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IARNRÓD ÉIREANN HAS announced alterations to its timetable once again following uproar at its previous change from 26 August.
A new service was launched on 26 August but this resulted in a large number of services being delayed and carriages being overcrowded.
But three weeks later, Irish Rail amended this timetable on the back of complaints.
Irish Rail chief executive Jim Meade appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee to discuss the impact of the timetable changes earlier this week.
He told the Committee that Irish Rail “overstretched the capacity of the system” with changes that came into place in August.
“We did try and get the half gallon into the pint glass on this stage,” he said.
Today, Irish Rail said that it “recognises the enormous disruption to our customers’ daily lives which have resulted from timetable changes since 26th August.
“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.”
From Monday, the morning Connolly route services will revert to the pre-26 August service patterns. Irish Rail said that this will “rebalance the timetable” while accommodating improved frequency on a number of Intercity routes, including the Dublin to Belfast route.
From Monday, the most significant changes to the timetable will be as follows:
“As well as improving punctuality for Commuter services, this will enable a key gap in the Northern Commuter morning service to be reduced,” Iarnród Éireann said, highlighting additional departure times from Drogheda.
Full details of changes will be available for customers at www.irishrail.ie and the Iarnród Éireann app.
The changes follow engagement with the National Transport Authority and Irish Rail colleagues in Translink, the company said.
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I don’t see the issue here. Giving back to society after being jailed for taking something from it. Better than sitting in a cell playing the PlayStation.
@Luke Littler: I should’ve clarified, that part of my comment was inferring to the scr0tes in Irish prisons.
@Padhraic McLaughlin: Take it easy Padraic – you will have the Irish Council for civil liberties for prisoners and law breakers and that outfit penal reform on ranting for the evening.
Prisoners being useful to the community that the committed crimes against. A good idea.
They are trained and when released have new skills to help them stay on the straight and narrow.
Yu cannot pay them the same but they could be insured in case of serious accidents or worse.
A lot better than making coffee tables and cake stands like our lot do!
Cheap prison labour is economically important in the USA and it is not about Rehabilation or Giving Back to the Community. That is PR. It is a big part of why the USA has such a high imcarceration rate.
@Des Hanrahan: the so called ‘Land of the Free’
@Dave G Doe: Prison is about rehab, not revenge..
Now this might seem harsh, but I honestly don’t think that they should be getting paid at all. We don’t pay people for community service, why should taxpayers foot the bill for people who have committed even more heinous crimes which required incarceration? The fact that some inmates are getting $30 per day despite possibly being serial abusers or violent murders/robbers just doesn’t sit right with me. Incarceration is not meant to be a reward but a consequence of their actions. Taxpayers are already funding their housing, food, healthcare, and security, why add a paycheque on top of that for work that’s part of their restitution? Work in prison should be seen as part of paying their debt, not as an opportunity to draw a salary funded by the very people they’ve wronged.
A morally bankrupt country
@Fergus O’Donnell: should help with the DEI inclusion targets also !
Activity is part of helping people In institutions cope with waiting to get back on track. Laundries were a standard activity for girls gardening for boys but firefighting is another level.
The 13th amendment to the US Constitution is widely taught to have ‘ended’ slavery, but it merely converted it into “convict leasing”, and US prisons need a steady supply of prison labour so the US has one of the highest proportions of its population incarcerated, and all of the work they do is for profit, not for rehabilitation: https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-alabama-3b2c7e414c681ba545dc1d0ad30bfaf5 Of course, work placement can be an essential part of prisoner rehabilitation, but that’s not what’s happening in the US.
@Stephen Wallis: All work is for profit. Anyone who works for nothing will never be out of work.
Bodie will get the gal, it’s all gonna be just fine! Don’t look up!
some things never changed.
This is what you get when you prioritise paying for wars in foreign lands
have your say