Around 12% of early-morning trains from Tralee to Dublin arrive more than five minutes late.
That’s according to figures released under FOI from Irish Rail to Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, who is on the EU Transport Committee and a European Parliament negotiator on passenger rights.
A sample study of three months last year found that of 42 trips from Tralee to Dublin at 05:45am, five arrived more than five minutes late.
The early-morning train from Cork to Dublin was considerably worse for arriving on time, and MEP Ní Mhurchú said the discrepancy on punctuality is baffling.
She said currently, Irish Rail does not consider a train late unless it is ten or more minutes behind the scheduled arrival time, but we should move to the Swiss model which allows just three minutes of a leeway.
The Fianna Fáil MEP said if people don’t trust the train to be on time, they will take the car.
