New Irish Rail timetable

[Eire Sprinter]

The new timetable is scheduled to be introduced on Sunday 20th January, 2013.

The timetable is currently being finalised and is subject to the approval of the National Transport Authority.

Source: news item on Irish Rail site: http://www.irishrail.ie/cat_news.jsp?i=4750&p=116&n=237
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UPDATE (9th January): the new timetable is now searchable via the journey planner on the Irish Rail website.

PDFs are not available yet.

 

[PFX]

The NI Railways revised timetable also came into effect on 6th January

http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/NI-Railways/Routes--Timetables/All-Timetables/

 

[GM078]

Some welcome improvements on the Heuston based services but the Connolly based ones leave a lot to be desired...

Bizarrely the priority order in Connolly is opposite to that of Heuston: DART (short distance suburban) services precede long distance Commuter, which in turn preced Intercity and Enterprise services, whereas in Heuston the more logical approach of giving Intercity services first priority in pathing is in place.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

The NI Railways revised timetable also came into effect on 6th January

http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/NI-Railways/Routes--Timetables/All-Timetables/

Have there been any significant changes here? Having a quick glance through the Bangor / Newry / Larne lines it seems nothing of any note has changed at all. The continuing disruption around Coleraine and Londonderry could have changed though, I haven't checked any of that. I'm sure something about a later Belfast-Coleraine service has been mentioned?

 

[PFX]

Not sure what the changes are as I rarely use the train and I'm unfamiliar with the old timetable.

I know NIR are introducing 6 car sets on a number of services and platform lengthening is still on-going. The last I heard, the Derry line work is ahead of schedule.

 

[Eire Sprinter]

A new development is an hourly service from Coleraine to Belfast.

Last Belfast - Coleraine train now at 22.10 (previously 21.15)

Four A6-sized (approx.) booklets have been produced covering NIR services.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

That's the service I was referrring to

Out of interest what are the new booklets designated - is it still red for Larne, yellow for Newry-Bangor, blue for Londonderry and Portrush and gold for Enterprise? I seem to recall all bar the yellow one used to be credit-card (and not A4) size.

 

[Eire Sprinter]

Amn't familiar enough with NIR services to give a detailed timetable review (only would be there to use NIR occasionally) but if any member wants a comparison on a particular route - new timetable versus old timetable I'll try to identify the main changes.

Interesting point regarding the colour coding.

Derry-Londonderry & Portrush remains blue.
Larne remains red.
Yellow for Bangor - Belfast
Green for Portadown - Belfast. This booklet also includes in the same table the Enterprise timings for Dublin - Portadown plus the infrequently served (by NIR) stations of Poyntzpass and Scarva (between Newry and Portadown).

Unsure if there's a separate Enterprise booklet/card as a friend sent me these.
Yep, the timetables have roughly doubled in size.

PS: tried earlier to upload a snap of the new timetables and tried again just now - internet signal not great - will try again tomorrow!

 

[Eire Sprinter]

Attached is an image of the new NIR timetables - sorry it's in black and white but my colour image must be oversize.

 

[citybus]

The introduction of an hourly clock face timetable to Coleraine is potentially the biggest improvement to NIR in twenty years. The other difference is that it looks like the Bangor & Portadown trains have been been split off from each other, though presumably cross platform interchange means this isn't too much of an inconvenience. I've also noticed that the Adelaide depot/ works is open, and a new pedestrian bridge has been built to give access to the Boucher Road industrial estates. Before you just walked over the disused train tracks.

Platform extensions and the like seem like an improvement but to truly make trains relevant in Northern Ireland they should instead increase the frequency of them. And also accept that as building large car parks beside the stations isn't an option in most towns, then common sense dictates that there should be a decent bus service linking residential areas to each station