Changes made to Iarnród Éireann timetables in August are set to be reversed from October 14, the operator has announced.
Iarnród Éireann had come under significant pressure to scrap the changes, which increased some intercity services but caused congestion and knock-on delays coming into Connolly Station.
A new timetable was brought in from August 26 following a public consultation and National Transport Authority (NTA) approval. Following complaints from commuters, some tweaks were made on September 16. This helped problems with evening services but issues on morning services continued.
From Monday, October 14, routes operating to and from Connolly Stations will revert back to the pre-August 26 timetable with some small changes.
This includes trains that previously terminated at Pearse Station, Grand Canal Dock and Bray returning to operating to and from those stations.
Belfast services at 6am and 7am will now arrive to Connolly at 8.23am and 9.20am. The Connolly to Belfast train proposed for 7.50am will start at 7.40am to prevent congestion in Malahide.
Departure times from Drogheda have also been revised, while evening commuter services starting from Pearse Station or Grand Canal Dock will now start from Bray or Dún Laoghaire.
Minor changes will be made to departure times for Dart, northern, Maynooth and Phoenix Park Tunnel commuter trains and one Dublin to Rosslare train to accommodate the other changes.
Increased services for Galway, Waterford and Belfast brought in as part of the new timetable will stay in place.
Some services that had previously terminated at Grand Canal Dock terminated at Connolly Station, while Sligo services stopped in Broombridge.
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The changes were introduced alongside the opening of Kishoge Station in south Dublin and the introduction of an hourly service on the Dublin-Belfast route.
Timetables for Dart and commuter train services were adjusted as a result.
Iarnród Éireann issued a statement apologising to commuters and said it “deeply regrets” the disruption to people’s lives and journeys.
“In accommodating increased services on the Dublin to Belfast route, and managing overall capacity in the city centre area, the changes had a disproportionate negative impact on commuting punctuality and overall journey times, for which we are sorry.
“We recognise the enormous disruption this has caused our customers’ work, education, childcare and other requirements, and how critical the punctuality and reliability of our services are to the daily lives of our commuting customers.
“While changes made on 16th September improved evening punctuality in particular, it is clear that the impact to morning commuting was continuing.
“The changes from 14th October will restore morning service patterns, rebalance the timetable to improve punctuality and end to end journey times for commuters, while accommodating improved frequency on a number of Intercity routes, including the Dublin to Belfast route.
“The changes follow engagement with the National Transport Authority and our colleagues in Translink.”
Speaking further to RTÉ Radio One’s Claire Byrne this morning, spokesperson Barry Kenny said they “got it wrong”.
“We got it wrong and we are genuinely very, very sorry to our customers.
“It’s been very disruptive in recent weeks for customers,” he continued.
“People build their work, their education and their childcare around their travel with us and we have let them down.
“We’re sorry for that.”
Full details of all the changes being made will be available to Iarnród Éireann customers from Monday, October 7.
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