!8.50 Dublin Connolly-Belfast Alteration

[Jamie2k9]

http://www.irishrail.ie/news/enterprisealterations

18:50hrs Dublin Connolly/Belfast - Enterprise Service Alteration

16 March 2017

The 18:50hrs Dublin Connolly/Belfast Enterprise Service will be deferred until 19:00hrs from the 27th of March.

Belfast Enterprise Alteration

Please note : from 27th March, 2017 the 18:50hrs Enterprise service from Connolly/Belfast which operates Monday to Saturday is deferred until 19:00hrs. This alteration has been made to improve operational performance. For further information please check our Journey Planner above.

Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Overall journey time reduces from 2h15m to 2h10m.

[Thomas J Stamp]

but still arrives 5 mins later than before (which admittedly isnt massive, but still).

was it constantly delayed by DART/Commuter traffic?

[Jamie2k9]

but still arrives 5 mins later than before (which admittedly isnt massive, but still).

was it constantly delayed by DART/Commuter traffic?

Looks like it loses between 6-8 minutes by Drogheda on weekdays.

New schedule timed for 34 minutes as opposed to 38 schedule but up to 45 in most cases.

[Inniskeen]

The obvious path for this train is 1905 from Connolly which would result in an arrival in Drogheda at the same time as departing at 1850 or 1900.

Since being changed to 1850 this train has only reached Drogheda on time on bank holiday mondays when it has been up to 10 minutes early !

The Belfast timetable is a mess with many trains never on time, notably the 0645, 1035, 1235 and 2005 from Belfast. In the opposite direction the 0735 and 1850 almost never run on time. The 0930, 1120, 1320, 1520, 1650 all run to time wasting schedules and with the exception of the 1120 routinely linger in Drogheda or Dundalk for anything up tp 13 minutes.

For some reason best known to Irish Rail there is an 1111 Pearse to Dundalk which is due ex Connolly at 1117. Occasionally this traIn leaves Connolly after the 1120, in which case the Belfast train arrives up to 8 minutes earlly in Drogheda while the local train avoids a pointless visit to the loop at Clongriffin and then typically arrives early at Portmarnock.

To think the EU invested money in this shambles shows how easily it can be hoodwinked into supporting projects where no effort is then made to properly exploit the expenditure incurred.