Changes to Northside rail timetable reverted after backlash

After weeks of complaints from commuters and elected reps, Irish Rail has made the decision to revert the controversial changes made to timetables.

In a statement on Thursday, Irish Rail admitted “we got this timetable change wrong.”

“It did impact hugely on daily commuters, on their work, education, and childcare. We are very sorry for that.”

The updated timetable will remain in place until Monday, October 14, at which point it will largely revert back to the pre-August timetable.

“The changes from 14th October will restore morning service patterns, rebalance the timetable to improve punctuality and end-to-end journey times for commuters, while accommodating improved frequency on several Intercity routes, including the Dublin to Belfast route,” Irish Rail said in a statement. 

In terms of what it means for commuters, there will be revised running times on a number of Belfast services, including changes to times on the 06:00hrs and 07:00hrs Belfast to Dublin services, arriving in Dublin at 08:23hrs and 09:20hrs respectively.  

The August timetable meant that departure times from Drogheda (with Donabate times for reference) are: 06:48hrs (07:22hrs), 06:58hrs (07:32hrs), 07:09hrs (07:44hrs), 07:41hrs (08:16hrs).

From October 14, the timetable will change to 06:55hrs (07:30hrs), 07:05hrs (07:39hrs), 07:19hrs (07:55hrs and  07:36hrs (08:13hrs)

Additionally, the proposed 07:50hrs Dublin Connolly to Belfast will operate at 07:40hrs, to prevent congestion at Malahide.

“This will mean that the large gap in the northern commuter service will be bridged. It means the trains that we started terminating at Connolly from late August will now continue further south to Pearse, Grand Canal Dock and Bray, restoring those travel patterns with some minor time changes that the customers will have been used to in the past,” Irish Rail said.

“In accommodating increased services on the Dublin to Belfast route, and managing overall capacity in the city centre area, the changes had a disproportionately negative impact on commuting punctuality and overall journey times, for which we are sorry.”

“We recognise the enormous disruption this has caused our customers’ work, education, childcare and other requirements, and how critical the punctuality and reliability of our services are to the daily lives of our commuting customers.”

“While changes made on September 16 improved evening punctuality in particular, it is clear that the impact to morning commuting was continuing.”

The U-turn by Irish Rail has been welcomed by local elected representatives.

Fianna Fáil Minister Darragh O’Brien said the changes are “good news.”

“I want to thank everyone in North County Dublin who’s been in touch with me, the commuters especially, and I want to think Irish Rail for listening.”

O’Brien’s Fianna Fáil colleague Lorraine Clifford-Lee said “while it does not solve all the issues, and I will continue to keep the pressure on and engage on this until all issues are resolved, the new timetable is good news for North County Dublin commuters.”

“It will particularly help with the situation regarding morning commutes where the new timetable had an extraordinarily negative impact.”

Green Minister and Fingal TD Joe O’Brien “I am relieved to hear Irish Rail confirm that they will revert to the pre-August timetable.”

“I have been calling for this since early September as I know how disruptive and stressful this has been for commuters and I have experienced this myself.”

The Fingal TD confirmed he wrote to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste in a bid to resolve the issue.

Labour TD Duncan Smith said, “this is a great win for the rail commuters on the Northern Line who are being reprioritised during peak time.”

“We still need more capacity & improved service but I’m glad the disaster of the last five weeks is being reversed.”

Social Democrats councillor Joan Hopkins said the announcement will be met with “widespread relief” by frustrated Northside commuters.

“In recent weeks, Irish Rail badly failed their customers,” she said. 

“While I welcome Irish Rail’s decision to revert to the previous timetable from October 14, lessons must be learnt from this debacle.”

Prior to the issue being resolved, Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell threatened to bring Irish Rail before an Oireachtas committee.

“As a commuter myself and from speaking to others who regularly take the train, it’s clear there’s a serious problem with the new timetable over the last few weeks,” he said.

He said the timetable change stemmed from Irish Rail attempting to facilitate an hourly service to Belfast, but this resulted in some Northside commuters being sacrificed in the process.

 “Over the past three weeks, it is evident that Irish Rail cannot do both. We need to get answers from Irish Rail on how this has been allowed to happen.”