More tweaks may be needed to Irish Rail timetables, the company's spokesperson has said. 

The new timetables introduced in August caused substantial delays for commuters especially for trains travelling through Dublin Connolly.

Irish Rail has since amended the schedule.

The changes were introduced at the end of August to allow for the extra Galway and Waterford intercity services as well as the upcoming hourly service to Belfast which is due to launch in October.

Irish Rail Spokesperson Barry Kenny told The Hard Shoulder they were too ambitious initially.

"On the Connolly side of the house the hourly Belfast service was the major change," he said.

"Any timetable change [sees] a kind of a butterfly effect there in that if you're making what can seem [like] very modest changes you do have to move things around to accommodate it.

"The first timetable, on the 26th of August, I think ultimately proved to be too ambitious - we weren't achieving those times."

Passengers and an Irish Rail train at Connolly station in Dublin. Image: Jon Sparks / Alamy

Mr Kenny said Irish Rail is facing many challenges.

"The revisions that we made this day last week were to give more achievable times and it has improved on all those routes feeding into Connolly, but it's still not good enough," he said.

"We have had a number of non-timetable related issues - a signal issue, a points issue, we've had a vulnerable person on the line, we had a medical emergency - and of course, if you're a customer who experienced the issues in the previous weeks that will feel like it's a continuation of that.

"It's not where we needed to be. We are continuing to monitor it. If we need to make more tweaks, we will.

"But we are maximising the capacity that we have in and around Connolly Station in particular with all those routes feeding it".

'Limited recovery time'

Mr Kenny said as the hourly service to Belfast begins there will be shorter turnaround times to fix issues.

"We do want to see just how these changes do bed in and particularly with the hourly service [to Belfast] there's limited recovery and that is a challenge," he said.

"So if an issue does happen, recovering that within the peak can be challenging.

"That was the case beforehand and it is ever more so the case now as well but we know our customers want to see better.

"We do apologise for the delays they've experienced and we are working to continue that improvement and say [that] has improved somewhat over the last week."

'Pinch point'

Rail Users Ireland spokesman Mark Gleeson told the show there have been major knock-on effects for Irish Rail services.

"Coming into Grand Canal Dock every morning we park up outside for several minutes because it's a delayed train to Newbridge," he said.

"He's delayed because he was delayed arriving and the train ahead of him was delayed arriving.

"Grand Canal Dock has become a pinch point we didn't have before. In general the trains are busier due to the timetable change."

Mr Gleason said as there have been several changes it's hard to know what's working.

"The week schools went back [there was a change] and then there was another timetable revision the week third level went back as well," he said.

"So there's no frame of reference for how things would have been had we not [made the changes].

"Doing a timetable change in June is normally the done thing... but doing it at that time of year caught an awful lot of people off [guard].

"People are trying to build a routine to get to work and college after the holidays [but] they're confused."

Mr Gleason said the feedback he has received is that people want to see the old Irish Rail timetable reinstated.

"It wasn't perfect but a lot of people want to go back because it worked for them - a lot of people build their lifestyle around the timetable," he said.

He admitted, however, such a move is "not a really solution".

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