Early last month Irish Rail announced a new timetable designed to increase the frequency and efficiency of intercity train services.
The Dublin-Belfast service would move from a two-hourly one to an hourly one and there would be more services to Galway and Waterford, along with changes to the Sligo train and Cork commuter services.
The fine print noted there would be changes on Dart, Northern commuter and Maynooth commuter services to facilitate the new timetable.
The timetable was implemented on August 26th and immediately there were complaints of overcrowding and a lack of punctuality. Irish Rail responded by amending its timetable on services to Maynooth and Drogheda along with minor changes on other routes.
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The changes, brought in on September 16th, have done nothing to placate weary commuters who responded to an Irish Times request for their experiences of the new timetables.
“The changes Irish Rail made have been a disaster,” says Paul Redmond, who commutes from Skerries to Dublin Pearse station.
“People are packing into the trains that go to Pearse or Grand Canal Dock so they don’t have to change at Connolly and try to get into a packed Dart. I used to get a seat at Skerries, but now I can barely fit in.
“Irish Rail also changed their policy on bringing bikes on to trains, banning all but folding bikes. Our Government is trying to encourage us to cycle but now we can’t bring our bikes. I don’t get it.”
This timetable has been badly thought out, poorly implemented and only underlines the lack of respect Irish Rail shows towards its customers
— Commuter David Costelloe
Darium Rezania, who lives in Co Kildare, called it an “unmitigated disaster” and a “serious downgrade” of the Maynooth commuter line. He regularly takes the 8.40am train from Maynooth to Grand Canal Dock.
“It is consistently over 10/15 minutes late. Not once has the driver or any Irish Rail staff apologised for this. In Japan they would be issuing numerous apologies, refunds and delay slips you can present to employers.”
Problems of punctuality have been a common refrain from many of the commuters who contacted The Irish Times. Elly Masaudon, who uses the Northern commuter train three days a week and at weekends, said her weekend train has not been on time once since the new services started.
“I used to either get the 7.30am or 7.39am train. They’ve been replaced by one train at 7.32am ... and what is now supposed to be a 40-minute journey (already longer than it was) ends up being 50 minutes or more.”
Niamh Donoghue says her son takes the train to school at 7am every morning from Skerries and he is being delayed “every single day”, as is his return journey. He is getting home 40 minutes later every day.
“A long day is what we expected sending him to school in the city centre but this timetable change has made a long day even longer.”
Marwin Golombowski, who commutes from Naas to Grand Canal Dock every day, says the new timetable has made everything “infinitely worse”. Delays are being compounded by overcrowding. “The congestion on the line is getting worse and worse, but instead of increasing services I feel like there has been a reduction,” she says.
“The return journey from Connolly has become so unbearable and congested that I now go through Heuston. The commuter life is hard enough as it is but this has just made everything worse and nothing even remotely better.”
David Costelloe says communication issues from Irish Rail have been “abysmal, with contradictory PA announcements and inaccurate information. This timetable has been badly thought out, poorly implemented and only underlines the lack of respect Irish Rail shows towards its customers.”
Caroline Byrne, who commutes from Donabate, says northern commuter trains all stop at Connolly Station now, leaving commuters to get Dart or Luas trains if they are working on the southside.
“The original timetable worked fine and we are suffering so a train to Belfast can run every hour. The issues are lateness, overcrowding on the platforms and trains, terminating at Connolly and generally no guarantee of getting to work on time.
“I am lucky my company are flexible on time but not every workplace is. It’s either leave too early or face this torture every morning.”
Siobhan Murray, who commutes from Sallins in Co Kildare, says Luas trains at Connolly and Heuston Station cannot cope with the crowds turning up from late trains.
“I am a fan of using public transport, but this is Third World stuff. It’s horrendous. It’s dog eat dog, and very unsafe. I haven’t even mentioned the delays to every train. While the original needed improvements, these changes have made it so stressful and unsafe.”
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