DART chaos last night

El Stuntman

anyone know what happened with Northbound DARTs last night? - there was complete chaos at Connolly, I stood on the platform with a couple of thousand others from 6 to 6.30 while two DARTS pulled in already packed and took off again.

The monitors gave the very helpful info of 'Delay' for all services Northbound

After witnessing a few ladies in tears becuase they couldn't get onto their trains, I gave up and went for a couple of pints instead and then got a taxi home!

As a seasoned DART traveller I'm well used to IE's inability to provide a decent service but just wondering what the root cause is and also why they can't provide proper info to stranded passengers.

Kashkai

I left work early to catch the 5.30pm Dart from Tara St to Howth junction, This train didn't turn up until 5.55 as it had broken down at Pearse and caused every train behind it to get stuck in the "gridlock". There were plenty of announcements at Tara St about the "technical" problems on this Dart though.

When this train got to Tara St (the first stop), it was packed to the gills and I just managed to get onboard with the closing doors scraping my ass. There was no hope for anyone to get on at Connolly. This train was then supposed to run non-stop to Howth Junction but it stopped outside Connolly for 3 - 4 minutes, then stopped again to change drivers at Clontarf and then stopped for 30 minutes at Raheny as there was a signal fault at Howth Junction. What should have been a 25 minute journey turned into an hour and a half by the time I got my freezing self home.

subway

ffs.

i got the dart home yesterday eveing for the first time in about 5 years.
got on at connolly.
got the 5.27 dart - which showed up at 5.31 and was home by 5.55
connolly to sutton.
got a seat and the train was empty.
i was just commenting to people how much the dart seemed to have improved over the years - guess i was a bit wrong

El Stuntman

Prosperous Dave wrote:

I left work early to catch the 5.30pm Dart from Tara St to Howth junction, This train didn't turn up until 5.55 as it had broken down at Pearse and caused every train behind it to get stuck in the "gridlock". There were plenty of announcements at Tara St about the "technical" problems on this Dart though.

When this train got to Tara St (the first stop), it was packed to the gills and I just managed to get onboard with the closing doors scraping my ass. There was no hope for anyone to get on at Connolly. This train was then supposed to run non-stop to Howth Junction but it stopped outside Connolly for 3 - 4 minutes, then stopped again to change drivers at Clontarf and then stopped for 30 minutes at Raheny as there was a signal fault at Howth Junction. What should have been a 25 minute journey turned into an hour and a half by the time I got my freezing self home.

sounds like going to the pub and getting a taxi after rush hour was a good move on my part so

just another episode in the long-running IR comedy show.....I'll await next week's humourous developments!

here's my ratings of the various public transport comedies on offer in the Dublin Area:

Dublin Bus: hilarious entertainment, delivered in a gruff, 'in your face' style. Never fails to make me chuckle. Interesting "barely-suppressed-rage" syndrome with most of the drviers. The 'timetable' episode is probably up there with Monty Python's dead parrot sketch as a comedy classic

Iarnrod Eireann: this is more a Frank Spencer type comedy where we get to snigger repeatedly at the hilarious ineptitude of the central character. Ultimately however, the joke is on us.

LUAS: not funny at all. It works - where's the humour in that?

Kashkai

I suppose the humour is on us poor sods on "de Northsoide" who don't have the Luas. This was put in for the lucky southsiders who got to elect the then Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan who represents them. All we can do is to rob a car (preferably a southsiders) and them use it to ram the occasional Luas to teach them smart arse southsiders a lesson:D

Hotblack Desiato

Prosperous Dave wrote:

I suppose the humour is on us poor sods on "de Northsoide" who don't have the Luas. This was put in for the lucky southsiders who got to elect the then Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan who represents them. All we can do is to rob a car (preferably a southsiders) and them use it to ram the occasional Luas to teach them smart arse southsiders a lesson:D

Don't believe the hype, the Luas is a joke. It can never and will never provide sufficient capacity and extending it further is madness. The red line is already unusable unless you board at a terminus. We need proper metro/U-bahn/whatever but the idea of having 'mass transit' sit at red lights to make way for single occupant cars is fecking crazy

cast_iron

El Stuntman wrote:

I gave up and went for a couple of pints instead and then got a taxi home!

Good man....a man after my own heart.:D

I happened to get the dart for the 1st time ever yesterday (funeral) to go from Pearse to Dun Laoighre. Jumped on at about 4 o clock, was off it on no length.

El Stuntman

Prosperous Dave wrote:

I suppose the humour is on us poor sods on "de Northsoide" who don't have the Luas. This was put in for the lucky southsiders who got to elect the then Minister for Transport Seamus Brennan who represents them. All we can do is to rob a car (preferably a southsiders) and them use it to ram the occasional Luas to teach them smart arse southsiders a lesson:D

look on the bright side Dave; our Taoiseach (and Professional Northsider) is building us a shiny new Metro yokemmybobber so we can go nah-nah-nah at them snobby Southsiders, them and their shiny Luas fancypants ways

and we have the only nice stadium (soon to be the only stadium, ha can't wait to see the sheepskin coat brigade trying to park their beamers and mercs around Ballybough before the rugby internationals!)

so there ha

subway

hehe,
darts went mad again last night.

according to the signs it was a techincal fault at pearse.
according to the loudspeaker it was late incoming trains at greystones....

thank god my bike is out of the worshop today,
i cant take another day of buses and trains

El Stuntman

somebody should send this thread to the suits at IR

not that they would care given that nobody is ever held accountible for their incompetence in our beloved protected state sector (that we pay for with our taxes). I am really sick of this crap service - buses, rail, roads etc etc....:mad:

privatise the lot says I, open competition on everything.

oh, and smash the unions Thatcher-style when they object - biggest obstacle to progress in public transport imo

El Stuntman, Minister for Transport (self-elected)

(I'd be better than Cullen anyway)

El Stuntman

ninja900 wrote:

We need proper metro/U-bahn/whatever but the idea of having 'mass transit' sit at red lights to make way for single occupant cars is fecking crazy

well said sir, you can be my Minister for State

(salary negotiable)

Tom Dunne

subway wrote:

according to the signs it was a techincal fault at pearse.

Yeah, Pearse was trainless from around 4:40pm to 5:05. "operational problems" they told us.

Let's see if they can make it three in a row this evening. Anyone taking bets?

El Stuntman

tom dunne wrote:

Let's see if they can make it three in a row this evening. Anyone taking bets?

I'll have a slice of that action

Zoney

El Stuntman wrote:

privatise the lot says I, open competition on everything.

And have like in the UK where compared to pre-privatisation ticket prices are higher, each company has their own nefarious and complicated pricing schemes, the whole kit and caboodle costs more to subsidise than BR ever did, and the network is less maintained and less safe? No thanks.

All that privatisation would do would be to allow the government to further absolve themselves of responsibility for public transport; nevermind that they would indeed be less able to improve things if they ended up a mess! Less of a return too for the cases where the govt. pumps money in for major infrastructure upgrades.

Keep demanding better quality from our *public* services - don't ask for privatisation. The government *are* accountable; to us. Don't just grumble and do nothing; email the TDs (their addresses are available and they even reply) and spread word about particularly bad TDs or poor responses. People are still voting for the same politicians that screwed up before. The worst politicians we have ever had in this country were democratically elected. Don't tell me that in each situation (you know the infamous names) that the alternative candidates would have been worse. That is nonsense! Most of our parties are centerist too; pretty much pursuing the same economic policies. You do not need to worry about alternative parties "destroying the economy".

ixoy

Tuesday night - DART chaos was apparently a "signal fault" at Pearse St. Make of that what you will. My train crawled between stations, stopping fully between them as well for good measure. A journey that should have taken approximately 30 mins took an hour and we were kept ill-informed for most of that. Thankfully I had some TV to watch...

Wednesday night - More chaos and this time I was on the train that caused it (and in the carriage I think). Train pulled into Pearse, people disembarked and we waited to depart. Didn't happen - some problem with the doors and we were all asked to, by the driver, "detrain" (yep - detrain! I kid you not). So it probably sat there afterwards and the platform would be crammed and more choas two days in a row.

I hate you IrishRail.

enterprise

ixoy wrote:

"detrain" (yep - detrain! I kid you not).

What is wrong with saying detrain? It is a word and means get off the train.

cast_iron

enterprise wrote:

What is wrong with saying detrain? It is a word and means get off the train.

There's nothing wrong with it, just most people would not have heard it often before and struggled to understand.

Mr. Presentable

Prosperous Dave wrote:

I suppose the humour is on us poor sods on "de Northsoide" who don't have the Luas.

Pedant alert!!!

OK, the following stops are ALL on the Northside.

Connolly, Busaras, Abbey St, Jervis, Four Courts, Smithfield, Museum.

That's seven stops. How many do you want ffs.

Kashkai

nipplenuts wrote:

Pedant alert!!!

OK, the following stops are ALL on the Northside.

Connolly, Busaras, Abbey St, Jervis, Four Courts, Smithfield, Museum.

That's seven stops. How many do you want ffs.

Oh yeah, and what good are they to us northsiders who want to get home instead of having a tour of inner city Dublin:p

Nevyn

I agree all the luas does is slow down my bus getting in and out of town.