The new hourly train service between Dublin and Belfast began with hope rather than expectation for commuters who live on the line.
Politicians on both side of the Border have hailed the hourly service, up from a train every two hours, as a tangible step on the way to an all-island economy while helping to increase economic and social connections between the two largest cities in Ireland.
Funding of €25 million for the project has been provided by the Department of Transport, the Irish Government and the Shared Island Fund. There will be a new 5.50am service from Dublin to Belfast and a new 7am service from Belfast Grand Central to Dublin. There is already a 6am service from Belfast.
The number of trains per day passing in and out of Connolly station will increase from 16 to 30. There will also be more services at weekends.
The changes have encountered some significant teething problems, especially for the disruption it has caused for commuter services in the Dublin area with the network struggling to cope with the new frequency of trains.
A signalling issue during the Tuesday evening rush hour does not auger well for the new services. It led to the suspension of services between Connolly and Howth Junction from 6.18pm for more than an hour and knock on delays for the Dublin-Belfast trains. It provoked a lot of social media ire from commuters who are already fed up with changes that were made to timetables since August to facilitate the new timetables.
One posted on X at Irish Rail. “Calling you a train service is an insult to actual trains. You’ve got’signaling issues’ every other day, constant delays, and zero accountability you’re basically a masterclass in failure.”
Commuters, though, who spoke to The Irish Times before the breakdown of service were wary but hopeful of a better service.
“It’s fantastic there is more frequency of travel, but there are still issues with travel time. It gives me more flexibility when I start and finish work,” said Dr Eamonn O’Moore, who works for the Health Service Executive in Gardiner Street. “It’s advertised as an hour from Dundalk but it usually takes an hour and 20 minutes.”
Jennifer Callan-Crilly said the increased frequency of trains was better than what it had been, but it had a long way to go.
“It’s not every hour. We get stuck behind Darts. I had an appointment this morning and I was in the office late. I got the 11.13am train from Dundalk. It didn’t actually pull in until 11.25pm and we were behind a Dart. Trains are slower coming out of Belfast as well,” she said. “Yes, the more frequent trains are brilliant if they ran like they were supposed to run.”
Jim and Mary Gilliland, who are retired and travel regularly up and down to Dublin from their home in Belfast, are pleased with the new service and may decide to use it more often.
“Often the trains are so jam-packed. It was difficult to get a seat. It will be interesting to see how it goes. It took a long time to get it sorted in Belfast city centre. People got fed up with the traffic jams,” said Mary Gilliland.
Trish Mulholland said the 8.30am service on Tuesday morning from Portadown was very crowded “but it’s still better than the bus.”
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