IRISH RAIL WILL be called before the Oireachtas Transport Committee after its new timetable has resulted in increased travel times and significant delays around Dublin and inter-county services.

A new rail timetable was launched on 26 August in preparation for the expansion of inter-county services in the coming months but resulted in a large number of services being delayed and carriages being overcrowded.

Earlier this month the service altered the new timetable slightly, to no avail. For the first time in decades, train punctuality dropped below to 80% in recent weeks.

After being appointed Chair of the Transport Committee earlier today, Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell has confirmed to The Journal that he will be “making it a priority” that representatives from Iarnróid Éireann address the politicians soon.

He previously wrote to the committee asking that Irish Rail be called after the Dublin Fingal TD, who is a commuter himself, heard similar complaints raised by rail users in recent weeks.

The root cause of these delays is due to congestion, according to Farrell, after many Dublin North Rail Line services, that previously terminated at Pearse Station, are now completing their journeys at Connolly Station in the city centre.

Farrell said: “There are a lot of trains now terminating in Connolly, which is resulting in a lot of passengers waiting around, which is resulting in a lot of trains being delayed due to the volume of passengers wanting to get on board [other services].

“That said, none of the trains along the Northern Commuter Line or the Maynooth Line are able to stay on schedule because of the congestion at Connolly.”

Irish Rail has previously apologised for the delays to customers’ travel times and acknowledged that the vast amount of issues with punctuality was as a result of congestion near and around Connolly Station in Dublin.

Compounding these delays, Iarnróid Éireann services were also impacted by a number of technical and fault issues in recent weeks.

Farrell told The Journal: “I accept that as a fact – and the board did inform me yesterday that there had been an improvement last week to punctuality – but the bottom line is that a lot of people that have been extremely inconvenienced by the changes to the timetable and the revisions.

“They’re still extremely frustrated on a daily basis that this issue has arisen in the first place, and the purpose of having [Irish Rail before the Committee] is to discuss how to improve their punctuality.”

Irish Rail management are aware of Farrell’s previous letter and will be making an effort to appear before the committee when called.

Any proposed changes or alterations to the existing timetable will be organised and completed by the National Transport Authority.

Fianna Fáil Senator Lorraine Clifford Lee previously highlighted how the new timetables have had significant impacts commuters along the Northern Commuter rail line in Dublin, serving Rush & Lusk, Balbriggan and Skerries.

Following a public consultation by the Senator, one email detailed “constant” delays, increased travel times and impacts on commuters that need to travel into the city centre during the weekends.

The email from the commuter, seen by The Journal, said: “Everyday since the new timetable there has been a delay on either end of my commute. This had made me late for work multiple times, even though I plan ahead with the timetable provided.”