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Public transport – commuters must wait

Irish Rail’s management appears to be incapable of delivering any kind of reliable service

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.

Sir, – Further to Sean Moncrieff’s column “I never know when the Dart will arrive. And Irish Rail doesn’t seem to know either” (Magazine, November 9th), yesterday morning I decided that I would catch an earlier train to work. I need not have bothered. It was already running late several stations before mine and continued to lose time.

Despite the recent debacle of the timetable changes which had to be reversed, Irish Rail’s management appear to be incapable of delivering any kind of reliable service. It is allowed to claim punctuality as being within five minutes of the published arrival time. Late is late, and if you need that window, then your methods for scheduling are problematic.

Transport for Ireland and the Government seem to either be oblivious to the public transport problems or unwilling to do anything meaningful to resolve the issue. Transport for Ireland has a list of projects deliverable between now and 2050, which will, given past outcomes, be outdated before they even come into service.

With an election just weeks away, I would hope the next government grabs the bull by the horns and accelerates the delivery of these projects to provide the commuting public the service they both need and deserve. – Yours, etc,

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DESMOND GILHOOLY,

Sandycove,

Co Dublin.