Irish Rail needs to explain “serious issues” surrounding new rail timetables, a Fine Gael TD has said.
Deputy Alan Farrell, Chairman of the Oireachtas Transport Committee, said that changes made to the timetable have caused “major issues” for commuters with “delays and overcrowding.”
“The introduction of a new timetable for multiple services around the country in late August has resulted in weeks of delays and inconvenience to the travelling public,” he said.
“As a commuter myself, and from speaking to others who regularly take the train, it’s clear there’s a serious problem with the new timetable over the last few weeks.
“I have written to the Committee to request that a public hearing take place between members of the Oireachtas and Irish Rail.”
The Deputy went on to claim that the problems were worse in some areas than in others.
“In particular, intercity trains along the northern commuter line are no longer serving Pearse Street station for hundreds of commuters from Louth, Meath and North County Dublin,” he said.
“This adds significant time to a commuter’s journey to their place of work or study.
“Coupled with infrastructure failures, many trains are operating at peak times behind schedule, resulting in significant inconvenience for rail users up to and including the cancellation of some services.
“Irish Rail have recently reported punctuality rates falling below 80% on some services, which is a shocking indictment of the service level presently on offer.”
Farrell claimed that Irish Rail “must do better for commuters.”
“The timetable change appears to have been introduced to facilitate an hourly Enterprise Service to Belfast,” he said.
“However, in achieving this goal, Irish Rail cannot sacrifice commuters in the process.
“Over the past three weeks it is evident that Irish Rail cannot do both. We need to get answers from Irish Rail on how this has been allowed to happen.
“I look forward to hearing their response and discussing the matter further with the other members of the committee.”
Responding to queries by Gript, Irish Rail apologised to customers for the delays.
“While the changes on 26th August have seen service improvements on a number of routes, including additional Galway, Waterford and Cork Commuter services, and provision for a new hourly Belfast service, we apologise to customers for the punctuality performance since the implementation of the new timetable on Monday 26th August, with timing issues leading to congestion in the Connolly Station area,” a spokesperson said.
“Having analysed these issues, and liaised with the NTA, we implemented a number of time changes from Monday 16th September. This involved time changes mainly of between 3 and 7 minutes on a range of services on the Maynooth and Drogheda lines, with some minor changes on other routes to/from Connolly also.
“We look forward to delivering improved punctuality, and again apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused over recent weeks.”
The organisation added: “The changes have improved performance on routes into Connolly. However, performance has been impacted by a number of non-timetable related issues.”
They further continued that they “will of course be happy to assist the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport to respond to queries members may have.”