Ben Lowry: If only we in NI were as averse to early trains as they are in Japan
![A railway company in Japan has apologised for a train leaving a station 25 seconds early, having recently apologised for a train leaving 20 seconds early](https://www.newsletter.co.uk/webimg/legacy_oak_104832732.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65&enable=upscale)
![A railway company in Japan has apologised for a train leaving a station 25 seconds early, having recently apologised for a train leaving 20 seconds early](/img/placeholder.png)
Now a train has left 25 secs early. The company said the inconvenience to users was “inexcusable”.
It brings me back to a bugbear of mine, which is Translink services occasionally leaving a bit early.
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Hide AdI keep copies of the Metro timetables of the buses that I use. Mostly the services are on time: if a bus is due to leave City Hall at 7.20pm, it usually does, with the maddening exception of drivers who leave 40 seconds or even a minute early.
![In Northern Ireland, trains rarely leave main stations early but do occasionally leave intermediary stations early, such as Moira](https://www.newsletter.co.uk/webimg/legacy_oak_104832720.jpg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65)
![In Northern Ireland, trains rarely leave main stations early but do occasionally leave intermediary stations early, such as Moira](/img/placeholder.png)
I often sprint from the office to make sure I am at a bus I must get a minute earlier than I need be there.
And as I mentioned last time, trains can leave mid-route stations a minute or more early (they never leave main stations early, perhaps because they are more closely monitored). But they make up time. Some of drivers meticulously never leave a station early but others do.
Moira is still an issue. I was on an early train on a recent Thursday heading to Portadown which left Moira two minutes five secs early, potentially wreaking havoc with the day of someone who is on time for a train but misses it. Do regular users there not complain?
• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor