Travel by train...its soooo relaxing!

SimonMaher

Great fun today! Booked tickets online for return to Limerick (dep Dublin 11.00, Dep Limerick 1730). Got to Heuston nice and early (1020) picked up tickets etc and headed down before 1030 just to be sure. Train was leaving from Platform 7 so had to wait in that strange passage thing they have constructed while they are rebuilding the roof. Hot, Dusty and Crowded and no lights working.

So, we all stand there, 1050 rolls around and no movement. The natives are getting restless. People are trying to pass by the large crowd waiting for the trains (Plat 7 Cork, Plat 8 Waterford) and coming off another train from somewhere. Tempers get frayed. No announcments at all, whatsoever, full stop. We rang Irish Rail information who told us the train was "on time". I squeezed up to the top of the queue in a vain search for an IE employee. Discovered of course that there was no train at the platform at all. Fantastic. Rang Heuston to ask them where the train was...was told in no uncertain terms that they did not know. More anger from passengers and real discomfort.

Elderly passengers have now been stuck in the hot, dusty, cramped passageway for 45 minutes. IE employees appear and go off searching for a train. Eventually at 11.25 a new MkIV set appears on the platform. People for the Waterford train are now panicking thinking they will miss their train. An announcement is finally made on the stations PA system that the trains are delayed and will not leave without the passengers. None of them could hear this of course, because there is no loudspeaker in the aformentioned hot, dusty, cramped passageway.

So, eventually we get to the train, head for coach A with our tickets and wait for the train host to be ready for us. Everyone else mills up the train and of course fills it up. We get to the train host, he looks at our tickets and says "them A's aren't working, you have to find your own seat up the train". Baffling. Myself and my colleague have work to do for a presentation on the way down (thus the whole booking 2 seats together thing). We eventually find two seperate seats at either end of a carriage both facing backwards. Brilliant.

We eventually set off at 11.50. No explanations, no apologies, nothing. Get to Limerick Junction and into Limerick just under 50 minutes late. Hurry to presentation, eventually get back to the station for the 1730.

Lots of room on this one (MkII set). Very very hot. No air conditioning working on the train. Measured the temperature...nearly 40 degrees! Ticket checker checks ticket, gets so hot that ink runs off the ticket! No catering, no announcment there would be none, luckily had a drink which was pretty awful by the time we reached Dublin. Got off the train, Irish Rail poster on the platform said "Whats a queue Daddy?". Fellow passengers guffawed at the irony. €49.50 well spent eh?

Pete

DerekP11

You're posting on the wrong board my friend.;)

Transport21 Fan

Pete Reed wrote:

"Whats a queue Daddy?".

The number of CIE union heads and their groupies who'll come on to this thread claiming you're being unfair to these world class public transport professionals at Irish Rail and the incredible service that CIE offers to rail passengers.

aliveandkicking

Brings a whole new meaning to the term "incredible service"

John R

Pete Reed wrote:

Lots of room on this one (MkII set). Very very hot. No air conditioning working on the train. Measured the temperature...nearly 40 degrees! Ticket checker checks ticket, gets so hot that ink runs off the ticket! No catering, no announcment there would be none, luckily had a drink which was pretty awful by the time we reached Dublin.

Was the Temp the same throughout the train? Often you will get some coaches with working AC and others without. Always worth a quick walk through to check.

At least on those old trains you can open the vestibule windows and get some cool air, when the AC goes on modern sealed trains there is no escape.

Sabre0001

Yeah the train is great..... :rolleyes:
€48.50 for quality service - I had a train that had a mysterious hole somewhere and water was dripping down, it was an old train so the doors between carraiges were kinda difficult to open and the service at the snack bar was appaling...

I was the only person and the girl was standing there chatting to someone and then seemed annoyed at me because I interrupted her conversation (I didn't actually say anything, just stood there waiting patiently)...

What a way to travel...

popebenny16

You're posting on the wrong board my friend.

He did post on the correct board as well, Derek, and got some usefull info, all of which can bve summed up in the phrase "get on, gis your money, get off, feck off" which i propose as the new IE publicity slogan.

As i said over on P11 in reply, it is not acceptable to have Air conditioning units that do not work. If they dont, fix them or replace them. Almost every intercity train goes through the Midlnads and I know for one that the temp gets over 27 degrees where i live several times a year, and if that's wher the ac dosnt work on a Mk2 it should be replaced, no excuses.

If you booked a seat you booked it, if IE put on a different train - that's their problem, not yours, you are still entitled to that seat, you booked it for the 11.00 o clock train and that's the one you got.

As for the customer Charter? Due to the padding of the timetable it is amlost impossible to have a train so late that you can get a refund of 100% on your ticket. They might as well stipulate that for trains which are 10 hours late you can have a free Ferrarri driven to your home by Dick Fern in a nappy, that's how useless the customer charter is.

There is no excuse whatsoever for that mess in 7/8/9 to exist, and sadly for our o/p it is nothing new i witnessed a similar situation last Summer, that side of the station should have been re-roofed first, but typical stupidity on the part of IE and its the last to be done. Why? Becuase the road is there. Well, why didnt they do the roof first and then put in the new platforms? Well, that would be too much of an example of logical thinking and we dont want that in IE, do we?

How much has been spent in Heuston? Over a hundred million? And that's the result? Why bother at all so. And dont give me how lovely the new roof is, maybe you'll be able to look at something nice as you pass out from the heat and the crush.

Transport21 Fan

111 million Euro was spent on Hueston, and 117 on the new half pointy coaches and god know how much on the ticketing reservation system.

I heard the millionaires down at Spencer Dock are delighted with their new penthouses though...

El Stuntman

nasty story but not atypical of the crappy service provided to those of us using Intercity, DART, Aer Lingus etc etc

if the AVE is more than 5 minutes late in Spain you get your money back - no questions asked.

Needless to say it never is....

'we're the 2nd richest country in the world' - in fantasy land maybe!! Meanwhile the monkeys who run these companies get big fat pensions and huge benchmarking increases - arrggghhhhhh!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Raskolnikov

I think Pete Reed's scathing criticism is a tad unfair to IE in certain respects. The punctuality and timekeeping by IE, while not perfect, has improved greatly in the last couple of years. Speaking for anecdotal evidence on the Cork-Heuston route, I would have to say maybe 2-3 of the 40 journey's I've taken have been seriously late (ie. at least 30 minutes). At least the days of delay for up to an hour seem to have been eliminated.

That's not to let IE off the hook, there are still some serious issues facing rail travel.

The proliferation of "undesirables" using the trains has always been an issue but seemingly to me has escalated recently. It reached a high point a couple of weeks ago when some drunken louts in the seats infront of me starting doing lines of coke on the tables. Amazingly, the same louts talked away happily with no argument from the lone security man on the train. Considering that families were seated only a couple of booths down this is quite frankly astonishing. If IE are serious about tackling this issue then they need to prohibit the consumption of alcohol on all trains. It's a shame that a loutish minority should cause this, but there really is no other option.

Like Pete Reed said, the furnace that was the Mk2 that I travelled on yesterday (Mon 18th July) is absolutely intolerable. The fact that I was even travelling on a Mk2 at all was ridiculous (4 rail journies and I've yet to experience to ride on the new carriages). Can someone tell me what routes are the on by the way?

The only reason I even travel on the train is because the student discount gets me a return from Cork to Portadown for €54. After this year, it'll go up to €90 for a standard adult fare, at which point I shall turn to flying to Belfast.

MarkoP11

Raskolnikov wrote:

I think Pete Reed's scathing criticism is a tad unfair to IE in certain respects. The punctuality and timekeeping by IE, while not perfect, has improved greatly in the last couple of years. Speaking for anecdotal evidence on the Cork-Heuston route, I would have to say maybe 2-3 of the 40 journey's I've taken have been seriously late (ie. at least 30 minutes). At least the days of delay for up to an hour seem to have been eliminated.

Its easy be ontime when it takes up to 20 minutes longer than it did 10-15 years back

Put it this way the press run last Monday spent 20 minutes stationary in Mallow and lunch was cut short as a result, its now a common occurrence for trains at off peak to leave Heuston 15+ minutes down

New coaches run Dublin Cork 9am/11am ex Dublin 13:30/15:30 ex Cork seat booking won't work on the 11/15:30

bk

Raskolnikov wrote:

I think Pete Reed's scathing criticism is a tad unfair to IE in certain respects. The punctuality and timekeeping by IE, while not perfect, has improved greatly in the last couple of years. Speaking for anecdotal evidence on the Cork-Heuston route, I would have to say maybe 2-3 of the 40 journey's I've taken have been seriously late (ie. at least 30 minutes). At least the days of delay for up to an hour seem to have been eliminated.

In the last 6 months for me, 12 journeys, typically Dublin to Cork Friday 5:00, Cork to Dublin Sunday 5:30, the train has broken down 3 times. 2 of these 3 involved at least a hours delay.

SimonMaher

Raskolnikov wrote:

I think Pete Reed's scathing criticism is a tad unfair to IE in certain respects. The punctuality and timekeeping by IE, while not perfect, has improved greatly in the last couple of years....

Raskolnikov, glad I wasnt the only one on that train from boards.ie yesterday, really had to be witnessed to be believed.

I dont know which bits of the scathing criticism were unfair though. I know its crazy to expect trains to run on time but I do accept that sometimes, for varying reasons, they dont and as I said I can live with that. If a train is going to be late though, it is unacceptable for the passengers not to be told that its late and to be left in an uncomfortable and, in my opinion, unsafe environment. All it takes is a bit of communication and yes, people will be grumpy, but not panicked and not getting agressive!

And if the booking system is fecked on that departure, well that can happen too and I can accept that. But if we know here that it doesnt work then why do they still allow people to reserve seats?

Current choice is new train - broken down/late/no seats or old train - no air or drinking water. I genuinely dont think its an investment problem, its a cultural and managerial one.

Pete

Chris_533976

Its worse than that, its just sheer incompetance. Not one of those problems are major, not one of those problems would be allowed to exist in any other european country.

Diaspora

Once got a train out of Euston where it left 20 minutes late and driver got on 2 mins before actual departure to apologise that because there were no catering facilities on board he got stuck in a que to buy coffee in the station. Its not unique to IE and as opposed to face gridlock for an early meeting the train wins every time for lack of stress.

1huge1

did you have any problems getting from limerick junction to limerick city?
or was the problems only on your 1st trip

isnt there a train that goes from conolly to limerick city? could of sworn there was

popebenny16

2 of these 3 involved at least a hours delay.

To get your refund you have to arrive late..... I bet that even though you were stranded for an hour you didnt arrive any where near an hour late because of the unfair padding in the system.

daymobrew

Pete Reed wrote:

Great fun today! <snip>

What about writing to the CEO Richard Fearn at Connolly Station. I've written to him a number of times over the years when he was COO. He was reasonably responsive. Be as detailed as possible, even include a photocopy of your ticket. Your post here was clear and well detailed - you could almost print it off and send it.

Pete Reed wrote:

No announcments at all, whatsoever, full stop.

This is probably close to the top of the list of gripes that people have about IE.

jjbrien

The one thing that really gets me about travelling with IE is your at connolly station everybody is sitting down having a nice drink and then some irish rail staff member puts up a big sign 45 mins before the train is due to depart the sign reads "Please Q Here for the Sligo Train or the train to where ever" All the people in the station then rush over and start lining up at the sign. Disturbing the relaxing time people where having. They should just put a sign up please remaint seated where you are until the train is called. I f you are in London Euston thats the way it is and its so muc h nicer

Raskolnikov

Pete Reed wrote:

I dont know which bits of the scathing criticism were unfair though.

I was merely making the point that the punctuality issues you faced aren't indicative of IE overall in my opinion. The rest are valid though, especially the issues with the booking system. It really would be a simple solution to have an attendant available to ensure everyone takes their correct seats. It should be implemented properly or not at all.

bk: all I can say is that you must have some terrible luck. I'm a regular train user (30-40 intercity journeys a year) and haven't had a breakdown in two years.

jjbrien: It's the same with the Belfast Enterprise service. In fairness, you can't really fault IE on that one, it's all down to flock/mob hysteria more than anything.

jjbrien

Raskolnikov wrote:

jjbrien: It's the same with the Belfast Enterprise service. In fairness, you can't really fault IE on that one, it's all down to flock/mob hysteria more than anything.

If they didnt put up their silly little signs of have they morons shouting at people to get in line then we would not have this problem. I have never seen this happening at London Euston or Liverpool Lime ST.

Its takes the relaxation out of it.

John R

jjbrien wrote:

If they didnt put up their silly little signs of have they morons shouting at people to get in line then we would not have this problem. I have never seen this happening at London Euston or Liverpool Lime ST.

Its takes the relaxation out of it.

I couldn't agree more, there is nothing worse than arriving early, sitting down to relax and being forced to queue for half an hour because the bloody sheep that arrived after start to line up across the forecourt.

At London Euston they normally don't post up the platform number until the train is ready to board so people cannot queue. It is a good policy, queues for busy trains can end up creating a barrier right across the stations.

In Connolly enough regular passengers will know which train is theirs that they will queue anyway although encouraging this behaviour shouldn't be happening.

spacetweek

I honestly don't understand why anyone uses trains in Ireland. Why would you put yourself through this. What about the bus? Not just Bus Eireann, there are loads of other coach companies plying the routes.

My mum got a train back from her sister's in Castlebar to Dublin a few years back. The power wasn't working and as night fell, the overcrowded, stuffy carriages were plunged into darkness. She went on a mission to push her way blindly through the crowd to find the dining car and gave up after 45 minutes. Sheesh. At least in India you can get out and onto the roof if it's getting stuffy.

mikemac

I went by Dublin to Nenagh return today. The outward journey was bang on time and the return journey was 6 minutes late.
I was well impressed and will definitly use the train more often.

For those of you who don't know, Nenagh is on a secondary line so has only 4 trains a day and has a fantastic bus service due to the N7 so rail realy struggles in Nenagh, though it has fantastic potential in the future.

As this is a rant thread, here's my rant.
Why does Heuston-Nenagh 5 day return cost €40 while Nenagh-Heuston 5 day return costs €25? It's the same distance

Anyone know, I can't figure it out