IARNRÓD ÉIREANN HAS apologised for delays caused by recent timetable changes on the northern line into Dublin.
The changes took effect from 26 August and were made in advance of a new hourly Enterprise train service from Belfast, which is not yet fully operational.
Passengers were advised that departure times were proposed to change on many DART, Northern Commuter and Maynooth Commuter services in order to accommodate the extra Enterprise services.
The Enterprise is the cross-border rail service that connects Belfast and Dublin.
Earlier this month the new timetable was further altered to alleviate delays but to no avail. For the first time in decades, train punctuality dropped below to 80% in recent weeks.
The hourly service from Belfast begins at 6am but it is not yet known when trains will be able to run from the new Grand Central Station in the city.
The new €400 million Belfast transport hub officially opened on 9 September, having welcomed its first passengers the previous morning.
However, only buses are operating from the new station and rail services have yet to commence due to upgrades on the tracks.
Translink, Northern Ireland’s public transport service, said train services will commence once the company has the relevant safety certification.
It means rail passengers travelling from Belfast to Dublin board a bus to Newry, where the journey then continues to Dublin via train.
Those travelling from Dublin to Belfast also have to disembark the train at Newry, where a bus takes them onwards to Belfast.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Prime Time last night, Barry Kenny, the corporate communications manager of Iarnród Éireann, acknowledged that the new changes “haven’t been working the way it should have been”.
“We are sorry to our customers for what has happened,” Kenny added.
He said further changes will be made to the timetable in the coming weeks and that he is speaking to his northern colleagues in Translink on the issue.
"We are sorry to our customers... we will be making further changes to address this... in the next couple of weeks."
— RTÉ Prime Time (@RTE_PrimeTime) September 26, 2024
Barry Kenny of Iarnród Éireann apologises to rail users for delays caused by recent timetable changes on the northern line into Dublin.#rtept | @RTENews pic.twitter.com/YQL1Q04xRu
He also said that the 6am Belfast service, which currently starts out with a bus to Newry, is “having a disproportionate effect on commuters”.
Kenny said this 6am service from Belfast is “light enough at this point” and only serves hundreds of passengers.
Elsewhere, Minister of State Joe O’Brien said the changes have “very negatively on the commuter service, increasing journey times significantly for commuters in the towns of Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush, Lusk and Donabate”.
The Green Party TD for Dublin Fingal recently wrote a letter to Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan outlining his concerns.
He said the changes have resulted in a “problematic 30-minute gap at the peak morning period where there is no commuter service”.
“This not only leads to a significantly decreased level of service but existing services have been concentrated over a shorter time causing capacity issues on some trains and long delays,” added O’Brien.
He said these issues are “in addition to the frequent delays due to congestion at Connolly Station with customers missing connections to other transport services”.
O’Brien added that it is his understanding that the northern commuter line needs to be cleared at peak times in order for this new Enterprise service from Belfast to run on schedule”.
He added: “A delay or cancellation of the 6am Belfast service would go some way to alleviate some of these issues, while the Enterprise service is important, the knock on effect on Dublin commuters is unacceptable.
“It’s important to note that the previous first service out of Belfast was 6.50am.”
He noted that the Enterprise service from Belfast is currently starts out as a bus service, with passengers boarding a train in Newry.
“In my 20 years using the commuter line I have never seen such a poorly implemented change and would request an immediate intervention to resolve the ongoing issues,” said O’Brien.
“To sum up, we are simply trying to squeeze too many services onto a single train track,” said O’Brien.
“I believe it’s not wise to try to squeeze additional services into a line that is already at capacity especially ones that seriously disadvantage regular users and potentially discourage people from using the train for their regular commute.”
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