Hourly Enterprise Service Debut Affected by Signalling Fault

Iarnród Éireann/Irish Rail issued an apology after the inaugural day of the hourly Enterprise service, connecting Belfast and Dublin, encountered significant disruption due to a major signalling fault located in Dublin. Trains departing from both stations experienced delays of up to 132 minutes, which included several peak-time services. The new timetable introduces 15 trains operating in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays, and eight trains running each way on Sundays. Iarnród Éireann reported that the majority of services on Tuesday operated punctually and that “feedback was positive.” The following trains were delayed on Tuesday: Claire McDowell and her mother Sharon, who were scheduled to travel on the 18:50 service from Dublin to Belfast, faced a delay of approximately two hours. Ms. McDowell stated, “An announcement came through that the train has been temporarily suspended due to signalling problems between Drogheda and Dublin but we were kept updated with this every 10 minutes roughly.” Concerned about missing their final connecting train from Belfast to Cullybackey, Ms. McDowell approached a staff member once they had boarded an Enterprise service. She reported that the staff member arranged a taxi for her and her mother to travel from Grand Central Station in Belfast to Cullybackey. Funding amounting to €25 million for the hourly train schedule has been provided by the Irish government and the Shared Island Fund. The Enterprise service is jointly operated by Iarnród Éireann and Translink, Northern Ireland’s public transport operator. Speaking before the launch of the new timetable, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Simon Harris remarked that the introduction of the hourly service represented a “really, really important day for the all island economy, for the island of Ireland, from a public transport point of view.” Stormont Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd commented that the expanded service “offers opportunities to drive jobs and growth, stimulate development and regeneration and boost access to services and education.” He also added that this initiative would “help decarbonise transport and encourage behavioural shift to public transport.” Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.