An Irish Minister of State has called for the early morning Belfast to Dublin enterprise service to be scrapped claiming the service’s delays cause long delays for commuters in the Republic of Ireland.
In a letter addressed to the the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and the Irish Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, Joe O’Brien, who is a TD for Dublin Fingal, said the changes to the service’s timetable over the summer has resulted in an impact to the rail routes serving north Dublin and Louth, as reported by the Irish Times.
Earlier this year, the Belfast-Dublin service was impacted by changes following line closures in Northern Ireland ahead of the opening of Belfast Grand Central Station, a brand new £340 million transport hub.
Currently, those travelling from Belfast to Dublin on the Enterprise service have to board a bus to Newry, where the journey can continue via train.
However, last week the first Enterprise train testing took place at the new transport hub ahead of the re-opening of several train lines.
Translink said that the flagship service to Dublin will run hourly and will see 15 trains leave the travel hub for the Republic of Ireland every day – a total of 30 running in both directions.
However, they have yet to confirm when the train services will operate from Belfast Grand Central station.
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Mr O’Brien said: “What is especially problematic is a 30-minute gap at the peak morning period where there is no commuter service.
“This not only leads to a significantly decreased level of service but existing services have been concentrated over a shorter time, causing capacity issues on some trains and long delays.
“The changes have also reduced through-services, impacting commuters who travel south of the Liffey. With all trains now terminating in Connolly or Pearse, this adds to journey times and increases the risk of delays.”
He claims the new 6am service for the Enterprise has meant commuter trains operating from Drogheda to Dublin have had to move lines, causing delays.
“A delay or cancellation of the 6am Belfast service would go some way to alleviate some of these issues, while the [Belfast] Enterprise service is important, the knock-on effect on Dublin commuters is unacceptable,” he added.
“It is important to note that the previous first service out of Belfast was 6.50am. I am also led to believe that currently the relevant Enterprise service is starting in Newry (not Belfast) and it will be later in the year before it actually serves Belfast.
“In my 20 years using the commuter line I have never seen such a poorly implemented change and would request an immediate intervention to resolve the ongoing issues.
“To sum up, we are simply trying to squeeze too many services on to a single train track. We ultimately need additional track space.”
Translink has been contacted for a response.