Irish Trains: Your thoughts please [Archive]

max power

13/02/2006, 2:52 PM

i am one of the unlucky people who use the train service every day to get to work. Trains are constantly late, cancelled etc and no explaination given, i know a lot of others who are also sick of this.

i am thinking of putting a forum up for people to air their views on this subject. eg train to x was late, train to y was cancelled etc.

any thoughts on this would be welcome,

mods, hope its ok just want to put out a feeler before i put up forum.

Maz

13/02/2006, 2:54 PM

Block G Raptor

13/02/2006, 2:57 PM

Have to say I use the Maynooth line from Clonsilla to Connolly regularly and going in to town in the morning's it is seldom if ever late but do find in the evening going home that either the maynooth or longford train is nearly always delayed lately

max power

13/02/2006, 3:04 PM

i mean all train services, i pat 2100 for my ticket and yet your made feel like you've spent 20 euro with them, its a joke and i've had enough,

i left my house at 7.10 this morning and got into work at 9.50, i should have been here around 8.45 :rolleyes:

Maz

13/02/2006, 3:09 PM

Last year when commuting from Longford to Maynooth, I had major problems with trains not running and always delayed, this year I get the 10.10 on a monday morning (gonna be 7am anymore). Get the 5.55 from Maynooth on a thursday (sometimes delayed but not too much).

I know the local radio station in Longford kept a log of all calls and complaints they got regarding the service and called the head guy (name I dont know) and put the problems to him. He didnt know how to answer. He started going on about leafs on the line making it slippy so trains could not run...usual rubbish

max power

13/02/2006, 3:24 PM

thats the reason for the forum, all people can post and not just longford , i'll get some press for it etc and see how it goes, the legal side is the only one and i'm looking into that, but let them try how trains actually run on time :D

dahamsta

13/02/2006, 3:54 PM

I'll happily host sites like this for free, as long as they're kept on-topic.

adam

pete

13/02/2006, 3:55 PM

Thread title changed.

Surely if trains are regularily late then they are failing in primary role? Its not like a bus where dependent on other traffic. Irish Rail is like a bus service with its own roads so no excuse for being late.

max power

13/02/2006, 4:03 PM

I'll happily host sites like this for free, as long as they're kept on-topic.

adam

the only reason for this is to highlight the desperate state of the service, i intend to contact press etc.

the four main areas i was thinking of are,

train delays

trains canceled

customer service recieved

improvment ideas.

also anyone have an idea of a name for the site and would the forum sotware used here be ok.

also a mod for each section would be great too.........

if you get the train this is in your interest so join in.

monutdfc

13/02/2006, 4:42 PM

Yeah but aren't you all happy that the cost of your tickets have been used to pay Craig Doyle to stare off in the distance in that ad?

Lionel Ritchie

13/02/2006, 6:19 PM

gotta admit they're hilarious ads though.

"we're sh1t and we know we're sh1t but the important thing is we've finally paid an actor to appear in an advert to let you know that we know we're sh1t. But we're ready to take possession of some trains that are currently in Spain but we don't know how long it'll take to lay the tracks to get 'em up here ...which reminds me -did anyone measure the width of the tracks?...lads? ...lads?"

Partizan

13/02/2006, 6:41 PM

I regularly use the Waterford to Limerick service which consists of three carriages, no snack bar, runs on infrequent times (no Sunday service) and an engine that frequently breaks down. (The official explanation being 'engineering works' on the line)

The state of public transport as well as wider infrastructure in this county is shocking giventhe fact that we are one of the richest and most developed economies in the world.

Cullen IMO is an embarassment and incompetent & arrogant buffon and his so called Transport 21 Plan was nothing more than a PR window dressing on the shoddy state of public transport. The major cities in the State like Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick do not have proper (if any) rail commuter transport services forcing many onto our already overcrowded roads that are just about struggling to cope with the increasing traffic volume.

The only way to solve the problem is to re-invest in the railways, to provide a proper and reliable service which would get cars off the roads and cut pollution. its more cost effective than building by-passess with tax payers money and then forcing us through private companies to pay tolls. If thats not corporate Thatcherite capitalism, I dont know what is. I just cant wait for the next election to vent my anger at this incapacitated government that is being held hostage by numerous vested interests, grown fat on its sheer incompatence, smug arrogance and widespread public ignorance and apathy. The next government artist tells me to buy a car, I'll go to town on him.

If FF get back into power, I'll pack my bags and leave this Banana Republic.

Paulie

14/02/2006, 2:21 PM

I use the Drogheda to Connolly/Pearse line daily. As Irish public transport goes it's pretty good but it's still prone to lapses. Generally it arrives within about 5 minutes of it's allocated time. For some reason though if it's late one day it's late for 2 or 3 in a row. This generally happens every 3 or 4 weeks. I remember a few months ago hearing a radio interview with one of the head guys in Iarnrod Eireann. He was defending their record by stating that their trains had a 90% success rate of arriving on time. This effectively means that, based on a five day working week, you will be late on average once every fortnight. If his staff were arriving in to work late once every fortnight I doubt he would find it quite as acceptable.

Kingdom

14/02/2006, 2:33 PM

Every 2nd week I've to get the 6.05 train into town, and over the past month the weather has been absolutely freezing at that time in the morning, with no heating on any of the carriages. It got so bad that I was forced to submit an online complaint.

"Dear sir/madam,

I have a small complaint to make regarding the standard of the carriages on the train this morning and yesterday morning. As I'm sure you are aware, the weather has been quite cold the past few days, but the good people at Iarnród Éireann must think we are in the middle of a heatwave as we have had no heat in the carriages this week. Frankly it was warmer outside of the carriage than inside the carriage. Surely there are heaters on the carriages that can be used on the journey? I see a great deal of advertising in the national media about how Iarnród Éireann are going places and improving the journey. Perhaps that money spent on advertising would be better used in physically showing the customers the improvements being made rather than telling us. I feel, and I know I'm not alone in this opinion, that we pay enough money per annum on train fares to expect a decent standard of service.

I look forward to hearing from you."

To which I got no response.

However yesterday when I was trying to get a quote of a train ticket from Brussels to Dortmund (yes for that reason!) I got a reply within 25 mins.
Great eh?

dahamsta

14/02/2006, 2:41 PM

Put it in writing Kingdom, i.e. old fashioned pen and ink. Since they're semi-state, they're required to reply.

adam

Ash

14/02/2006, 2:47 PM

I used to use trains regularlybut try to avoid them if at all possible now.
I used to commute from Athlone to Dublin and it was a nightmare, the
carraiges would be either freezing cold or unbearably hot.

Worst one was when I used to get the Dublin-Sligo line. When winter would
arrive CIE would take out massiver adverts in the newspapers telling
passengers to wrap up warm as the heating on the train wasnt working.
Surely it would have been better to fix the bloody thing instead of paying for
the ad's!

The only advantage of trains is toilets, although they're usually in too bad
a state to even dare go into!

I remember when I was working in Oz and the station master would announce
that trains are running approx 2 minutes late, and true to their word 2
minutes over the timetable time the train would arrive. The locals use to go
mental about the late trains :eek:

for their next ad campaign they should use clips from the Disney Club,
cos their service is Mickey Mouse :mad:

Risteard

14/02/2006, 2:57 PM

To which I got no response.

When did ya send that?
Politicians & Companies close to the Irish government are notoriously slow for responding to anything.

BUT

Have to say lads, i've only great experiences of iarnrod eireann. Even with the €10 bus fare, i'd still get the train if i was coming/going to Dublin.
To be fair thats nothing to do with Bus Eireann who now have a reliable comfortable fleet of vehicles who are sadly subject to Irish traffic.

I've never had any troubles with CIE timewise on the Cork to Dublin, Cobh or Ennis routes.
Also think they're very comfortable etc. save for the toilet (hard to get a comfortable toilet on a train anyway. Never seen one in any country), can be mank.

Granted ye Drogheda and Bray lads are better placed to comment if ye commute every day but Irish Rail gets a big thumbs up from me.
Just wish they had a Cork to Waterford route and a station in Donegal.

BTW Transport 21 is a close equivalent to putting some of Irelands many unfinished infrastructure projects in a binder and saying
"We might get around to these sometime."

Kingdom

14/02/2006, 3:12 PM

There are many problems with Iarnród Éireann,but the prices are the least of them.
One of the aspects of the advertising for the new carriages is the amount of conning the head honchos are doing. These new carriages will only be available for the direct Dublin to Cork services. Which is ****** man!

I commute from Portarlington and the service is probably the most frequent of all the Intercity stations (excluding the obvious commuter routes!). In the morning there are 5 trains to Dublin from 6.05 to 7.52. Which isn't a lot. The next train isn't until 10.00. Which is ludicrous! This is supposedly down to the fact that there are only 2 lines available in and out of Heuston.
This will be changed in the Transport 21 plans, because the govt are buying enough land from Inchicore to Kildare under Land Compulsory Orders. Some CIE guy wouldn't budge when I questioned what land would they be buying from Inchicore out as far as Lucan as no land was available.

They never seem to have a contingency plan in place either. If a train ever de-rails here God help all the commuters!
Good idea for a forum though/

Kingdom

14/02/2006, 3:17 PM

Always though it ridiculous that there is no direct service between the major towns. The likes of Cork -Waterford , Cork- Limmi, Galway-Limmi and perhaps Sligo-Galway.

Also the areas of the country that have no train service is a joke. Meath. MEATH! Imagine how much traffic that will be freed up when the train line eventually gets up and running. The joke is that it has taken this long to propose the route.

max power

14/02/2006, 3:34 PM

I commute from Portarlington and the service is probably the most frequent of all the Intercity stations (excluding the obvious commuter routes!). In the morning there are 5 trains to Dublin from 6.05 to 7.52. Which isn't a lot. The next train isn't until 10.00. Which is ludicrous! This is supposedly down to the fact that there are only 2 lines available in and out of Heuston.
This will be changed in the Transport 21 plans, because the govt are buying enough land from Inchicore to Kildare under Land Compulsory Orders. Some CIE guy wouldn't budge when I questioned what land would they be buying from Inchicore out as far as Lucan as no land was available.

They never seem to have a contingency plan in place either. If a train ever de-rails here God help all the commuters!
Good idea for a forum though/

i get the same train and its 5 if they turn up and i'd say they are on time about once a week.

in the evening there is a train at 5.10 5.55 and 6.00. 2 in 5 minutes another joke.

i even drive to kildare some mornings because the last train home is at 9, we are meant to be a commuter town and 9 is the last train :confused:

cars are broken into on a weekly basis ( including mine ) and all we here is, we are on the list ah sure we must be next :rolleyes:

Kingdom

14/02/2006, 3:49 PM

i get the same train and its 5 if they turn up and i'd say they are on time about once a week.

in the evening there is a train at 5.10 5.55 and 6.00. 2 in 5 minutes another joke.

i even drive to kildare some mornings because the last train home is at 9, we are meant to be a commuter town and 9 is the last train :confused:

cars are broken into on a weekly basis ( including mine ) and all we here is, we are on the list ah sure we must be next :rolleyes:

Fair point actually! I either get the earliest train in 6.05 or the last train in 7.52 and never hear about the other ones, but I'm aware that occasionally they are cancelled.
As for the last train out it does irk me that I have to get a train at nine to get home, p!sses me off no end. We do the same thing occassionally (as in driving to Kildare), but that knida defeats the purpose of commuting!

I think that CIE are reaping the rewards of letting their service ot for so long and now that they realise they have to upgrade , update and basically modernise, that they've left themselves with an awful amount of work to do, and tbh, I'm not sure if they are capable of sorting themselves out.

I bought a bike about 3 weeks ago to cycle to the station as I live ina new estate on the other side of town, and the bike was stolen 2 days later from the station. No cameras so there was nothing they could do for me. Luckily our car hasn't been broken into yet

max power

14/02/2006, 3:53 PM

thats what happens when your house is in offaly :D

but the radio was nicked out of my car and the only thing ur man could say was.......ah sure ur not the only one:rolleyes:

Kingdom

14/02/2006, 4:06 PM

thats what happens when your house is in offaly :D

but the radio was nicked out of my car and the only thing ur man could say was.......ah sure ur not the only one:rolleyes:
No, no, not a biffo yet, we didn't cross the bridge!

max power

14/02/2006, 4:08 PM

No, no, not a biffo yet, we didn't cross the bridge!

:D good choice

rebs23

14/02/2006, 4:20 PM

The major cities in the State like Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick do not have proper (if any) rail commuter transport services
.

Just a small point but Cork - Cobh is the only dedicated commuter rail service outside of Dublin.
Cork - Mallow and Ennis - Limerick there is a limited commuter service.
Hopefully soon we'll have Cork - Midleton (under tender) and Tuam - Galway I think but as usual everything going at a snails pace.

max power

14/02/2006, 4:22 PM

Just a small point but Cork - Cobh is the only dedicated commuter rail service outside of Dublin.
Cork - Mallow and Ennis - Limerick there is a limited commuter service.
Hopefully soon we'll have Cork - Midleton (under tender) and Tuam - Galway I think but as usual everything going at a snails pace.

drogheda isn't in dublin and neither is bray......just a point :o

Schumi

14/02/2006, 4:32 PM

drogheda isn't in dublin and neither is bray......just a point :o
The commuter routes there are to Dublin though which I assume is the point.

Bray is a suburb of Dublin though. :D

max power

14/02/2006, 4:35 PM

well u can get on a train in maynooth and go to bray although u go through dublin you do not change trains.

anyway who wants to go to bray anyway

pete

14/02/2006, 9:42 PM

Commuter services are great in theory outside Dublin but i very much doubt many people would use around Cork. Cork is obcessed with the car.

Kingdom

15/02/2006, 9:53 AM

Commuter services are great in theory outside Dublin but i very much doubt many people would use around Cork. Cork is obcessed with the car.

Eh Pete, have you heard of the Naas Road, Red Cow or M50? In theory they are supposed to be something called "roads"? I think the definition has to be incorrect though cause there is no driving being done on them! Dublin is car-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy.
Boom Boom!

Kingdom

15/02/2006, 9:53 AM

07.52 from Port late this morning and the 8.30 train from Kildare was late too!

max power

15/02/2006, 10:07 AM

Plastic Paddy

15/02/2006, 10:20 AM

Max and others, you really should go and talk to Platform 11, the rail campaign organisation. Lend your voice to theirs - it'll make it easier for you to be heard.

http://www.platform11.org/

:ball: PP

Kingdom

15/02/2006, 10:21 AM

yes 7.52 was late i was on it, i asked a member of staff was it last and he said he didn't know.......thats his job for gods sake.

ok anyone else do this i'm gonna time all my trains for the next 10 days i am on them and see what ones are on time, try out their 90% on time rate.

i'll take my time from the clocks in heuston and go from there.

i'll stick up my results every day for the previous day.

It p!ssed the two of us off no end! We were slightly late getting out of the gaff this morning, and didn't think we'd make the 07.52 so we'd drive straight onto Kildare, where when we arrived was the late train that we thought we'd miss in Port. Wasted journey cause if we'd have gone to Port in the first place despite being late we would have got there in time! hence my user name in the Fantasy 6 Nations, Port Argh Lington.

max power

17/02/2006, 9:34 AM

so far

wen :

morning train........8 minutes late

evening train...... on time

thurs :

morning train......14 minutes late

evening train.......9 minutes late

fri :

morning train.....7 minutes late.

now i dont think they are near the 90% on time rate just yet :rolleyes:

Pauro 76

17/02/2006, 11:00 AM

Been away from the old sod for a while, but when i was back home, Iarnrod Eireann were running ads 'we're not there yet, but we're getting there', then it progressed to 'getting there'. The question is, are they there yet? Trains back home are a rip-off anyway...

Block G Raptor

20/02/2006, 8:44 PM

17:49 Pearse to maynooth. Bang on time but totally Packed

Kingdom

03/03/2006, 12:20 PM

Alright,

I was on it this morning, carriages literally were freezing! I'd a sports coat, jumper and Polo shirt on and I was fcuking freezing. Fcuking joke.

max power

03/03/2006, 12:30 PM

I Drove up in my lovely warm van !!

Kingdom

03/03/2006, 3:59 PM

I Drove up in my lovely warm van !!
Was it going at max power? Bad morning an all!;)

SligoBrewer

07/03/2006, 12:18 AM

went up 2 dublin last saturday on the 0950 4 m sligo to dublin, bang on time, food was overpriced(but was still there ) and the carraige was warm. this was the "old" train.

came back 2 sligo on the 1900 from connolly.

Fvck1n disgrace!
This new and improved train had f<ck all tables,
Toilets vandalised and p!55 all ove the floor.
No Food Carraige, all we had was a trolley dolly guy.
F3ckin freezing tea 2 so it was, like the carraige!

BRING BACK THE OLD TRAIN 2 Sligo!
ALL IS FORGIVEN!!

SligoBrewer,
offering his services 4 moderating the new website!

CollegeTillIDie

12/03/2006, 5:19 PM

I was on the train recently to and from Cork.
The train wasn't cleaned before I boarded it in Cork last Tuesday on my way back to Dublin. But it was on time (ish).
The return ticket was in excess of €54 which is a bit steep!

I use the DART every day ( or at least for the next few days I will be) and it's nearly always a bit late, and I never can get a seat on the way to work.

SligoBrewer

15/03/2006, 9:56 PM

is there a petition 2 sign or can we start 1?

Thunderblaster

16/03/2006, 1:30 AM

Any thoughts on the overly criticised services to the West of Ireland (Galway/Westport/Ballina) lines?

Plastic Paddy

16/03/2006, 7:14 AM

I'll post this again since people don't seem to have got the message. Rather than whinging on here (it gets repetitive really quickly...), you should sign up to Platform 11, the rail campaign organisation. Lend your voice to theirs - it'll make it easier for you to be heard.

http://www.platform11.org/

:ball: PP