastern France/all that stuff they'll be talking about just after 11 on Sunday
There used be a line from Woodenbridge to Tinahealy...

[packetswitch]

Steam trains stop there to take on water. Dunno what the ownership is there...

[donncha]

Originally Posted by Rushed2nowhere

I saw this in this week’s edition of the Wicklow Times (a free weekly) - 31/10/07:

Bringing the former station in Avoca back into its former role would not be a good idea, as there is no parking available near the former station.

There is a second solution under discussion though, to get a commuter station (with adequate parking and a shop) implemented in Avoca. The big question is, how many people are there who would be motivated to use the station?

I do realise that it's quite a long drive into Dublin, I did it myself many a day.
I would have preferred to relax in a train rather than sit in heavy traffic, generating greenhouse gases and upsetting the balance of payments by burning expensive imported petrol, not to mention wear and tear on the car.

If there are enough people who are seriously interested, I believe that the second solution might get adopted sooner rather than later, but we need to understand how many seriously motivated commuters are out there, otherwise it will be hard to show IE and the Dept. of Transport that there is a need to make this happen.

Let me know if you are concerned by this, or if you know anyone else who is. Perhaps we should get a group organised on Facebook? Suggestions and comments welcome.

Donncha

[Traincustomer]

Please see new thread of this title.

[Mark Gleeson]

People here are rightly complaining about the pedestrian speeds. Unless Avoca has a catchment of 3k forget it, it would add another 3-4 minutes onto an already slow journey.

Its dead in the water as the full cost will be borne by someone other than Irish Rail, e.g. Wicklow CC who have no money

Any further discussion of infrastructural related matters in the appropriate forum http://www.railusers.ie/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=29

[donncha]

Hello,

They say there would be in excess of 3000 people in the Avoca catchment area. The village itself would be two thousand, and then you have Redcross, Woodenbridge and Aughrim, not to mention Clash and a host of other fine places. A lot of locals have been calling out for trains to stop there once more, and hundreds commute to Dublin daily from Avoca.
I couldn't locate the infrastructure thread, has that been removed from the site?