³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

An Irish Minister has suggested scrapping or delaying the Belfast to Dublin morning train due to delays for local commuters.

First the new early-morning Enterprise service is allegedly causing upheaval for Dublin commuter town passengers travelling into the city, according to Irish Minister of State Joe O'Brien.

The problems arise from timetable changes for commuter rail routes which serve north Dublin areas like Skerries and Lusk as well as far as Louth, as a result of the new Belfast service.

Enterprise users from Belfast are currently being bused to Newry where the service starts at 06:50 BST and a date has not yet been set for its 06:00 start in Belfast.

This is due to work going on at Belfast's new transport hub Grand Central Station.

The introduction of the new 06:00 service means commuter trains operating from Drogheda to Dublin had to be cleared from the line in order for it to run on schedule.

In letters to the Taoiseach (Irish PM), Tánaiste (Irish deputy PM) and Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan, the Green Party Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development has asked those in charge to intervene.

Mr O'Brien is a TD for the north Dublin Fingal area, affected by the travel changes.

In the letter, Mr O'Brien acknowledged that the new Belfast service is part of the Government's Shared Island initiative, and as such he "appreciated" the need "to enhance and grow our connection with Northern Ireland".

However, he said that the consequent timetable changes "have impacted very negatively on the commuter service, increasing journey times significantly for commuters."

Mr O'Brien wrote: "What is especially problematic is a 30-minute gap at the peak morning period where there is no commuter service. This not only leads to a significantly decreased level of service but existing services have been concentrated over a shorter time, causing capacity issues on some trains and long delays.

"The changes have also reduced through-services, impacting commuters who travel south of the Liffey. With all trains now terminating in Connolly or Pearse, this adds to journey times and increases the risk of delays.

"A delay or cancellation of the 6am Belfast service would go some way to alleviate some of these issues, while the [Belfast] Enterprise service is important, the knock-on effect on Dublin commuters is unacceptable. It is important to note that the previous first service out of Belfast was 6.50am. I am also led to believe that currently the relevant Enterprise service is starting in Newry (not Belfast) and it will be later in the year before it actually serves Belfast.

"In my 20 years using the commuter line I have never seen such a poorly implemented change and would request an immediate intervention to resolve the ongoing issues.

"To sum up, we are simply trying to squeeze too many services on to a single train track. We ultimately need additional track space."