Operations 169

Irish Railway Record Society

Journal 169 Operations

Punctuality The month of January recorded many days of snow with consequent serious disruption to road and air transport. Rail traffic was largely unaffected and figures for Dublin-Galway line punctuality for January confirmed this, with 97.1% of trains arriving within 10 minutes of scheduled times. In comparison, the figure for 2008 was 92.3%. Figures for the Dublin-Westport line for January were 95.6% of trains arriving within 10 minutes of schedule, compared with 94.1% for 2008. The Tralee line achieved 95.4% of trains arriving with 10 minutes during January.

Passenger Numbers A record number of passengers travelled on the Dublin-Sligo line in 2008, with 1.34m using the service. This represents an 8% increase from 1.24m passengers in 2007. The Dublin-Sligo line is ranked as IÉ's third busiest InterCity service, after Dublin-Cork and Dublin-Galway. The passenger figures for 2008 represent a 41% growth in numbers travelling in 3 years, up from 950,000 journeys in 2005, and a doubling of passenger numbers in just five years.

The number of passengers using the Ennis-Limerick line dropped from 200,000 in 2007 to 170,000 in 2008. This was attributed to the line being closed for 7 weeks due to flooding at Ballycar.

In April, The Sunday Business Post reported IÉ saying that passenger numbers have fallen by 15% on some routes due to the recession. IÉs response has been to reduce size of trains rather than cut services.

Monday 12 January 210 + EGV + 2 Mk III worked a Dublin Heuston-Thurles training train.

Wednesday 16 January 225 + EGV + 6 Mk III worked a 16:10 Cork-Limerick special for the Munster V Sale Rugby match. The return special was at 23:00.

Saturday 14 February 232 + 6 Mk III push-pull (DT6101) worked the 09:15 Galway-Dublin. Due to a railcar failure it then worked the 12:05 Dublin-Kildare, 13:10 Kildare-Dublin, 14:05 Dublin-Newbridge and 14:55 Newbridge-Dublin.

Saturday 28 February A 10:25 Limerick-Dublin Heuston special operated for the Ireland V England rugby game in Croke Park. It was formed by 2 x 3-car ICRs.

Thursday 5 March The 18:35 Dublin-Thurles was 218 + EGV + 6 Mk III instead of an ICR.

St Patrick’s Day 17 March Two specials operated Waterford-Dublin for GAA club finals. The 09:25 was 4-car 2700-class, passing Cherryville Junction at 10:58. The 10:10 was 2 x 3-car ICR, passing Cherryville at 11:27.

Good Friday 10 April 226 + EGV + 7 Mk III worked the 11:30 Dublin-Waterford. For a period from 5 April, this link was a 3-car ICR Monday-Thursday and a Mk III set on Fridays and Saturdays.

The same day, 232 + 4 Mk III push-pull (DT6101) worked the 13:25 Dublin-Limerick. The 13:25 on Fridays and Saturdays and 12:10 Dublin-Galway on Sundays reverted to Mk III push-pull working after a Mk III set was damaged in Waterford. Other locomotive hauled workings that day were: 234 + 5 Mk III push-pull (DT6105) on the 09:15 Galway-Dublin and 17:10 Dublin-Athlone; 217 + EGV + 7 Mk III on the 18.25 Dublin-Waterford and 222 + EGV + 6 Mk III on the 17:50 Dublin-Galway.

Saturday 18 April The 11:30 Dublin- Waterford and 15:00 return was 212 + EGV + 7 Mk III. The 09:15 Galway-Dublin was 5 Mk III push-pull (DT6101) pushed by 232. The 13:25 Dublin-Limerick was 234 + 4 Mk III Push-pull (DT6105).

Friday 1 May Passenger numbers boarding at each station on the 07:05 Athlone-Galway, 234 + 5 Mk III Push-pull (DT6101) were noted: Athlone 20; Ballinasloe 10/15; Woodlawn 10; Attymon 10; Athenry 50/60. The train spent 10 minutes crossing in Woodlawn and arrived 6 minutes early into Galway at 08:15 with a respectable load of about 100 passengers. The set then worked the 09:15 to Dublin and was well filled leaving Galway.

Saturday 2 May Munster played Leinster in rugby in Croke Park and over 82,000 fans attended, which was a record for a club match. Munster fans travelled in big numbers. Specials were: 09:35 Limerick-Heuston 2 x 3-car ICR, Kildare pass 11:18; 09:45 Cork-Heuston 221 + 6 Mk III + EGV, Kildare pass 11:58; 10:30 Limerick-Heuston 6-car ICR, Kildare pass 12:12; relief from Portlaoise 4 Mk III push-pull (DT6105) pushed by 232; Kildare pass 12:17; 11:00 Cork-Dublin 6-car ICR, Kildare pass 13:04.

The 17:10 Dublin-Athlone was 212 + EGV + 6 Mk III. The 07:35 Waterford-Dublin was 212 + EGV + 6 Mk III, the 11:30 Dublin-Waterford and 15:00 return was 214 + EGV + 6 Mk III. The 09:15 Galway-Dublin was 5 Mk III push-pull (DT6101) pushed by 219, the 17:50 Dublin-Galway was 221 + 5 Mk III push-pull (DT6101) and the 17:35 Limerick-Dublin was 4 Mk III push-pull pushed by 234 (DT6105).

Sunday 3 May 071-class working scheduled passenger trains are now very rare. The 06:50 Waterford-Claremorris Knock special and 17:35 return was 082 + EGV + 6 Mk III. The 201-class is not cleared to operate Waterford-Limerick Junction. The train worked the 18:25 Dublin-Waterford the previous day.

Friday 8 May A 4-car 2800-class railcar worked morning Clonsilla-Docklands services instead of the usual 29000-class.

ICR Splitting Commencing Monday 6 April, 2 x 3-car ICRs peak period trains were split at Dublin Heuston to form single 3-car sets for off-peak services during the day. Sets were later joined to form 2 x 3-car sets for evening peak services. The following took place on the Monday:

06:30 Carlow-Dublin 22016 + 22017 divided to form the 11:10 Dublin-Galway 22017 and 11:30 Dublin-Waterford 22016.

07:20 Portlaoise-Dublin 22001+22023 divided to form the 09:10 Dublin-Galway 22023 and 09:30 Dublin-Waterford 22001

06:10 Waterford-Dublin 22019+22002 divided to form the 11:25 Dublin-Limerick 22019 and 22002 spare at Heuston

That afternoon sets were re-combined at Heuston to form peak hour services:

13:10 Galway-Dublin 22023 and 13:15 Waterford-Dublin 22001 joined to form the 18:35 Dublin-Thurles.

Spare at Heuston 22002 and 14:15 Limerick-Dublin 22019 joined to form the 17:35 Dublin-Carlow.

15:00 Waterford-Dublin 22016 and 15:05 Galway-Dublin 22017 joined to form the 19:15 Dublin-Galway.

The 05:35 Limerick-Dublin formed of 22004+22024 remained in Heuston and formed the 16:25 Dublin-Waterford.

DART Set Sizes Due to the economic downturn and reduced peak time demand, 8-car formations of 8100-class (LHB) DARTs have ceased and all are now 6-car.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 169, published June 2009.