The proposed new Belfast-Dublin Enterprise train timetable has been published. From a weekday perspective:
- A 06:15 service will now get Belfast passengers into Dublin for 08:41 (replacing the 06:50-0904 service).
- Timetable consistency with all other services leaving Belfast every two hours at five past the hour, and leaving Dublin at ten past the hour.
- The last train from Belfast to Dublin in the evening will no longer be at 21:15, but instead will be a much earlier 20:05.
New Enterprise Trains have been introduced into service over the past few weeks.
The timetable changes are partly due to changes in DART services which are becoming more frequent (every 10 minutes, rather than every 15). The Enterprise shares track with these local services, making the journey into Dublin congested and contested.
A few minutes have been padded onto the end of the Enterprise train services to make most journeys two hours fifteen minutes long. It’s still faster than taking the bus, but only just.
In fact the 10:05 train from Belfast reaches Dublin Connolly at 12:20, while the 10:00 bus gets on stand in the Dublin City bus station at 12:10, five minutes faster. Though the train has food, a bar and power sockets at very seat.
Update – a few people have been asking whether Enterprise services have got slower over the years. The Web Archive has been storing copies of Translink’s website since late 1998. I’ve updated the table above with the earliest timetable I could find. In short, services are taking 10 minutes longer than they used to.
Translink are consulting on the new timetable and would love to hear your feedback.
Alan Meban. Tweets as @alaninbelfast. Blogs about cinema and theatre over at Alan in Belfast. A freelancer who writes about, reports from, live-tweets and live-streams civic, academic and political events and conferences. He delivers social media training/coaching; produces podcasts and radio programmes; is a FactCheckNI director; a member of Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for Northern Ireland; and a member of the Corrymeela Community.
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