Irish Rail reverts to old timetable today after major disruptions to commuters

Irish Rail will largely revert to its old timetable from today after recent changes caused weeks of travel chaos for commuters.

The new timetable was implemented on August 26 ahead of a new hourly Enterprise Belfast to Dublin service which is expected to be fully operational later this year.

DART, Maynooth commuter and Northern commuter saw departure times change as a result with customers complaining of delays and overcrowding following the changes.

Last month, Irish Rail amended the new timetable to alleviate the disruption but delays continued. The rail operator recently reported punctuality rates falling below 80 per cent on some services.

In a statement, Irish Rail said they "deeply regret" the disruption to their customers’ daily journeys and lives which have resulted from timetable changes since 26th August.

Speaking on the alterations made to the timetable, Irish Rail said that it recognised the “enormous disruption” caused by the previous overhaul of train times.

“While changes made on 16th September improved evening punctuality in particular, it is clear that the impact to morning commuting was continuing,” it said.

“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.”

Full details of changes will be available for customers at www.irishrail.ie and the Iarnród Éireann app.

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