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Petrichor ᚄᚔᚅᚐᚁᚆᚃᚒᚔᚂ

The first of several excoriating letters about Ireland's rail service, telling to get the existing service working first before extending the lines

As Bus Éireann informed me, Transport for Ireland, and not Bus Éireann, updates the electronic bus signs (where they exist), and the two organisations don’t seem capable of communicating with each other, leaving passengers stranded without information. While I wholeheartedly welcome plans to extend the rail network, maybe we should first address the inefficiencies of the existing network. Until there are frequent, dependable services and a bit of joined-up thinking, I can’t envisage how Mr Ryan will ever get us out of our cars. – Yours, etc, ROSEMARY HORAN, Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
Rail services – visions and reality Island Strategic Rail Review Thu Jul 20 2023 - 00:14 Sir, – I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read your article about the Island Strategic Rail Review (News, July 17th). Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan calls for a significant modal shift from car to rail for Ireland to meet its emissions targets, but after years of travel on the Longford-Dublin commuter service, I can’t see that happening anytime soon. Here are some examples why. If I want to attend an event in Dublin that runs later than 8.50pm, I miss the last train home, and there’s no workable park-and-ride facility on my route that would allow me to use rail for even part of my journey. If I were a shift worker, there’s no train to Dublin at weekends that gets me to work on time or home after a late shift. Bus Éireann is not a reliable alternative. Buses to Dublin depart around the same time as the trains, so there’s no coverage at times when there’s no train and they are a much slower option. The bus service is also prone to poorly flagged, last-minute cancellations.
Petrichor ᚄᚔᚅᚐᚁᚆᚃᚒᚔᚂ

More letters to The Irish Times on the terrible service from and also and

Sir, – If Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and his Cabinet colleagues were to take a return trip from Dublin to Sligo by rail , they would not require a written report or study to tell them why this track urgently needs upgrading. We need to improve our existing rail services before any new rail way lines are started. This railway journey of 220 kilometres one way that takes three hours and 10 minutes is unacceptable in the 21st century and shows a total disregard for the people of the northwest. – Yours, etc, MICHAEL STOREY, Glencar, Sligo.
Sir, – Your article on the Island Strategic Rail Review (News, July 17th) concluded by stating that “Dublin Airport will have to rely on the construction of the Metrolink in the 2030s as there is no rail network nearby”. As countless others have observed before, the Dublin-Belfast main line is less than 10km away, across mainly open ground. How much more “nearby” do you need! – Yours, etc, RICHARD THOMAS, Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom.
A chara, – “A change in the weather is sufficient to recreate the world and ourselves”, according to Marcel Proust. With this advice in mind, I planned to head west by train from Connolly station in Dublin yesterday morning. The guard, spotting my bike, came running up to me on the early morning platform. “This train is fully booked for bicycles. We’ve had an incident only last week and I can’t let you board.” I looked forlornly at the almost entirely empty carriages stretching the length of the platform. “Two bicycles per train is the limit and both spots are taken.” Removing the wheels and placing the frame in a plastic bag, the potential disaster was averted. The guard, clearly a disciple of Proust himself, understood that the discovery of new landscapes sometimes requires new eyes. – Is mise, MACK LENNON, Howth, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Kenneth Harper comments that Dart+ hasn’t commenced (Letters, July 19th). On the contrary, Dart+ Coastal North is progressing rapidly – it has had multiple rounds of public consultation, where they have ignored the issues raised by residents in Howth, Sutton and Bayside. Irish Rail seem intent on disimproving the service to these areas by removing a direct line from the city centre to Howth, closing level crossings for 30 minutes out of every hour and leaving vulnerable rail users waiting at Howth Junction for a proposed shuttle service to get into town or back home. As a concerned Bayside resident, I’d be only delighted if this roll-out continued to drag on for decades before being abandoned. Alas, it seems the only rail infrastructure projects being pushed through in Ireland are those that degrade a current service and inconvenience thousands of users. – Yours, etc, Dr MARIA O’BRIEN, Bayside, Dublin 13.
Jul 20, 2023, 05:37 AM·Public·Web
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