As commuters gathered at Shankill Dart station on Monday morning, it appeared Irish Rail’s new autumn time table had caused little or no disruption.
Starting times of trains in the Dublin region have been changed up to allow for leaves on the tracks which cause wheels to slip and consequent delays to services.
Many commuters arriving at the station after 7am, however, said they were either vaguely aware, or entirely unaware of the change.
From Monday morning trains including Dart services will start up to three minutes earlier, to ensure arrival times in the city remain unaltered.
RM Block
Michelle McGee said she normally gets a Dart from Shankill at 7.30am or 7.40am, her commute taking her to North Wall Quay via Pearse Street. Having just missed a Dart as she arrived, she said she was already running late but “can’t blame the timetable for that”.
Pointing to the display times on the platform, she noted the next Dart was “just nine minutes” and would still make her destination on time.
Bara Galvin tends to arrive before 8am – or after 8.30am to avoid crowds of schoolchildren who fill up the seats. She had not been aware of the new autumn timetable but was not perturbed by the news that trains would start up to three minutes earlier. “There are trains every 10 minutes”, she said.
Ben Kelly, who drives to Shankill from Enniskerry, Co Wicklow said he knew there was a new autumn timetable, but was not aware of the details. He travels to Tara Street on the Dart and aims to be at his destination by 9am. He said he did not think the earlier starts would be a problem.
Gary Langan was also unaware of the new timetable. He said his commute is normally on the bus, sometimes taking the car and the Dart. He did not feel the autumn timetable would put his arrangements out.
Amelia Zgrzebnicka was in Shankill having taken a train “at 7am” from Arklow, Co Wicklow. She was unaware the new timetable was in place and was seemingly fortunate to be in Arklow early, as the new time for the train to leave the town is 6.58am.
John O’Connor said his commute involves a 10-minute walk and a Dart from Shankill to Grand Canal Dock. He normally gets the Dart at 8am or 8.10am and he did not feel the three minutes alteration to the timetable would be a problem.
Gerard Dempsey a retired man for Ballybrack said he was travelling to the city centre to the motor tax office in Smithfield. He “just turned up” at the Dart station in the expectation of a train. “I don’t know the next time I will be on a train – Oh, I do actually it will be later today coming home”, he laughed.
Irish Rail’s autumn timetable is in place until December 14th.
