IARNRÓD ÉIREANN ARE set to amend its new timetable following substantial delays after the introduction of the new schedule.

The amendments will kick in from Monday and come as a number of commuters have complained over lengthy wait times and busy services since the new timetable began on 26 August.

Fianna Fáil Senator Lorraine Clifford Lee last week said the new timetables had significantly impacted commuters along the Northern Commuter rail line in Dublin, serving Rush & Lusk, Balbriggan and Skerries.

One email sent to the Senator following a public consultation, and seen by The Journal, detailed “constant” delays, increased travel times and impacts on commuters that need to travel into the city centre during the weekends.

A spokesperson for Irish Rail said that services has experienced some delays in the first two weeks of its new timetable, noting that these were due to congestion on lines in the Connolly Station area.

Irish Rail apologised to customers who have been impacted.

To tackle this, the service said, slight changes will be made to the new timetable on the Maynooth and Drogheda lines, where congestion has impacted the most. The changes will be between three and seven minutes on a range of services, it said.

“Having analysed these issues, and liaised with the National Transport Authority, we will implement a number of timing changes from next Monday 16th September which will assist in improving punctuality for our customers,” it added.

Last week Senator Clifford Lee said there were “large gaps” in the timetable, particularly during peak times where commuters travelling to and from work and college needed to catch connecting services, such as Dart or bus services.

“The stated aim of the new timetable is ‘to improve punctuality across the network, ensuring a more reliable service for daily commuters’  but according to commuters on the Northern Commuter Line, it has done the opposite,” she said.

The Senator said that commuters had detailed that there were now fewer services, delayed trains and overcrowding on carriages as a result.

“People need to be encouraged to use public transport wherever they can,” she said.

“This new timetable means North County Dublin commuters are being disincentivised from using public transport and those with no other option face using an inconvenient and below par service.”

One email to Clifford Lee sent by a commuter on the Northern Commuter Line said:

“Everyday since the new timetable there has been a delay on either end of my commute. This had made me late for work multiple times, even though I plan ahead with the timetable provided.”

The commuter details that she has given herself extra time on either end of her commute to make sure she is on time for the train and has found, on a number of occasions, that the service was delayed or late to arrive.

An early morning services was also scrapped on weekends on the Northern Commuter Line as part of the new timetable. The email by the commuter claims that the replacement services does not align with employees who may start work at 8 or 9am.

Irish Rail has apologised to any rail user who may have been impacted by the delays caused by the new timetable and said it looks forward to the issue being resolved with the amendments, set to begin on Monday.