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Irish Rail's chief exec said it needs to do more to communicate timetable changes to the public in the future Alamy Stock Photo

‘Tried to put half gallon in pint glass’: Irish Rail says it ‘overstretched’ with scrapped timetable

Last week, Irish Rail announced it will return to the timetable it was running off prior to 26 August, with some minor revisions, from 14 October.

IRISH RAIL HAS acknowledged that it “overstretched” with its now scrapped timetable that led to overcrowding and delays.

A new service was launched on 26 August but this resulted in a large number of services being delayed and carriages being overcrowded.

But three weeks later, Irish Rail amended this timetable on the back of complaints.

The changes were made in advance of a new hourly Enterprise train service from the new Grand Central Station in Belfast.

The new €400 million Belfast transport hub officially opened on 9 September, but rail services have not yet commenced due to upgrades on the tracks.

Trains will leave Grand Central Station from Sunday and the hourly Enterprise service from Belfast is due to come into effect from 29 October.

The Enterprise is the cross-border rail service that connects Belfast and Dublin and it has been a two-hourly service since 1997.

However, the amendments last month weren’t enough to remedy the issues and Irish Rail announced last week that it would return to the timetable it was running off prior to 26 August, with some minor revisions, from Monday, 14 October.

Irish Rail today appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee on the impact of the new timetables.

“We are sorry this has happened, and we apologise for it, but we have acted,” Irish Rail chief executive Jim Meade told the Committee.

“With the changes from next Monday, we will begin the process of rebuilding our customers trust in the service we deliver on the affected routes,” said Meade.

He added that Irish Rail “overstretched the capacity of the system” with changes that came into place in August.

“We did try and get the half gallon into the pint glass on this stage,” he added.

Most of the complaints surrounding the timetable came from passengers on the Northern commuter route, followed by Maynooth.

“It was trying to make the whole system more efficient and add capacity and hands up, it didn’t work, we recognise that,” said Meade.

Meanwhile, Meade said that in the future, Irish Rail needs to do more to communicate timetable changes to the public.

“We did we did do the good public consultation, but I think we didn’t highlight some of the nuances of the new timetable with the traveling public.

“We’ve taken that lesson from it, that when we go into a future change, that we look at it in a bit more detail and see how we can raise people’s awareness.”

Meade added that Dublin and Belfast have been “crying out for an hourly service” and that it “should have an hourly service, just like Cork to Dublin has”.

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    Mute Jacob Mac Hay
    Favourite Jacob Mac Hay
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    Jan 9th 2018, 3:10 PM

    These 6 “rules” may be fine.
    But what about proper use of the mist rearlight(s)
    I can imagine that people think they will be better visible but….. if these lights are still on or turned on only when its just a little rain and kept on while there is no need for anymore they are as dazzling as a full headlight by oncoming traffic. But you have to face them longer than oncoming traffic….

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    Mute YouHaveGotToBeJoking
    Favourite YouHaveGotToBeJoking
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    Jan 9th 2018, 8:56 AM

    Whats worse is the morons that need their headlights aligned and blind you without their fulls on

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    Mute Lilly Passet-De Nais
    Favourite Lilly Passet-De Nais
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    Jan 10th 2018, 5:15 PM

    You’d think it’s common courtesy to switch your high beams to low beams when you see a car coming towards you or you’re coming up behind another car. But for some reason, I don’t know if it is ignorance, lack of knowledge or just not giving two fecks, I meet more drivers who couldn’t be arsed switching their high beams to low when coming towards me or coming up behind me. And to be honest the ones from behind are worse as their bright beams don’t only hit your rear view mirror but your side mirrors too, and I for one don’t feel safe adjusting my side mirrors while driving.

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    Mute Lilly Passet-De Nais
    Favourite Lilly Passet-De Nais
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    Jan 10th 2018, 5:17 PM

    @Lilly Passet-De Nais: continuation (as only 800 characters allowed per comment)

    People need to switch their brains on as well as the engines of their cars when they sit down behind the drivers seat. It would make everyone’s journey more pleasant and safer. Being dazzled by an oncoming cars high beams has caused accidents, so it really does have to do with safety as well as comfort…
    Well, I wish you all a safe journey. Happy Driving ,:-)

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