Irish Railway Record Society

2008 TIMETABLE

The annual timetable change took place on 9 December 2007 and the new timetable is valid until 13 December 2008. This year’s timetable builds on the increased frequency regular hourly interval clockface timetable introduced last year between Dublin-Cork by introducing a regular two-hourly interval service on the Dublin-Sligo line using new 22000-class railcars and by further frequency increase on other routes, particularly on Sundays. Dublin-Cork passenger numbers increased by over 20% in the first year of the hourly timetable and it is hoped the increased frequency on the Sligo line will be as successful.

Minor changes are not noted in the review below. Weekday trains operate Monday-Saturday, except those noted as Monday-Friday (MF).

DUBLIN - CORK

The weekday timetable is largely unchanged. On Sundays, a new down (Dublin-Cork) 11:00 means that there is a clockface hourly Dublin-Cork train between 10:00 and 19:00, along with the 21:00 and a connection to Cork out of the 08:10 Dublin-Tralee. In the up (Cork-Dublin) direction, early morning services are re-cast. The 08:30 and 10:30 Cork-Dublin are replaced with the 07:30, 09:30 and 11:30. The hourly service runs from 11:30 to 19:30.

Journey times are largely unchanged. The speed limit through Portarlington has been raised from 30-mph to 80-mph

MALLOW - CORK - COBH

The high frequency service of 30 trains per weekday between Mallow and Cork sees only minor alterations. The 06:45 Cork-Mallow, 18:45 Mallow-Cork and 22:30 Cork-Mallow are cancelled. Alterations on Sundays are largely centred on the revised Dublin-Cork services.

Weekday Cork-Cobh services have been improved with additional evening trains. Cork-Cobh trains are at 18:30, 19:30, 20:30, 21:30 and 22:30. Cobh-Cork trains are at 18:30, 19:00, 20:00, 21:00, 22:00 and 23:00. On Sundays, Cork-Cobh trains are at 08:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18:00, 20:00 and 22:00. Cobh-Cork trains are at 08:30, 11:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16:30, 17:30, 18:30, 20:30 and 22:30.

DUBLIN - LIMERICK - ENNIS

There are no major changes to weekday services, but an additional 08:55 Limerick -Limerick Junction - Dublin service is now available as the 07:15 Tralee-Dublin serves Limerick Junction. On Sundays, the revised Cork-Dublin service means that the connection out of the 08:55 Limerick - Limerick Junction, which connected into the 08:30 Cork-Dublin 11:20, now departs Limerick at 09:30, has a 29-minute wait at Limerick Junction and connects into the 09:30 Cork-Dublin 12:20.

Journey times are unaltered.

DUBLIN / CORK - TRALEE

There are no significant changes to weekday Dublin-Tralee services, with one through train per direction continuing to be provided. On Sundays, the re-cast Cork-Dublin service means the first train from Tralee to Dublin now departs at 08:10 (was 07:15) but with the first arrival in the capital at 12:20 instead of 11:20. The 07:55 Mallow-Tralee is cancelled, but there is a new 13:25 Mallow-Tralee 14:59, which takes a connection out of the new 11:00 Dublin-Cork at Mallow. Consequently Dublin-Kerry trains are at 08:10, 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 19:10.

A new Millstreet-Cork return weekday service is added. The 05:45 Cork-Millstreet 06:47 forms the 06:55 Millstreet-Cork 07:54. It connects into the 07:30 Cork-Dublin at Mallow. The 17:55 Cork-Mallow is extended to Millstreet (arr 19:06). This train takes a connection out of the 16:00 Dublin-Cork at Mallow but with a 28-minute connection. It returns from Millstreet at 19:25 to Cork (arr 20:33).

Journey times are largely unchanged.

DUBLIN - WATERFORD

There are no major changes to Dublin-Waterford services, but a new weekdays 17:35 Heuston-Carlow service is added between the 16:25 and 18:25 Heuston-Waterford. The new train serves Sallins, Newbridge and Athy but omits Kildare.

Journey times, already very uncompetitive with road, are lengthened or unchanged. The 18:25 Waterford-Dublin takes 3 hours 1 minute, an average speed of 37mph.

DUBLIN - GALWAY

There are no significant changes to weekday services. On Sundays, the pattern of Galway-Dublin services is changed. The 15:15 Dublin-Galway is deferred to 16:05. Dublin-Galway trains are now at 08:40, 12:10 (non-stop), 13:45, 16:05, 18:50 and 20:40. In the up (Galway-Dublin) direction, the 12:00 Galway-Dublin is replaced by a non-stop service at 11:30, while the non-stop 13:50 Galway-Dublin is replaced by a 13:20 serving all stops Galway-Portarlington except Woodlawn. Galway-Dublin trains are now at 08:25, 11:30 (non-stop), 13:20, 14:55, 16:15 and 18:15.

Journey times are largely unaltered.

DUBLIN - MAYO

There are no significant changes to weekday services. On Sundays, the 14:25 Westport-Dublin now departs at 13:30. Westport-Dublin services are now at 07:45, 13:30, 15:30 (Winter-Only) and 17:55.

DUBLIN - SLIGO

Up to two years ago there were only three trains each way per day between Dublin and Sligo formed by elderly rolling stock cascaded from other lines. However, from 21 January 2008 there will be no less than eight trains each way on weekdays formed by new 22000-class InterCity railcars. The second radical change is the move towards regular interval timetabling, which has proved so successful on Dublin-Cork services. Weekday departures from Sligo are 05:45 MF, 07:00, 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 19:00. Departures from Dublin are at 07:05 MF, 09:05, 11:05, 13:05, 15:05, 16:00, 17:05 and 19:05. There are additional Monday-Friday services to Longford with Connolly departures at 17:15, 18:05, 18:18 (to Mullingar on Saturdays) and from Longford at 06:15 and 20:50. With this enhanced service level Fridays-Only trains are no longer provided.

Regular interval times have not been maintained at intermediate stops. For example, while trains depart Sligo at two hourly intervals from 07:00 the corresponding departures from Mullingar to Dublin are at 08:53, 10:51, 12:50, 14:51, 16:50, 18:50 and 20:56.

On Sundays, the same originating station departure times as weekdays are maintained, but with a reduced frequency. Sligo-Dublin trains are at 09:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 19:00, while Dublin-Sligo trains are at 09:05, 13:05, 15:05, 16:00, 17:05 and 19:05. In addition there is a 16:10 Pearse-Longford- and 19:20 Longford-Connolly.

Contrary to media perceptions, the Sligo line normally has usually the best punctuality and reliability of all lines. The new high frequency service now means that crossings on the largely single line will be critical to maintaining good punctuality. The hardest task applies to the weekdays 17:00 Sligo-Dublin which has seven crossings with down trains - Boyle with the 15:05, Dromod with the 16:00, Edgeworthstown with the 17:05, Mullingar with the 17:15, Killucan with the 18:05, Enfield with the 18:18 and Maynooth with the 19:00 departures from Connolly. There is now limited scope on the line for additional services without substantial investment in the infrastructure.

There are no reductions in journey times, as allowance has to be made for trains to make a minimum of two crossings on each journey.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 165, published February 2008.