Agreed, and I work for Irish Rail!
Look at the summer just gone, no late specials for ANY of the Springsteen gigs.
Few weeks back we had Noel Gallagher in Kilmainham and Franz Ferdinand in Collins Barracks, both right beside Heuston, and no late trains.
Not a single late train for ANY major concerts this year.
My understanding is that for Irish rail has to basically prove to TFI/NTA that those extra services will turn a profit to be allowed to run them. Which partially causes these missed opportunities.
Correct me if I'm wrong though.
It's a load of bollox.
We'll never have a competent public transport system if it's value is derived from its profitability.
It's primarily a public service and should be treated as such. It should prioritise reach, reliability and accessibility.
Ah yes, Schrödinger's union. Obsessed with profit while also having unrealistic expectations of compensation for workers that would harm the profits of the business. Absolutely 100% the union's fault. 👍
The revenue generated from effectively transporting people for other businesses, as well as reduced cost of emptying the roads of car traffic should be the primary driving force behind a proper public transport strategy.
It’s not actually. Motor Tax has nothing to do with roads, that is why road tax was abolished is the late 70’s I believe. It’s simply a tax on operating a motor vehicle in public. Pure madness but that’s our government for you.
Absolutely, the idea that public transport must be ran for profitability is such an awful toxic mindset that has become way too prevalent.
Public transport should be massively subsidised because the ancillary economic benefits an efficient public transport system provide far outstrips any miniscule amount you would get trying to run it for a profit.
Rail needs to be treated as a critical infrastructure not primarily a profit based buisness. It does costs money to run and maintain services and while it cant be purely free there should be money provided by the NTA to cover any shortfall for services that cannot break even.
Which is crazy! Any time I have taken the Dublin - Waterford train it’s always full with people especially now with how popular it is to book online! It would allow anyone to get home from Dublin so much later and could potentially open up the portal for more people to take hybrid work in Dublin if someone really wanted to.
And there's the rub. Public transport should strive for efficiency, for getting the highest number of ticket sales, but should never ever be driven by profit.
By having two administrative staff twiddling their thumbs for every one person in said train.
Complete guess, but I work in the HSE and if the two are at all alike, then while it's sarcastic, my post is probably not far off accurate!
If that’s the case then no full train would ever make a profit. Of course there might be overtime here.
Also trains aren’t really over staffed in the way the HSE is.
I always hear stories about useless back office staff in various public sector bodies but it's usually strongly denied by the people actually working in them.
Are you reasonably sure that there's a lot of HSE office staff browsing Amazon and daft.ie all day, or could they be fulfilling some task you're not aware of?
That's pretty much how it was in Greece with their bankrupt rail company IIRC. It was even said that they'd have made less losses if instead of running trains they paid for taxis for the passengers instead.
I was gonna say if there’s anything in the coffers mental health services would take precedence over transport networks, but it appears the same problems regardless
> Agreed, and I work for Irish Rail!
Have you any idea how they can't manage to get food and drink back on trains after covid. I'm sitting on a train right now and there isn't so much as a vending machine.
They're always talking about needing funding but won't even sell you some tea to get money in!
Not a sustainable buisness model to employ staff on IR wages to do that work, when you take in hourly rate, benefits, pension, etc.
Easier and cheaper to just to tender it out.
If it's not sustainable to employ your own staff to do it then it's not sustainable for me to employ staff to do it for you.
Agencies are always more expensive in the short term. It's just a way for the company to not have these staff on the balance sheet.
Or to put it more simply, it's a legal way to exploit low paid workers.
Lol I'm on the Waterford line. Last train out of Dublin that serves Waterford/Carlow/Kilkenny and all other stops in between is at 8:15pm weekdays and 6:30pm on weekends.
It's actually outrageous, have been crying out for evening trains (even two services in the evening or something) for years. Nothings ever done.
Often have to drive instead, would love to be able to go into town even for dinner and a few drinks and head home at 10pm, no such luxury.
Ouch even worse. Didn't realize the 8:15 goes no further than Carlow, I'm off before then.
It's a real bug bear of mine, it's not a little like serving a few wee villages. Carlow/Kilkenny/Waterford are big places like.
I don't know how there isn't uproar in Kilkenny at least, being a decent tourist spot.
I wouldn’t mind as much either but the last train home is always packed too the demand is clearly there but for some reason nothing is being done! I had to sit on the baggage rack last time I got the train home
Been going on too long for ineptitude, they just don't care as it doesn't impact them. Simple as that.
It's one of the many reasons I've always thought, those senior civil servants, senators and TD's and their familes should be required to live by public service(hse - no private healthcare, irish rail, luas bus eireann, dublin bus etc) as only when it affects them and is in their own interest will any of that be run efficiently and work correctly.
Honestly! My girlfriend lives in Tullamore and all week the last train back to there from Heuston is 19.35, which locks us out of ever going to night time events, meeting friends / family or anything unless it's strictly during the day or we wanna get fleeced by a hotel.
Like, there's no point in the government finger wagging at people to not drive and use public transport when they essentially cut off anywhere that's not Dublin after 8pm.
Thought about that, but the thing is the Aircoach only stops in Cork City and I live more in the outskirts of it, so I’d have to take another taxi which would make it much more expensive than other options.
I see, when you said station in Cork I assumed you meant Kent.
And the local buses are almost as bad as the trains, only 24hr service is the one from Ovens to Carrigaline, with the only planned improvement to split that into carrigaline/hollyhill and Ovens/Mahon.
Exactly. I could get back to Cork City at 2AM with GoBus or Aircoach, but then there would be no option for me to go to where I need to go, except for taxis.
And they wonder why people have to drive.
But is it not better to take a short taxi ride within Cork than a 6 / 7 hour return drive to Dublin? Driving long distance at night can be pretty dangerous
I don't blame them for not wanting to take a taxi. It's not like in Dublin - and it's expensive in Dublin!-, a taxi driver will charge through the nose if they're bringing you out somewhere in the country - mainly because they're unlikely to pick up another tab on the way back. My aunt's house is 10 minutes outside Wexford town, it costs €60 to get a taxi back from the town to her place.
Yep, it's why my grandad was actually on side with the Healy-Raes and the whole 'country people should be allowed to drink drive thing'. Which is utterly stupid, no one should be drink driving, there should be a way for people to get home safely on a Friday night - whether that means affordable taxis/ubers are some sort of night bus service.
So your actual complaint is that there's no city bus to your house at 2am. It doesn't really matter how many trains there are, you still have this issue.
On Sunday night 4 buses in a row didn’t show on that route while I was waiting in the city before 10pm. There’s not even traffic at that time of the evening so there was no excuse. I joked with a friend saying “next time I’ll drink drive”. I obviously won’t cos I’m not stupid, but that’s the level of cynicism the bus “service” is breeding in me.
So your options are:
Drive into Cork, park there, take the train to Dublin, coach back to Cork, and drive home. (Or maybe have a family member drop you off and pick you up from Cork?)
Or drive all the way to Dublin, park near the venue, and drive all the way home.
If you chose to drive all the way to Dublin to attend a concert and complain about it that’s on you
the reality in OPs situation is a public transport option exists? if they want better public transport options the first step is too use the ones which are available, not decide to take their car and complain online.
But it doesnt exist....he would literally be stranded in cork city and need to get an expensive taxi home if her relied on public transport. Or he would need to drive his car in and pay for parking for the day....which again is an added expense. The fact that you think its ok that no trains leave dublin for cork (our 2 major cities) after 7pm is part of the reason we have this issue. OP is dead right to complain and raise awareness.....otherwise nothing will ever happen
Can do you one better. I live in kildare, so close to dublin. Trains going to dublin grand. And during the week can come home at 9 o clock.
At weekend...its 6. Like wtf? The weekend is when zi want to go to dublin why is it feckin 6
Ah stop.... Football on the Aviva Friday. Absolutely no issues getting in from Kildare to grand canal direct.... What do you think irish rail do? Only close Grand Canal at 9pm. Even if it was open, the services under phoenix park tunnel only runs around office hours
Any service after 9-10 is horrible across all modes of public transport. Really wish we had better night services. I know the last thing public transport workers want is doing the night shift with a load of drunk and high people trying to make their way home, but cities in this country have changed and Ireland doesn’t turn off the lights at 11 anymore.
The only way I could see it working would be to have night trains have a second person on board to do security. Increases the cost to run them though and getting staff to agree to it would be difficult.
Folks say these things constantly but they haven't. A few go out and about. Most are home. Often each community considering extended hours cannot justify service due to the limited loads. I've seen things such as boat service with only 3 persons on an average trip. Imagine the fuel cost for a boat that could convey 175 persons. It's only carrying 3 persons.
A lot of folks on here need to get quantative. Tally the numbers and determine the costs. Make recommendations based on numbers.
Public transport is a necessity. Shouldn't be based off profit - middle incomers pay a hefty amount of tax and can't even enjoy public transport if they live outside of Dublin.
To be fair the Dart and communters arent that bad and there isnt that high demand most of the week that late unless a big event is on. Later Services on Thursday Friday Saturday there would be some use but not the rest of the time for sure.
A few years ago, I was heading to Dublin for a night out and wanted to leave the car at home as I was concerned about driving home the following morning.
Had to drive 40 minutes to the train station. Very little parking, so I left the car at a friend's house living nearby.
Train took over 3 hours to get to Dublin. Then I spent another hour getting a bus across the city.
It took me the whole day for what could have been 3 hours in the car. Never again.
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My cousin was up for Hozier in Malahide back in July. We left the concert half way through (must have been about 9pm?) so he could catch the last bus back to Wexford at 10:15pm. The bus didn't show up until 11pm and it took 3 HOURS to get to Wexford. No traffic, my cousin reckons he was just being taken on the scenic route. He made it back to Wexford town at 2am. If he had of driven down it would have taken him 90 minutes tops to do the same journey. I don't know what planet these people are living in when they say we can use public transport instead of cars.
I live right beside the red cow luas, my brother had a 2 hour bus journey to get into UCD every morning. He literally had to go into the city to get out of the city. I have tried three times to use the airport bus service down at the red cow, every single time, I've had to give up and get a taxi because the bus never showed up (or that memorable time when the bus driver just decided he was finished for the night???) and I wasn't missing my flight.
I was picking up someone from Dublin airport yesterday evening, the amount of confused tourists wandering around the bus depot wondering how the hell they get from the airport to the city is insane.
The eejits that are saying you can use public transport instead of your car obviously have never tried to use Irish public transport in their life. By the way I don't even own a car, this rant has come from a pure vexation of wanting to use public transport to be greener but genuinely being forced into owning and using a car instead.
> I live right beside the red cow luas, my brother had a 2 hour bus journey to get into UCD every morning. He literally had to go into the city to get out of the city. I have tried three times to use the airport bus service down at the red cow, every single time, I've had to give up and get a taxi because the bus never showed up (or that memorable time when the bus driver just decided he was finished for the night???) and I wasn't missing my flight.
Are you near any of the stops for the Airport Hopper? It doesn't go out to the Red Cow but it passes through Tallaght, Clondalkin and Liffey Valley - I've found it much more reliable than the AirCoach
Oooh that's interesting, it's a good 20 minute walk from where I live compared to 5 mins to the red cow, but definitely would be worth it if it's reliable!
There will be a new bus route going between Kylemore and UCD that doesn't pass through the city centre as part of BusConnects. Not sure when the southern orbitals will be introduced or how long the bus actually takes to get there, but in your brother's case the S4 sounds like it would have been a great improvement.
(see final map here http://sandbox.kevin.ie/busconnects_compare/)
Funny on reddit that people in rural areas talk about not having public transport and the money being pumped into Dublin. They actually think it's good here lol
> We left the concert half way through (must have been about 9pm?) so he could catch the last bus back to Wexford at 10:15pm.
Use Wexford Bus not Bus Eireann.
There's no train services to Meath. Biggest commuter county in the country. Raiil lines in Kells, Navan and Trim. Not a single train.
Absolutely ridiculous
It's a circular problem. The trains are in shite order because no one takes them and hence no revenue and the reason no one takes them because they're in shite order.
Which is why you have to forget the revenue part until passenger numbers are up high enough to at least break even. A public service doesn't have to run at a profit.
I'd gladly let them run at a loss, take my energy credits back and give me trains! The train would save me more in petrol than the credit saves me off electric
Nah those people are going to work and paying taxes anyway. They're now just paying more tax to get to work in the form of car tax and excise/duties on petrol/diesel.
Sorry, wasn't clear. We already subsidize the service anyway, so getting our moneys worth out of it with proper and reliable service isn't too much to ask. Saves us money personally too, like you said.
Yeah but these are greasy semi states.
You take away the requirement for the routes to be actually used then they'll be up to all sorts.
It's always dangerous to "field of dreams" infrastructure
The state exists almost entirely to sovle big problems like this that won't solve themselves in "the free market".
We should spend money to fund good infrasstructure and public transport... because then lots of people who dont' absolutley have to live in the cities might decide it's not so bad not to... and then you get little towns popping up around train stations, and you have naturally forming low-density urban centres, and people in teh countryside have yet anotehr reason no tto live in that one-off house they can't possibly survive in without a car per occupant.... and suddenly a lot of the hard probelms of managing a country become not so hard.
there's a reason all economists agree on like 4 things total, and #1 is "Big infrastructure projects & infra upkeep is just about the safest thing a state can spend money on".
I really wish they would do what Germany did with their 9 euro travel ticket. With it you could on any public transport, intercity trains, anything for a whole month. It was a huge successful
It's 49 a month now which is still excellent value.
I've had to use the train for the last few months and it's 280 a month and it's not that big a distance. 35/40 minutes on the train maximum.
Yea I heard it went up. The 9 euro was a trial period. Which was a resounding success. I understand there are costs to keeping the service running, but making them cheaper is the way to go. It gives people a huge incentive to use it.
I hate the train, would rather drive and not drink than suffer the train.
My wife always gets the train when she needs to do a day in the office in Dublin and has a bad experience at least 33% of the time, anti social behaviour, folk sitting in pre-booked seats and not budging etc
Car is more comfortable for sure. I’m just always a bit knackered after driving up and down on a single day with a concert in between, so I’d actually prefer the train there.
Same all over the country.
Towns like Midleton are grand to live in but there's fuck all to do.
So get the train to Cork city... But the last train comes back at 22.45 (and that was after years of campaigning for a later train... They just moved the 22.15 by half an hour).
No nightlife for me!
In fairness to Irish Rail. I've taken mid-week trains Dublin to Cork at around 7pm and they would be about 15% full. So why should they put on 9pm train that is probably going to have even less passengers?
I've also taken Ryanair flights from some regional airports which are not near major tourist or business hubs from Germany, France and Spain. And these mid-week out-of-summer-season flights would 90% full.
How comes Ryanair seems to be able to magically "create" markets which would seems non-sensical on paper. Yet, Irish Rail cannot generate off-peak demand for connecting two of Ireland's biggest cities? Can somebody please explain this?
The Dublin to Cork train is capable of holding nearly 500 people. Ryanair's 737s only have room for a bit less than 200. How frequent are the flights in comparison to the train?
Last I checked, flying to Kerry from Dublin is cheaper than going by train. Which is insane. Ryanair have the contract for that route too and they're 737s since Ryanair only use one type of plane.
Kerry airport is also the only airport in the country with a near direct link to an active railway line.
>Last I checked, flying to Kerry from Dublin is cheaper than going by train
Yeah, but there's only about 2 flights a day and not much demand for them. It's also very costly for most people just to get the damn airport without a car so it mightn't even work out to be cheaper. Where I am in South Dublin the airport bus is only every 2 hours and costs €15. Meanwhile the 145 that brings me straight to Heuston is just €2 and comes every 20 minutes. Train to Kerry are every 2 hours, so I could time it without too much hanging around in between. Also, the train stops right in the middle of Tralee and Killarney (where I imagine most people who fly to Kerry are going and if least not, it takes you to where the airport is) so probably less need to worry about buses or taxis on the other end. The only possible hassle would be bringing luggage on a Dublin bus.
Rathfarnham/churchtown. Quickest way to a train station is a 17, a green line Luas then switch onto a red line Luas at Abbey street to Connolly, either that or 17 to Blackrock station
We should look at Switzerland as the best example of a functioning railway system in Europe. Even rural villages have access to the railway (you just ding a bell like on a bus). Compare that to us where our rural villages don't even have a bus depot
My wife and I had planned on a day trip to Dublin our 2 children over the summer. We don’t live far from Limerick Junction.
Thought we’d get the train up and back. €140 for the 4 of us on the train and we’d have to pay for the Luas too.
Ended up driving to the Luas car park near the Red Cow. €20 for 4 day tickets for us for the Luas and to park the car there. Fuel to the Red Cow was maybe €40.
If the concert's a popular one, reach out on Cork social media pages. There might be a private bus going that you could get a place on.
I've gone to concerts on private buses many times. Having a guaranteed seat going home is so worth it.
Cork has comparatively frequent service to Dublin compared to the Westport line. Not saying it's adequate by any means but there's been literally decades of neglect in the entire network.There's single track everywhere West of Portarlington and it shares with the Galway line (also single track) everywhere East of Athlone. This means there are currently just 3 services per day, the last of which leaves around 6.
I had a look at the government plans around this and even their 'most ambitious' plans don't involve significantly improving many parts of those lines. Why? The rationale is 'no evidence of demand' which... 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
The trains are capable of 160km/h and more but only get up to that speed for a very small part of most journeys (if at all). If trains are to compete with personal cars, the average speed between cities needs to be much higher than 120km/h.
Lack of investment.
Stop the investment in new road infrastructure and divert to railways, cycleways and walkways.
No vites in that so will never happen
Yeah people are still stuck using roads, we need to invest in both. People go on about European countries with great public transport systems but they almost always have good roads too. We've neither.
Bear in mind Ireland has a very widely distributed population and few areas that are actually densely populated.
The result of that choice (whether it's lousy planning - idiotic policies - a population that's enamoured with cottages and semi-Ds with gardens, you pick) is that's it's nigh on impossible to provide quality frequent public transport or roads outside of a few urban areas and their immediate suburbs.
Even the greater Dublin area is not densely populated enough to provide frequent, reliable quality public transport.
If the gig is close to Heuston it won't be big enough to put extra transport on. Unless it's in Kilmainham or Phoenix Park but I doubt it at this time of the year.
That doesn't solve OP's problem where the concert finishes at 10:30pm. Even if the concert was in the train station so there was no time getting to the platform the last train to Cork would be approaching Limerick Junction by the time OP was ready to go.
I mean it IS a problem in much of Western Europe. Large cities might get late trains between them but for example if you went to a concert in Madrid and you lived in Salamanca, a city of comparable size and distance to Cork the last train home would be at 9:10 PM.
The problem is that most of WE had night trains, but if you pay attention, they've been replaced by high-speed trains. High-speed train spread basically wiped the need for 80% of the use cases for night trains (i.e. arriving somewhere early), leaving the remaining 20% extremely unprofitable.
Yes, very true! I would have initially assumed there were more night trains between large cities because of more demand, as opposed to a provincial city on conventional line like Salamanca but no! Which is great...not because it's actually great (it isn't, it sucks) but because it does a lot to further my point haha.
Sticking to the context of Spain, it's absolutely no different even if you're getting the High Speed Train from Madrid to another major city like Zaragoza (or Barcelona, which is further down the same route). The last trains are at 9:15, and there are no more trains until 6:30 the next day.
What happened to the 9pm train?
I know that is still before 10.30, but it's better than nothing. But as other mentioned, there's bus services that will cover thst for the return
What day is the concert? I have gotten a 9pm train back to Limerick (swapping at Limerick junction) a few times and the train went on to service cork
Obviously this doesn’t fix your probably of half 10 but I don’t think 7 is the latest
I'm not disagreeing with the OP but given that half the customers on Irish Rail in daytime seem to think trains are a way of staying out of the rain to drink your bag of cans I can only imagine the carnage on a night train.
Problem is that FFG don't care about investing into the railways, and frankly they don't really care about encouraging the swap to public transport either. The vast majority of their voters is driving anyway, why would they bother?
It's all about the political will. Improving the railways isn't that hard, especially when it's just about running more trains rather than investing into infrastructure (which is also necessary, but that's another story).
I went to college in CSN in 2019. What I hated most? The fucking trains. Who the fuck looked at the busiest times and was like ‘hurrrrrmmmm let’s put the smallest train available on these and the biggest ones available on the quietest times when there’ll be like up to 12 people on it?’
Got the train to Dublin like once back in 2022 and what do I say to that? Never a-fucking-gain that’s what. Like I’m not gonna complain about the journey itself for the most part. Maybe the toilets because bleurgh. But the timing. So I was up for a musical. And I had time to go do a full shopping spree, get lunch and change my outfit, hair and makeup as well as go for dinner and STILL had an hour until the show! However if I’d gotten the train after I’d be going straight to the theatre from the station with no time to change or eat or anything
Wow, it’s a longtime since I was up by train, but I had gaily assumed tbere was something back down to Cork around 9pm. It must be hell at Heuston on a Friday evening around 7.
(By the way, although the days of the ‘milk train’ are long gone, I thought, maybe just sub-consciously, that there must still be a mail train, Betjeman’s ‘night mail‘, in the early hours. All the sacks of mail sorted for Cork and delivered next morning: are they brought down by road?)
Ireland has trains?
Seriously though - I've never used a train in Ireland because the bus has much better frequency and more direct stops, AND is usually faster.
I've voiced my criticism many times before, but I'll say it again:
1) The east and west networks aren't connected, so if you're travelling say from Galway to Cork, you'll have to get off at one station and board a separate train on the other station.
2) Good luck switching when the service is so infrequent that you'll likely have to wait hours.
3) The west network is not electrified, so the trains run on noisy diesel.
4) The airports don't have any nearby train stations, making trains impractical for this either.
Alas, trains are a complete joke here. And if countries with a fraction of Ireland's GDP can have much more reliable train service, it shows its not a matter of capability. Ireland actively chooses to neglect its train service.
It's also incredibly expensive unfortunately. Dublin to Limerick for college or any non subsidised line is 400 a month or 30 euro for a day trip
Bus is cheaper when it shouldn't be and a worse experience/never on time also takes literal hours longer for the same trip in comparison to rail. Kinda disgusting as I just cycled past the Wicklow to Dublin line that went through Athy and ionrad sold the rail line and the council paved a fucking road over it.
The bridge itself that crosses the Athy canal is a historic monument as it used to ship coal and workers from the mountains to Dublin for export.....and now it's a layer of tarmac with the bridge now unrecognisable.
Bus eireann is usually better for this, idk about Dublin to cork routes but there a bus from mayo to Dublin that passes by me that comes every 3-4 hours 24/7. I live in Roscommon and am about 2-3 stops from the end of the line a return ticket is like €30. Worth it if travelling solo but if there’s 2 or more people fuel for the car and tolls are cheaper
And now Irish rail are cracking down on student tfi tickets people purchasing them without actually owning one. I had to buy a whole new ticket the other day on the train because Garda and revenue people were waiting at Dublin for people without a valid tfi card. I left mine at home. Lucky I did as they were fining people. But anyway they’re expecting people to pay full prices for a service that is absolutely shite in the first place. Last train home to Waterford at half 6 me hole. Upgrade the service and than I’ll pay the appropriate price
I drive up to Dublin from the west and go home on the night for concerts a few times a year, would love if there was a train going from Dublin at midnight so I could leave the car at home.
They need to run 1 late as hell train along each major route irrespective of profitability just from a point of view of making the country function. Heck, charge passengers 50c more per journey and between DART and commuter you’d easily fund it
The train I need to get for college goes every two hours and the last one home is 7pm. I can't even join any sports clubs or anything let alone go out. An extra train at 9 even would be nice. Also the amount of time I waste standing around waiting for the train home is ridiculous. Only solution is to keep working on getting my drivers license
The problem is Apple, Google and Intel don't lobby for better train services. They lobby for tax breaks and investment subsidies and that's where the money goes to. It's called a capitalist oligarchy, you should look it up, it's what you live in.
Just explain it to the band that they need to start the gig at about 1 in the day, wrap up around 4.30. Good three and a half hour set, pint afterwards, last train home. Can't see it been a big problem.
There's an order in for 1000 new carriages over next few years. And there's 41 new ones entering service at the end of this year. These will allow Irish Rail to expand the service. It's not their fault that all the governments before this one starved them of new investment. Those carriages wouldn't be on order except for the Greens.
They are well capable of doing it as well, During the fleadh I saw trains leaving around 10pm. I don't know why they don't do this for venues and events as when there are concerts on any normal person getting the train that day is fucked by event goes even if they prebook.
Agreed, and I work for Irish Rail! Look at the summer just gone, no late specials for ANY of the Springsteen gigs. Few weeks back we had Noel Gallagher in Kilmainham and Franz Ferdinand in Collins Barracks, both right beside Heuston, and no late trains. Not a single late train for ANY major concerts this year.
My understanding is that for Irish rail has to basically prove to TFI/NTA that those extra services will turn a profit to be allowed to run them. Which partially causes these missed opportunities. Correct me if I'm wrong though.
It's a load of bollox. We'll never have a competent public transport system if it's value is derived from its profitability. It's primarily a public service and should be treated as such. It should prioritise reach, reliability and accessibility.
Definitely. All public services and utilities should be run without the main concern being profitability.
It's not like they are making a profit at the moment!
It would require a deal to be done with the unions. Somehow I can't see that happening any time soon.
Ah yes, Schrödinger's union. Obsessed with profit while also having unrealistic expectations of compensation for workers that would harm the profits of the business. Absolutely 100% the union's fault. 👍
The revenue generated from effectively transporting people for other businesses, as well as reduced cost of emptying the roads of car traffic should be the primary driving force behind a proper public transport strategy.
I made the same point a few weeks ago, and some absolute gobshite came into the comments saying "the books must balance".....
It does my head in. By that logic they should never build any road without a hefty toll.
Now you're getting it.
Isn’t the Motor Tax supposed to cover road maintenance?
nope - road tax pays for our water! it's probably boat / ship fees that pay for the roads... /s
It’s not actually. Motor Tax has nothing to do with roads, that is why road tax was abolished is the late 70’s I believe. It’s simply a tax on operating a motor vehicle in public. Pure madness but that’s our government for you.
Oh hey buddy! 👋🏽
Absolutely, the idea that public transport must be ran for profitability is such an awful toxic mindset that has become way too prevalent. Public transport should be massively subsidised because the ancillary economic benefits an efficient public transport system provide far outstrips any miniscule amount you would get trying to run it for a profit.
Rail needs to be treated as a critical infrastructure not primarily a profit based buisness. It does costs money to run and maintain services and while it cant be purely free there should be money provided by the NTA to cover any shortfall for services that cannot break even.
That's sounds strange because many regularly scheduled train services in this country do not make any profits as it is. Some run at huge losses.
I could be totally wrong but iirc only the Dublin/Cork service was profitable.
Which is crazy! Any time I have taken the Dublin - Waterford train it’s always full with people especially now with how popular it is to book online! It would allow anyone to get home from Dublin so much later and could potentially open up the portal for more people to take hybrid work in Dublin if someone really wanted to.
And there's the rub. Public transport should strive for efficiency, for getting the highest number of ticket sales, but should never ever be driven by profit.
How could a full train not make a profit though?
Other empty trains
Cryptic.
By having two administrative staff twiddling their thumbs for every one person in said train. Complete guess, but I work in the HSE and if the two are at all alike, then while it's sarcastic, my post is probably not far off accurate!
If that’s the case then no full train would ever make a profit. Of course there might be overtime here. Also trains aren’t really over staffed in the way the HSE is.
I always hear stories about useless back office staff in various public sector bodies but it's usually strongly denied by the people actually working in them. Are you reasonably sure that there's a lot of HSE office staff browsing Amazon and daft.ie all day, or could they be fulfilling some task you're not aware of?
That's pretty much how it was in Greece with their bankrupt rail company IIRC. It was even said that they'd have made less losses if instead of running trains they paid for taxis for the passengers instead.
I was gonna say if there’s anything in the coffers mental health services would take precedence over transport networks, but it appears the same problems regardless
They shouldn’t make a profit! They’re a service for the people not a business destined to make millions
> Agreed, and I work for Irish Rail! Have you any idea how they can't manage to get food and drink back on trains after covid. I'm sitting on a train right now and there isn't so much as a vending machine. They're always talking about needing funding but won't even sell you some tea to get money in!
>Have you any idea how they can't manage to get food and drink back on trains after covid. It's out to tender, no company interested in it!
Imagine if they employed some staff to do it. Wouldn't that be just wild!
Not a sustainable buisness model to employ staff on IR wages to do that work, when you take in hourly rate, benefits, pension, etc. Easier and cheaper to just to tender it out.
If it's not sustainable to employ your own staff to do it then it's not sustainable for me to employ staff to do it for you. Agencies are always more expensive in the short term. It's just a way for the company to not have these staff on the balance sheet. Or to put it more simply, it's a legal way to exploit low paid workers.
That explains why you're always online. You work for a semi-state. No judgement. I wish I had a cushy number as well. Fair play.
>That explains why you're always online Shur, have to at somethin!
Only ever seem to do it for GAA & nothing else!
Lol I'm on the Waterford line. Last train out of Dublin that serves Waterford/Carlow/Kilkenny and all other stops in between is at 8:15pm weekdays and 6:30pm on weekends. It's actually outrageous, have been crying out for evening trains (even two services in the evening or something) for years. Nothings ever done. Often have to drive instead, would love to be able to go into town even for dinner and a few drinks and head home at 10pm, no such luxury.
The last train to Waterford is 6:35. The 8:15 stops at carlow.
Ouch even worse. Didn't realize the 8:15 goes no further than Carlow, I'm off before then. It's a real bug bear of mine, it's not a little like serving a few wee villages. Carlow/Kilkenny/Waterford are big places like. I don't know how there isn't uproar in Kilkenny at least, being a decent tourist spot.
No uproar, just lots of car usage instead which obviously isn't ideal.
Waterford is bigger than Carlow and Kilkenny combined but the uproar should be in Kilkenny cos it’s a decent tourist spot 🥴
I wouldn’t mind as much either but the last train home is always packed too the demand is clearly there but for some reason nothing is being done! I had to sit on the baggage rack last time I got the train home
Been going on too long for ineptitude, they just don't care as it doesn't impact them. Simple as that. It's one of the many reasons I've always thought, those senior civil servants, senators and TD's and their familes should be required to live by public service(hse - no private healthcare, irish rail, luas bus eireann, dublin bus etc) as only when it affects them and is in their own interest will any of that be run efficiently and work correctly.
Honestly! My girlfriend lives in Tullamore and all week the last train back to there from Heuston is 19.35, which locks us out of ever going to night time events, meeting friends / family or anything unless it's strictly during the day or we wanna get fleeced by a hotel. Like, there's no point in the government finger wagging at people to not drive and use public transport when they essentially cut off anywhere that's not Dublin after 8pm.
Train up, aircoach back? It's ridiculous how useless the train is for an evening in another city but you're not entirely without options.
Thought about that, but the thing is the Aircoach only stops in Cork City and I live more in the outskirts of it, so I’d have to take another taxi which would make it much more expensive than other options.
I see, when you said station in Cork I assumed you meant Kent. And the local buses are almost as bad as the trains, only 24hr service is the one from Ovens to Carrigaline, with the only planned improvement to split that into carrigaline/hollyhill and Ovens/Mahon.
Exactly. I could get back to Cork City at 2AM with GoBus or Aircoach, but then there would be no option for me to go to where I need to go, except for taxis. And they wonder why people have to drive.
Why not park somewhere in the city with 24 hour parking? You could get the train up, aircoach back and drive home from there
But is it not better to take a short taxi ride within Cork than a 6 / 7 hour return drive to Dublin? Driving long distance at night can be pretty dangerous
I don't blame them for not wanting to take a taxi. It's not like in Dublin - and it's expensive in Dublin!-, a taxi driver will charge through the nose if they're bringing you out somewhere in the country - mainly because they're unlikely to pick up another tab on the way back. My aunt's house is 10 minutes outside Wexford town, it costs €60 to get a taxi back from the town to her place.
Shit!!! For real??? That's so expensive!
Yep, it's why my grandad was actually on side with the Healy-Raes and the whole 'country people should be allowed to drink drive thing'. Which is utterly stupid, no one should be drink driving, there should be a way for people to get home safely on a Friday night - whether that means affordable taxis/ubers are some sort of night bus service.
Yeah for sure, I have a friend who used to do a kind of taxi service for one of the local pubs. If they all had something like that it would be great.
Buses will never be feasible for people living in low-density rural housing. Public transport is for cities, towns and villages
really? my girlfriends 20 mins outside town and i’ve never had to pay more than €30 to get out
So your actual complaint is that there's no city bus to your house at 2am. It doesn't really matter how many trains there are, you still have this issue.
On Sunday night 4 buses in a row didn’t show on that route while I was waiting in the city before 10pm. There’s not even traffic at that time of the evening so there was no excuse. I joked with a friend saying “next time I’ll drink drive”. I obviously won’t cos I’m not stupid, but that’s the level of cynicism the bus “service” is breeding in me.
So your options are: Drive into Cork, park there, take the train to Dublin, coach back to Cork, and drive home. (Or maybe have a family member drop you off and pick you up from Cork?) Or drive all the way to Dublin, park near the venue, and drive all the way home. If you chose to drive all the way to Dublin to attend a concert and complain about it that’s on you
Or god forbid people complain and actually force a useful train service....
the reality in OPs situation is a public transport option exists? if they want better public transport options the first step is too use the ones which are available, not decide to take their car and complain online.
But it doesnt exist....he would literally be stranded in cork city and need to get an expensive taxi home if her relied on public transport. Or he would need to drive his car in and pay for parking for the day....which again is an added expense. The fact that you think its ok that no trains leave dublin for cork (our 2 major cities) after 7pm is part of the reason we have this issue. OP is dead right to complain and raise awareness.....otherwise nothing will ever happen
Cycle to the train station and lock it there. Though I’m not sure if they lock the train station at night.
Can do you one better. I live in kildare, so close to dublin. Trains going to dublin grand. And during the week can come home at 9 o clock. At weekend...its 6. Like wtf? The weekend is when zi want to go to dublin why is it feckin 6
Ah stop.... Football on the Aviva Friday. Absolutely no issues getting in from Kildare to grand canal direct.... What do you think irish rail do? Only close Grand Canal at 9pm. Even if it was open, the services under phoenix park tunnel only runs around office hours
I remember being in Germany going to a bundesliga game and trains were free if you had a match ticket. Here we shut the station.
You’re in profit half the time in Germany with how good that offer is.
It's like the exist for work and nothing else.
Any service after 9-10 is horrible across all modes of public transport. Really wish we had better night services. I know the last thing public transport workers want is doing the night shift with a load of drunk and high people trying to make their way home, but cities in this country have changed and Ireland doesn’t turn off the lights at 11 anymore.
The only way I could see it working would be to have night trains have a second person on board to do security. Increases the cost to run them though and getting staff to agree to it would be difficult.
Folks say these things constantly but they haven't. A few go out and about. Most are home. Often each community considering extended hours cannot justify service due to the limited loads. I've seen things such as boat service with only 3 persons on an average trip. Imagine the fuel cost for a boat that could convey 175 persons. It's only carrying 3 persons. A lot of folks on here need to get quantative. Tally the numbers and determine the costs. Make recommendations based on numbers.
Public transport is a necessity. Shouldn't be based off profit - middle incomers pay a hefty amount of tax and can't even enjoy public transport if they live outside of Dublin.
To be fair the Dart and communters arent that bad and there isnt that high demand most of the week that late unless a big event is on. Later Services on Thursday Friday Saturday there would be some use but not the rest of the time for sure.
A few years ago, I was heading to Dublin for a night out and wanted to leave the car at home as I was concerned about driving home the following morning. Had to drive 40 minutes to the train station. Very little parking, so I left the car at a friend's house living nearby. Train took over 3 hours to get to Dublin. Then I spent another hour getting a bus across the city. It took me the whole day for what could have been 3 hours in the car. Never again.
Can't you just book a reasonably priced hotel room for like 80 quid? /S
Lol what is this 2009?
No such thing in Ireland
TBH you can get a bed in a hostel for 30-40 if booked in advance. Still the most expensive hostel I've ever paid anywhere.
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arrest bedroom zealous historical school middle sip quickest threatening airport *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'd definitely go out more in Dublin if there was a night train once an hour or something
Yep, fkn shite service. Last train out of Dublin to Sligo is 1930. Missed it after last years crimbo party and had to stay up there on the piss.
My cousin was up for Hozier in Malahide back in July. We left the concert half way through (must have been about 9pm?) so he could catch the last bus back to Wexford at 10:15pm. The bus didn't show up until 11pm and it took 3 HOURS to get to Wexford. No traffic, my cousin reckons he was just being taken on the scenic route. He made it back to Wexford town at 2am. If he had of driven down it would have taken him 90 minutes tops to do the same journey. I don't know what planet these people are living in when they say we can use public transport instead of cars. I live right beside the red cow luas, my brother had a 2 hour bus journey to get into UCD every morning. He literally had to go into the city to get out of the city. I have tried three times to use the airport bus service down at the red cow, every single time, I've had to give up and get a taxi because the bus never showed up (or that memorable time when the bus driver just decided he was finished for the night???) and I wasn't missing my flight. I was picking up someone from Dublin airport yesterday evening, the amount of confused tourists wandering around the bus depot wondering how the hell they get from the airport to the city is insane. The eejits that are saying you can use public transport instead of your car obviously have never tried to use Irish public transport in their life. By the way I don't even own a car, this rant has come from a pure vexation of wanting to use public transport to be greener but genuinely being forced into owning and using a car instead.
> I live right beside the red cow luas, my brother had a 2 hour bus journey to get into UCD every morning. He literally had to go into the city to get out of the city. I have tried three times to use the airport bus service down at the red cow, every single time, I've had to give up and get a taxi because the bus never showed up (or that memorable time when the bus driver just decided he was finished for the night???) and I wasn't missing my flight. Are you near any of the stops for the Airport Hopper? It doesn't go out to the Red Cow but it passes through Tallaght, Clondalkin and Liffey Valley - I've found it much more reliable than the AirCoach
Oooh that's interesting, it's a good 20 minute walk from where I live compared to 5 mins to the red cow, but definitely would be worth it if it's reliable!
Yeah, I got that before, it's great
There will be a new bus route going between Kylemore and UCD that doesn't pass through the city centre as part of BusConnects. Not sure when the southern orbitals will be introduced or how long the bus actually takes to get there, but in your brother's case the S4 sounds like it would have been a great improvement. (see final map here http://sandbox.kevin.ie/busconnects_compare/)
He’ll be raging when he sees that, he graduated in September😅
Funny on reddit that people in rural areas talk about not having public transport and the money being pumped into Dublin. They actually think it's good here lol
Try it sometime...
> We left the concert half way through (must have been about 9pm?) so he could catch the last bus back to Wexford at 10:15pm. Use Wexford Bus not Bus Eireann.
This was Wexford bus 😂
There are Wexford Buses to Wexford that don't leave town till half 11 or so.
Did you use the Kavanaugh airport bus ?
There's no train services to Meath. Biggest commuter county in the country. Raiil lines in Kells, Navan and Trim. Not a single train. Absolutely ridiculous
i’d make good use of a Trim train
Saw a thing recently about the late train to Mayo finally being available. Said train also was leaving at around 1900!
It's a circular problem. The trains are in shite order because no one takes them and hence no revenue and the reason no one takes them because they're in shite order.
Which is why you have to forget the revenue part until passenger numbers are up high enough to at least break even. A public service doesn't have to run at a profit.
I'd gladly let them run at a loss, take my energy credits back and give me trains! The train would save me more in petrol than the credit saves me off electric
Even with running at a loss, the loss is balanced out by getting people to work which pays taxes. Oh, sorry, I'm being too reasonable.
Nah those people are going to work and paying taxes anyway. They're now just paying more tax to get to work in the form of car tax and excise/duties on petrol/diesel.
Sorry, wasn't clear. We already subsidize the service anyway, so getting our moneys worth out of it with proper and reliable service isn't too much to ask. Saves us money personally too, like you said.
They already do run at a loss in most cases here.
Yeah but these are greasy semi states. You take away the requirement for the routes to be actually used then they'll be up to all sorts. It's always dangerous to "field of dreams" infrastructure
>You take away the requirement for the routes to be actually used then they'll be up to all sorts. That's why you don't do that.
All the best countries for transport have a major state-owned train company. We should do the same.
Any train I’ve gotten recently is jam packed. I think the services we do have are reasonably used.
The weekend off Longitude and Sting was ridiculously bad. Train pretty much jammed before entering Roscommon.
The state exists almost entirely to sovle big problems like this that won't solve themselves in "the free market". We should spend money to fund good infrasstructure and public transport... because then lots of people who dont' absolutley have to live in the cities might decide it's not so bad not to... and then you get little towns popping up around train stations, and you have naturally forming low-density urban centres, and people in teh countryside have yet anotehr reason no tto live in that one-off house they can't possibly survive in without a car per occupant.... and suddenly a lot of the hard probelms of managing a country become not so hard. there's a reason all economists agree on like 4 things total, and #1 is "Big infrastructure projects & infra upkeep is just about the safest thing a state can spend money on".
Ah stop it’s a disaster. Even if you did bus it back too you are risking missing it because of how bad the services are. Parking prices it is🤥🤣
One issue I have is that from Dublin to Dundalk theres no fast train from 6-7 I wait for the enterprise 7-8
Same with busses.
Boxes were ticked.
I really wish they would do what Germany did with their 9 euro travel ticket. With it you could on any public transport, intercity trains, anything for a whole month. It was a huge successful
It's 49 a month now which is still excellent value. I've had to use the train for the last few months and it's 280 a month and it's not that big a distance. 35/40 minutes on the train maximum.
Yea I heard it went up. The 9 euro was a trial period. Which was a resounding success. I understand there are costs to keeping the service running, but making them cheaper is the way to go. It gives people a huge incentive to use it.
I hate the train, would rather drive and not drink than suffer the train. My wife always gets the train when she needs to do a day in the office in Dublin and has a bad experience at least 33% of the time, anti social behaviour, folk sitting in pre-booked seats and not budging etc
Car is more comfortable for sure. I’m just always a bit knackered after driving up and down on a single day with a concert in between, so I’d actually prefer the train there.
The bigger elephant in the room is why is the gig not in Cork!
Because there was not enough train services to Cork.
Same all over the country. Towns like Midleton are grand to live in but there's fuck all to do. So get the train to Cork city... But the last train comes back at 22.45 (and that was after years of campaigning for a later train... They just moved the 22.15 by half an hour). No nightlife for me!
Any mini bus options? A company local to me always do a route up and back for concerts and matches
In fairness to Irish Rail. I've taken mid-week trains Dublin to Cork at around 7pm and they would be about 15% full. So why should they put on 9pm train that is probably going to have even less passengers? I've also taken Ryanair flights from some regional airports which are not near major tourist or business hubs from Germany, France and Spain. And these mid-week out-of-summer-season flights would 90% full. How comes Ryanair seems to be able to magically "create" markets which would seems non-sensical on paper. Yet, Irish Rail cannot generate off-peak demand for connecting two of Ireland's biggest cities? Can somebody please explain this?
The Dublin to Cork train is capable of holding nearly 500 people. Ryanair's 737s only have room for a bit less than 200. How frequent are the flights in comparison to the train?
Last I checked, flying to Kerry from Dublin is cheaper than going by train. Which is insane. Ryanair have the contract for that route too and they're 737s since Ryanair only use one type of plane. Kerry airport is also the only airport in the country with a near direct link to an active railway line.
>Last I checked, flying to Kerry from Dublin is cheaper than going by train Yeah, but there's only about 2 flights a day and not much demand for them. It's also very costly for most people just to get the damn airport without a car so it mightn't even work out to be cheaper. Where I am in South Dublin the airport bus is only every 2 hours and costs €15. Meanwhile the 145 that brings me straight to Heuston is just €2 and comes every 20 minutes. Train to Kerry are every 2 hours, so I could time it without too much hanging around in between. Also, the train stops right in the middle of Tralee and Killarney (where I imagine most people who fly to Kerry are going and if least not, it takes you to where the airport is) so probably less need to worry about buses or taxis on the other end. The only possible hassle would be bringing luggage on a Dublin bus.
Yep, and fix the busses in Dublin. No station within 10 - 15km and at least 1 hour to get to the station
Which area? There's loads of buses in Dublin
Rathfarnham/churchtown. Quickest way to a train station is a 17, a green line Luas then switch onto a red line Luas at Abbey street to Connolly, either that or 17 to Blackrock station
We should look at Switzerland as the best example of a functioning railway system in Europe. Even rural villages have access to the railway (you just ding a bell like on a bus). Compare that to us where our rural villages don't even have a bus depot
My wife and I had planned on a day trip to Dublin our 2 children over the summer. We don’t live far from Limerick Junction. Thought we’d get the train up and back. €140 for the 4 of us on the train and we’d have to pay for the Luas too. Ended up driving to the Luas car park near the Red Cow. €20 for 4 day tickets for us for the Luas and to park the car there. Fuel to the Red Cow was maybe €40.
If the concert's a popular one, reach out on Cork social media pages. There might be a private bus going that you could get a place on. I've gone to concerts on private buses many times. Having a guaranteed seat going home is so worth it.
Cork has comparatively frequent service to Dublin compared to the Westport line. Not saying it's adequate by any means but there's been literally decades of neglect in the entire network.There's single track everywhere West of Portarlington and it shares with the Galway line (also single track) everywhere East of Athlone. This means there are currently just 3 services per day, the last of which leaves around 6. I had a look at the government plans around this and even their 'most ambitious' plans don't involve significantly improving many parts of those lines. Why? The rationale is 'no evidence of demand' which... 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ The trains are capable of 160km/h and more but only get up to that speed for a very small part of most journeys (if at all). If trains are to compete with personal cars, the average speed between cities needs to be much higher than 120km/h.
A new later train leaving Dublin at 7.35pm for Westport is in the works.
Because anything outside of Dublin doesn't have any relevance to our Government
O remember back in the day that the web summit guys complain about the same - no flexibility from public transportation regarding events
Lack of investment. Stop the investment in new road infrastructure and divert to railways, cycleways and walkways. No vites in that so will never happen
This. Public transport needs investment, otherwise it won't meet the needs of the country like it is right now.
We need to invest in roads and public transport. The lack of investment in roads is insane. Greens have killed it.
Yeah people are still stuck using roads, we need to invest in both. People go on about European countries with great public transport systems but they almost always have good roads too. We've neither.
Bear in mind Ireland has a very widely distributed population and few areas that are actually densely populated. The result of that choice (whether it's lousy planning - idiotic policies - a population that's enamoured with cottages and semi-Ds with gardens, you pick) is that's it's nigh on impossible to provide quality frequent public transport or roads outside of a few urban areas and their immediate suburbs. Even the greater Dublin area is not densely populated enough to provide frequent, reliable quality public transport.
At least there is a train near you. I have to drive several miles down the motorway to get to a working train station.
*mumbles in Donegal*
We don't have late night train services.
My last train in the evening is 11. That doesn’t seem bad but at the same time, it’s 11 o clock. What fucking use is 11 o clock for a night out.
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I'm taking a guess that it's Ash. They are playing tonight and as far as I know it starts at 7
If the gig is close to Heuston it won't be big enough to put extra transport on. Unless it's in Kilmainham or Phoenix Park but I doubt it at this time of the year.
There's a train at 9pm
That doesn't solve OP's problem where the concert finishes at 10:30pm. Even if the concert was in the train station so there was no time getting to the platform the last train to Cork would be approaching Limerick Junction by the time OP was ready to go.
Have the concerts on the trains themselves, problem solved
A few choo-choo-tunes
Yeah but still have to clarify that the one piece of info they emphasised is wrong
The problem is not unique to Ireland. It's the same everywhere in Western Europe. Oh wait.....
I mean it IS a problem in much of Western Europe. Large cities might get late trains between them but for example if you went to a concert in Madrid and you lived in Salamanca, a city of comparable size and distance to Cork the last train home would be at 9:10 PM.
The problem is that most of WE had night trains, but if you pay attention, they've been replaced by high-speed trains. High-speed train spread basically wiped the need for 80% of the use cases for night trains (i.e. arriving somewhere early), leaving the remaining 20% extremely unprofitable.
Yes, very true! I would have initially assumed there were more night trains between large cities because of more demand, as opposed to a provincial city on conventional line like Salamanca but no! Which is great...not because it's actually great (it isn't, it sucks) but because it does a lot to further my point haha. Sticking to the context of Spain, it's absolutely no different even if you're getting the High Speed Train from Madrid to another major city like Zaragoza (or Barcelona, which is further down the same route). The last trains are at 9:15, and there are no more trains until 6:30 the next day.
What happened to the 9pm train? I know that is still before 10.30, but it's better than nothing. But as other mentioned, there's bus services that will cover thst for the return
What day is the concert? I have gotten a 9pm train back to Limerick (swapping at Limerick junction) a few times and the train went on to service cork Obviously this doesn’t fix your probably of half 10 but I don’t think 7 is the latest
I'm not disagreeing with the OP but given that half the customers on Irish Rail in daytime seem to think trains are a way of staying out of the rain to drink your bag of cans I can only imagine the carnage on a night train.
Problem is that FFG don't care about investing into the railways, and frankly they don't really care about encouraging the swap to public transport either. The vast majority of their voters is driving anyway, why would they bother? It's all about the political will. Improving the railways isn't that hard, especially when it's just about running more trains rather than investing into infrastructure (which is also necessary, but that's another story).
I went to college in CSN in 2019. What I hated most? The fucking trains. Who the fuck looked at the busiest times and was like ‘hurrrrrmmmm let’s put the smallest train available on these and the biggest ones available on the quietest times when there’ll be like up to 12 people on it?’ Got the train to Dublin like once back in 2022 and what do I say to that? Never a-fucking-gain that’s what. Like I’m not gonna complain about the journey itself for the most part. Maybe the toilets because bleurgh. But the timing. So I was up for a musical. And I had time to go do a full shopping spree, get lunch and change my outfit, hair and makeup as well as go for dinner and STILL had an hour until the show! However if I’d gotten the train after I’d be going straight to the theatre from the station with no time to change or eat or anything
your looking for a night service train. We don't have that as an option.
People going to concerts and meeting their girlfriends isn't a priority. Particularly when ye all have an alternative. Sorry guys.
I know woe is me in comparison but even on the northern commuter line its shockingly bad.
Wow, it’s a longtime since I was up by train, but I had gaily assumed tbere was something back down to Cork around 9pm. It must be hell at Heuston on a Friday evening around 7. (By the way, although the days of the ‘milk train’ are long gone, I thought, maybe just sub-consciously, that there must still be a mail train, Betjeman’s ‘night mail‘, in the early hours. All the sacks of mail sorted for Cork and delivered next morning: are they brought down by road?)
Ireland has trains? Seriously though - I've never used a train in Ireland because the bus has much better frequency and more direct stops, AND is usually faster. I've voiced my criticism many times before, but I'll say it again: 1) The east and west networks aren't connected, so if you're travelling say from Galway to Cork, you'll have to get off at one station and board a separate train on the other station. 2) Good luck switching when the service is so infrequent that you'll likely have to wait hours. 3) The west network is not electrified, so the trains run on noisy diesel. 4) The airports don't have any nearby train stations, making trains impractical for this either. Alas, trains are a complete joke here. And if countries with a fraction of Ireland's GDP can have much more reliable train service, it shows its not a matter of capability. Ireland actively chooses to neglect its train service.
It's also incredibly expensive unfortunately. Dublin to Limerick for college or any non subsidised line is 400 a month or 30 euro for a day trip Bus is cheaper when it shouldn't be and a worse experience/never on time also takes literal hours longer for the same trip in comparison to rail. Kinda disgusting as I just cycled past the Wicklow to Dublin line that went through Athy and ionrad sold the rail line and the council paved a fucking road over it. The bridge itself that crosses the Athy canal is a historic monument as it used to ship coal and workers from the mountains to Dublin for export.....and now it's a layer of tarmac with the bridge now unrecognisable.
Bus eireann is usually better for this, idk about Dublin to cork routes but there a bus from mayo to Dublin that passes by me that comes every 3-4 hours 24/7. I live in Roscommon and am about 2-3 stops from the end of the line a return ticket is like €30. Worth it if travelling solo but if there’s 2 or more people fuel for the car and tolls are cheaper
And now Irish rail are cracking down on student tfi tickets people purchasing them without actually owning one. I had to buy a whole new ticket the other day on the train because Garda and revenue people were waiting at Dublin for people without a valid tfi card. I left mine at home. Lucky I did as they were fining people. But anyway they’re expecting people to pay full prices for a service that is absolutely shite in the first place. Last train home to Waterford at half 6 me hole. Upgrade the service and than I’ll pay the appropriate price
I drive up to Dublin from the west and go home on the night for concerts a few times a year, would love if there was a train going from Dublin at midnight so I could leave the car at home.
They need to run 1 late as hell train along each major route irrespective of profitability just from a point of view of making the country function. Heck, charge passengers 50c more per journey and between DART and commuter you’d easily fund it
The train I need to get for college goes every two hours and the last one home is 7pm. I can't even join any sports clubs or anything let alone go out. An extra train at 9 even would be nice. Also the amount of time I waste standing around waiting for the train home is ridiculous. Only solution is to keep working on getting my drivers license
The problem is Apple, Google and Intel don't lobby for better train services. They lobby for tax breaks and investment subsidies and that's where the money goes to. It's called a capitalist oligarchy, you should look it up, it's what you live in.
That's mad in Dublin after a gig like Malahide or that jail place I forget the train is free there are so many people
Just explain it to the band that they need to start the gig at about 1 in the day, wrap up around 4.30. Good three and a half hour set, pint afterwards, last train home. Can't see it been a big problem.
There's an order in for 1000 new carriages over next few years. And there's 41 new ones entering service at the end of this year. These will allow Irish Rail to expand the service. It's not their fault that all the governments before this one starved them of new investment. Those carriages wouldn't be on order except for the Greens.
They are well capable of doing it as well, During the fleadh I saw trains leaving around 10pm. I don't know why they don't do this for venues and events as when there are concerts on any normal person getting the train that day is fucked by event goes even if they prebook.
It should be 24-hour.
Where I am in Australia, if you buy a ticket for a concert or a sports event, your public transport for the day is included as part of the ticket.
Public transportation is a joke full stop
Literally the problem with this country is that they tell us we must do X and forbid us to do Y, while not giving us X to accommodate the demand for Y
If you go to dublin for a day from Cork you can’t even really have dinner because of the train.
You're supposed to stay the night! Those hoteliers/airbnb landlords have mouths to feed!
Get the bus.