Later evening service to Portlaoise

[Mark Gleeson]

Seems like the empty trains piece in the Sunday Tribune has got a result, though Irish Rail denied it was possible at the time http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=4844

New Late Evening Service for Portlaoise, Portarlington and Monasterevin from Monday 3rd November. by Corporate Communications

Iarnród Éireann advises customers that a new late evening service to Portlaoise will be introduced from Monday, 3rd November.

The new service, departing Heuston at 22.15hrs, will be a huge boost for Commuters to Monasterevin, Portarlington and Portlaoise in particular, as the last train for Portlaoise currently departs at 21.00hrs.

The new service will also serve Newbridge and Kildare, giving an added late evening option for commuters from these towns. The schedule will operate, from Monday to Friday as follows:

Heuston 22.15hrs

Newbridge 22.45hrs

Kildare 22.50hrs

Monasterevin 22.57hrs

Portarlington 23.04hrs

Portlaoise 23.14hrs

With this late departure, commuters along the route can work, study or socialise late in the city, and have a convenient option available to commute home. This service will increase the attractiveness of commuting by rail, and look forward to strong support for this extra late evening train from the commuters it will serve.

[ThomasJ]

Good news for portlaoise but Mullingar should be next on the list, a 21:00hrs ex pearse is a runner!

[Mark Gleeson]

Certainly a step forward, though it must be remembered that 4 weeks or so ago when pushed Irish Rail tried to cover up the empty train. Its a pity they had a chance to say yes its coming day x

They circulated a pdf file around yesterday

The big question is will a clear pa be made on the morning trains from Portlaoise on Monday?

[plant43]

Great news!

[Derek Wheeler]

Apparently it has nothing to do with the Tribune piece.

[dowlingm]

Well it's not news that the Traincare Depot would lead to more trains being stored in Portlaoise and therefore being convenient to run and terminate there, the issue is whether the timing was altered as a result of the publicity. Certainly the snotty individual deployed against Mark G on the Last Word gave no indication that a service would start as soon as it is doing.

The question for me is whether a similar or smaller depot should be planned for Mullingar, in conjunction with double tracking, to facilitate increased service and later service to that area. Once EMUs start running in town there might be a shortage of storage for DMUs anyway. It might also be a good excuse to reinstate the junction towards Moate/Athlone with a view to keeping that corridor option open if there was more convenient land on that line than on the Sligo side.

[Derek Wheeler]

The issue of a later train to portlaoise has been on the agenda for a number of years now. Local groups and politicians have been on the case since 2004. IEs excuse was always focused on the new depot and drivers.The empty working referred to in the companies working timetable did not run on a consistant basis so could not conceivably be used as a service.The new late service was dependent on the introduction of further DMUs. This has now taken place, hence the later service. It has been known since late last year that IE were planning to introduce this service in late 2008. The Tribune article was good coverage but its nothing more than spin to claim it got a result. Spin is something that I wanted to rid from RUI, as I feel facts and verifiable results are better weapons. The fact that Jane Cregan didn't announce the start date for the service on the last word is not evidence that it wasn't planned as all in the know seemed to know about it. Im not an IE lover by any means, but lets get real here.

And for the record, Ive noticed that since Mark has started doing the interviews, IE have started to mock RUI. But perhaps thats something for the AGM.

[Thomas J Stamp]

Get away from spin? who was spinning?

this is not spin, it wasnt being introduced, we ran it in the media, it was. despite all what you say Derek, and given the chances of the Dec 08 timetable being deferred, this is something we can chalk up for ourselves.

[Derek Wheeler]

Chalk it up if you want, but apart from what Ive said already, the world and its mother knew the late night Portlaoise service was coming. I was told that last year in the Connolly Fastrack office of all places!

Sorry Tom, this one doesn't wash with an old warrior like me.

[Sealink]

If IE have been planning this for the last year, then they had ample opportunity to announce it, including after the Tribune article. But to do so would be seen to be reacting to that, which, I understand, IE can't be seen to do.

I don't think RUI can be accused of spin, because this service is indeed a reaction to the tribune article.

There's also something vaguely threatening about their press release! Anyone else notice that? Maybe it's the grammar... This service will increase the attractiveness of commuting by rail, and look forward to strong support for this extra late evening train from the commuters it will serve.

Otherwise known as use it or lose it!

[Mark Gleeson]

Spot on, they had ample opportunity to completely sink us and IE had a good 2 weeks notice of the article running. The empty train is something we identified, and detailed it to Ken Griffin in the Sunday Tribune its not in the staff timetable.

Now it is true there was no question that a later service to Portlaoise was planned, but the new timetable won't happen till March or April and the circumstances where such that there already was a train running.

We understand passenger numbers are encouraging and Irish Rail have confirmed that a PA is being made on morning trains from Portlaoise to advertise the service. There is another small change in the pipeline which will fix another issue on the Kildare route.