AQW 51204/11-16 Written question to the Minister for Regional Development

To ask the Minister for Regional Development to account for the delays to the Enterprise service on the day of its relaunch; and the unreliability of the rolling stock in general.

Asked by Stewart Dickson MLA on 20 November 2015

  • Answered
  • Written
Tabled
20 November 2015
Answer due by
7 December 2015
Answered
7 December 201517 days after tabling
Department
Department for Infrastructure
Priority question
No

Answer

Translink has advised me that the 11:00 hours Enterprise departure from Dublin Connolly on 16 November 2015 was delayed by 88 minutes due to severe wheel slip in Balbriggan area of the Irish Republic. Low adhesion on the railway line resulted in significant delays and damage to the train wheels.

Over the past six months the performance of the services on the Belfast to Dublin route for punctuality and reliability has been a 99.93% score for reliability and a 93.8% for punctuality. Punctuality is defined as trains arriving at their destination either on time or within 10 minutes as set out in the timetable.

The Passenger Charter targets for the Dublin line are that 99.5% of trains will operate and 90% of trains will arrive no more than 10 minutes late. These targets have been more than achieved.

Official sources