Hannigan makes appeal for M3 Parkway to Connolly rail service

An appeal to Irish Rail to increase the number of peak time trains between the M3 Parkway and Connolly stations has come from Meath TD Dominic Hannigan. The Meath East TD has written to Irish Rail asking the company to investigate the possibility of providing a better peak time service at the underused M3 Parkway facility outside Dunboyne. The station, part of a €160 million development, has a maximum car capacity of 1,200 parking spaces, which makes it the largest park and ride facility in the country. Regularly, there are less than 100 cars at the station. At that rate, the 100-odd cars translate to just eight per cent of the overall capacity for the facility. "Improving the peak time service would greatly benefit the station and, more importantly, commuters in the surrounding area," Deputy Hannigan said. A transport planner by profession, the Labour TD said reducing travelling times for commuters is one of Irish Rail's stated goals. "Irish Rail are planning changes for the better but more is needed. The company is introducing hourly off-peak services on weekdays between M3 Parkway and Connolly with hourly off-peak trains running between the M3 and Pearse Station at weekends. "The problem is peak time scheduling is not achieving what people want. Clearly, at peak times, they don't want to be delivered to Spencer Dock and then to have to travel back into the city," he said. The local TD is urging Meath's commuters who want a better peak time services between the M3 Parkway and Connolly to make their views known to Irish Rail. "Irish Rail recently published its draft schedules for the Connolly route and the company is asking for customer feedback. I am encouraging the public to contact Irish Rail and ask them to find more peak time morning and evening slots for the Dunboyne service to stop at Connolly Station," he said. A spokesman for Irish Rail said: "Regarding Deputy Hannigan's statement, we use Docklands Station at peak times, as Connolly Station is heavily congested. Docklands Station is well connected to a wide area of the city on foot, and via Luas and Dublin Bus links. "We would echo Deputy Hannigan's call to urge customers to look at our draft schedules currently on our website, www.irishrail.ie, and give us feedback. "Regarding expansion of services, as Deputy Hannigan will be aware, the recession has caused exchequer subvention to Iarnród Éireann be reduced by €43 million between 2008 and 2011 and passenger demand and revenue to fall. "All indications are that exchequer subvention is set to be cut further over the next two years. In that context, we cannot promise service expansion to any route, and will be doing our utmost to maintain existing levels of services at best," the spokesperson said.