Hello all!
I recently had my first trip on Northern Ireland Railways, which is something I only now realise I ought to have done much sooner! I'm conscious that threads about this don't crop up all that frequently so I thought there was scope for a new one in this section. For anyone who isn't familliar with the timetable, here is the current service from Belfast and to Belfast.
I was on the 1110 from Great Victoria Street on a weekday, and I was impressed with the huge number of passengers. Leaving Lanyon Place the train had almost all seats taken, and although there was turnover there were significant crowds waiting to board at Antrim, Ballymena and Ballymoney and even an impressive number at Mossley West. This meant that the three car set became full and standing as the net number of passengers had increased leading up to Coleraine, although not many were on their feet for too long and a lot of them were young children.
At Coleraine the vast majority of the passengers on the full train alighted, hardly anybody remained onboard. There were a smattering of passengers for statoins to Derry-Londonderry waiting to board but hardly any through passengers. The vast majority of those who left the train made for the footbridge and the Portrush shuttle along with me, and not the main exit. The Protrush train was also well loaded and left a couple of minutes late because it was very difficult for the huge crowd to get over the footbridge in time. Lift works here seem to be ongoing - some improvement looks like it's sorely needed.
Anyway, I hope for this thread to be an insight into the timetable on this route, how it came to be what it is and what is proposed in the near future.
Some principal points to get started with:
- Is it typical for the majority of passengers on the main route to be headed for Portrush, or was that because of holiday traffic or something? University and Dhu Varren stations were also very popular.
- Is the route between Coleraine and Derry-Londonderry usually busy? I am aware that the coach service between the Foyle and Belfast can be quicker than the through trains from Waterside and is often popular. Northern Ireland's road infrastruture seems, relative to England's, quite modern and uncongested for the most part - is that true?
- Taking into account the previous two points, has there been a switch from NIR to try to gain market share between Derry-Londonderry and Belfast against the intercity bus options? Is there a long-term strategy behind running more through trains there at the expense of Portrush? I note that there are two peak through services from Portrush but none back there! Sunday services still run through 2-hourly to Portrush. Wikipedia is well out of date on this point, by the way.
- In the longer term is there a push for a better timetable here? Can a half-hourly service be run between Coleraine and Belfast or is there a need for more passing loops? An ideal soultion might be an hourly service from Belfast to both Derry-Londonderry and Portrush, in opposite half-hours between Coleraine and Belfast.
- Is any of the new rolling stock recently ordered by NIR earmarked for this route? It seems traffic is growing significantly for a route threatened with closure not so long ago.
- Has there ever been any thought to a station at Templepatrick, and could the timetable be made to accomodate this? It seems odd it's pretty much the only settlement on the line not to be served.
All in all I am interested to hear all of your views or read any links you might have to offer. The information about NIR schedules on Wikipedia is ripe for some improvement too I think.
I recently had my first trip on Northern Ireland Railways, which is something I only now realise I ought to have done much sooner! I'm conscious that threads about this don't crop up all that frequently so I thought there was scope for a new one in this section. For anyone who isn't familliar with the timetable, here is the current service from Belfast and to Belfast.
I was on the 1110 from Great Victoria Street on a weekday, and I was impressed with the huge number of passengers. Leaving Lanyon Place the train had almost all seats taken, and although there was turnover there were significant crowds waiting to board at Antrim, Ballymena and Ballymoney and even an impressive number at Mossley West. This meant that the three car set became full and standing as the net number of passengers had increased leading up to Coleraine, although not many were on their feet for too long and a lot of them were young children.
At Coleraine the vast majority of the passengers on the full train alighted, hardly anybody remained onboard. There were a smattering of passengers for statoins to Derry-Londonderry waiting to board but hardly any through passengers. The vast majority of those who left the train made for the footbridge and the Portrush shuttle along with me, and not the main exit. The Protrush train was also well loaded and left a couple of minutes late because it was very difficult for the huge crowd to get over the footbridge in time. Lift works here seem to be ongoing - some improvement looks like it's sorely needed.
Anyway, I hope for this thread to be an insight into the timetable on this route, how it came to be what it is and what is proposed in the near future.
Some principal points to get started with:
- Is it typical for the majority of passengers on the main route to be headed for Portrush, or was that because of holiday traffic or something? University and Dhu Varren stations were also very popular.
- Is the route between Coleraine and Derry-Londonderry usually busy? I am aware that the coach service between the Foyle and Belfast can be quicker than the through trains from Waterside and is often popular. Northern Ireland's road infrastruture seems, relative to England's, quite modern and uncongested for the most part - is that true?
- Taking into account the previous two points, has there been a switch from NIR to try to gain market share between Derry-Londonderry and Belfast against the intercity bus options? Is there a long-term strategy behind running more through trains there at the expense of Portrush? I note that there are two peak through services from Portrush but none back there! Sunday services still run through 2-hourly to Portrush. Wikipedia is well out of date on this point, by the way.
- In the longer term is there a push for a better timetable here? Can a half-hourly service be run between Coleraine and Belfast or is there a need for more passing loops? An ideal soultion might be an hourly service from Belfast to both Derry-Londonderry and Portrush, in opposite half-hours between Coleraine and Belfast.
- Is any of the new rolling stock recently ordered by NIR earmarked for this route? It seems traffic is growing significantly for a route threatened with closure not so long ago.
- Has there ever been any thought to a station at Templepatrick, and could the timetable be made to accomodate this? It seems odd it's pretty much the only settlement on the line not to be served.
All in all I am interested to hear all of your views or read any links you might have to offer. The information about NIR schedules on Wikipedia is ripe for some improvement too I think.
