PASSENGER DEMAND for Dart services is being met, Iarnród Éireann has insisted after Fine Gael criticised the new timetable, claiming it had resulted in a reduction in peak-time services.
Dún Laoghaire-based Fine Gael Senator Eugene Regan said the changes, introduced on Monday, meant a 33 per cent reduction in rush-hour services, based on figures from Rail Users Ireland.
An Iarnród Éireann spokesman said however that overall the number of Dart journeys a day had been reduced only slightly from 163 to 156 journeys, and that while “some trains are busier, we are meeting passenger demand”.
He added that “when a new schedule comes in, changing an established pattern of travel, it can take a few days to adapt”. The company was monitoring the situation.
Mr Regan said however that peak-hour services were in effect being reduced. The rail company had announced a new 15-minute interval service to be introduced across the full day with additional services at peak-times to match demand.
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