29K still on Sligo and not even cleaned

[Inniskeen]

The Sligo line appeared to be a bit of a mess on Friday with many trains twenty or more minutes late throughout the day. On Saturday the 1305 from Connolly was detained in Maynooth from 1333 to 1354 while the 1505 was 22 minutes late at Dromod. Running also appears to have deteriorated greatly over the last few years with new speed restrictions and a general pedestrian pace.

[James Howard]

I had a good wait at Maynooth on the 1705 on Friday and it was still running more than 10 minutes late at Edgeworthstown but that is the exception rather than the rule over the last few months.

Actually, for people in the commuting pattern, reliability has got a lot better of the last couple of years while running time has remained about the same. The 17:00 from Sligo was the cause of a lot of problems as it had to cross with 5 other trains so since that has gone, the chronic delays largely left.

If only they could do something about the wait at Killucan for the 19:05, things would be a lot better.

[joey]

There is no 1700 from Sligo.

[James Howard]

There was a 1700 and a 1900 from Sligo until the last major timetable revision about three years ago I think. They both went and were replaced with the 1800. Since the 1700 had to cross with the 1505, 1600, 1705 and the 1905 along with a couple of Longford trains, it did make a bit of a mess of the evening timetable.

[joey]

There was, your correct

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by joey

Definitely 12pm leaving Sligo I spotted it between Sligo and collooney

Are you sure this wasn't a train being shunted out of Sligo station as far as Sligo loop to move to the station platform.

There were no extra trains operating on Sunday.

EDIT - I understand from another source that the train you saw was a failed set being taken back to Dublin for maintenance.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by James Howard

The 09:00 is too early for the only morning train down from Dublin given that there is pretty much no public transport that will get you into Connolly for that time. I can't imagine there are too many takers for it at the moment.

An 11AM first departure would make a lot more sense particularly if you could use the 0745 and 10 AM bus departures on a return rail ticket. The CIE group could offer a much better service if it were possible to mix and match journeys between bus and rail even if it was at the more expensive cost of the train ticket. If it would make life easier, they could even limit it to off peak.

Well the first trains out of Heuston are all early on a Sunday.

08:00 to Galway and connection to Westport (next train 11:35 to Galway and 13:35 to Westport)

08:30 to Tralee, with connections to Limerick and Cork (next train 10:00)

09:10 to Waterford (next train 14:10)

Is there something special about the Sligo line that makes it any different from the Westport or Waterford lines? People will get to the station if they want to use the train.

It's not just people travelling from Connolly, though. What about people making intermediate trips?

Changing the 09:05 service really would be a retrograde step.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by James Howard

I don't think anyone was suggesting there should be a 905 AND and 1105. My point was that the 0905 is just too early for most people on a Sunday and 1005 would give people a bit more time to get into town even if it is still too early for a lot of bus routes.

A bigger problem with the weekend schedule is that the first up train is very late. Maybe it's fine for Sligo but we end up driving to Dublin at least once a month on either a Saturday or a Sunday when we'd much rather take the train. It's a bit of stretch to suggest that an 0545 Sligo departure is warranted on a Saturday but an 0700 from Longford would meet a legitimate need and it could also fill a rather large 1805-sized hole in the evening timetable down. A lot of people have voluntary group meetings or classes in Dublin on a Saturday morning and it is basically impossible to get there by public transport early enough.

Anyway, to return to the original topic, they put a 29K on for the 1705 last night and it's running the 0545 this morning. This is the second time in the last month they've pulled this stunt. It's particularly annoying when you see a 22K heading to Balbriggan as you're leaving Connolly. And then I get to listen to a work colleague who commutes from Ashtown complaining about not being able to get onto the 22Ks they insist on running to Docklands because people won't move down the aisle.

I'd agree with you, there probably is a justification for an earlier train on Saturdays and Sundays from Longford to Dublin.

As for the 29k on the 17:05, I think calling it a "stunt" is a bit harsh. It was hardly intentional, as presumably the allocated 22k had a maintenance issue. There are no spare 22k sets sitting in Connolly, and presumably the sets that are on the Northern line or Docklands will be heading to Drogheda for overnight scheduled maintenance exams.

In an ideal world the 27k sets would be back out of storage in Limerick, the 28k sets back in Dublin facilitating more 22k sets to be available, but the funds to do that just aren't there.

[James Howard]

Originally Posted by berneyarms

Is there something special about the Sligo line that makes it any different from the Westport or Waterford lines? People will get to the station if they want to use the train.

There is nothing special about the Sligo line except for me in that I live on it. I very occasionally take a Sunday morning train home after a Saturday night out and I'm lucky enough that I can take the Luas in as otherwise it would be a very expensive taxi ride into town.

It would be a lot better if all routes' first Sunday departures were aligned better with the first runs of the main bus routes into town - particularly when there is a gap of several hours to the next train. Whether that could be achieved by earlier running of the first bus or later running of the first train is not relevant to me. The present situation where the train leaves before the first bus into town is pretty typical of the poor integration of public transport in Ireland.

Most normal people don't want to take the train, they want to get somewhere and they will do so by whatever means is most convenient. Dublin Bus and Irish Rail could serve their customers better by allowing the two modes of transport to join up on a Sunday morning. As far as I can see, you can't even get a DART in to take the first Sligo departure.

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by James Howard

There is nothing special about the Sligo line except for me in that I live on it. I very occasionally take a Sunday morning train home after a Saturday night out and I'm lucky enough that I can take the Luas in as otherwise it would be a very expensive taxi ride into town.

It would be a lot better if all routes' first Sunday departures were aligned better with the first runs of the main bus routes into town - particularly when there is a gap of several hours to the next train. Whether that could be achieved by earlier running of the first bus or later running of the first train is not relevant to me. The present situation where the train leaves before the first bus into town is pretty typical of the poor integration of public transport in Ireland.

Most normal people don't want to take the train, they want to get somewhere and they will do so by whatever means is most convenient. Dublin Bus and Irish Rail could serve their customers better by allowing the two modes of transport to join up on a Sunday morning. As far as I can see, you can't even get a DART in to take the first Sligo departure.

All of that is something that gradually the NTA are addressing. But that is going to take time.

However, I don't think that changing the time of the first train on Sundays to run them later is the answer. A 12:05 arrival into Sligo of the first train is late enough. Running it later is not the solution.

[maloner]

a 2005 (or 2105) to Longford/Mullingar would be fantastic.

I agree on the comments regarding the important earlier commuter services. If you want to go for dinner or a pint right now you are totally snookered if you miss the 17:05 - my vote would be for the 21:05

Originally Posted by James Howard

Although I no longer use it due to the discomfort level of the 29K, the 1805 to Longford is far more important to Mullingar and Longford commuters than a potentially later service. Most normal people do not finish work in time for the 1705 so the 1805 is the peak evening commuter service. There would be hell to pay if it was cancelled and saying "politicians want to keep" it means that for once in their life politicians in the area might actually be doing their job.

We already lost the admittedly useless 1817ish service from Connolly so a two hour gap in the evening Longford commuter service would be completely unacceptable and would be the best way Irish Rail could go about killing the viability of the Longford commute.

A much better idea would be to discontinue the 1715 stopping service to Longford which is of little use beyond Maynooth. The train could turn around in Maynooth and be back in Connolly in time to run a 2005 (or 2105) to Longford. All this would cost would be a couple of hours of driver time and would massively improve the service. It could potentially fill in for an existing later Maynooth service which might allow them to let another driver off earlier so it wouldn't even cost that.