4-Car Trains

pclancy

What the hell happened to the Maynooth line trains this morning? 7:18 from coolmine that I usually get showed up with only 4 carraiges, the ensuing crush of passengers was insane and there was no way many people could fit on the train. Then the next one was the same so I ended up having to get the bus into town.

Why arent all the trains made up of 8 car sets? I presume one failed this morning or something but there must be spares....squeezing that amount of people onto a train is treacherous!

MarkoP11

Well there is in fact no spare, there are 29 4 coach sets, to run the timetable they need 28 in service, 1 in maintenace, 0 spare. Thankfully they are the most reliable diesel commuter trains in Europe, you can't sustain a service in that situation, its irresponsible to operate in such a manner since it will go wrong

A train did breakdown in Rosslare earlier in the week which is still broken resulting in a shortage, no notice on the IE site either. The folks on the 7:18 from Drogheda get the random length train its either 8, 6 or 4 depending on the phase of the moon

Irish Rail have denied that there is a shortage of railcars, fact is there is and its only going to get worse

If you feel the level of overcrowding led to a safety issue, eg people collapsing, crushed etc, take a photo and complain to the Railway Safety Commission, www.rsc.ie not much they can do but still they are a lot nicer to deal with than IE

mal1

I was on this train this morning. A total nightmare!! Some guy elbowed me because about 20 people behind me (desperately trying to get on the train) pushed me into him. I just elbowed him back.

I think in these cases all passengers need to be patient and realise that it's a unpleasant ride for all involved.

I went to email irishrail about it this morning, only to realise that their website says the following:

"Thank you for your email, while not all emails will receive an individual response, we do note all comments received by email"

So basically your wasting your time in emailing them. Charming!

MarkoP11

Only written complaints are even considered

That said you can ring them, details
http://www.platform11.org/passenger_info/complaints.php

Skyhater

Is there a passenger safety limit on these trains? Are IE responsible for ensuring that the trains are not overcrowded in an unsafe manner?

If this happened at Croke Park of any sporting venue; It would be Closed Down!!!!

mikemac

Maybe off topic, but anytime I've used the Luas or Dart lately during peak times there is a problem with people pushing to get in before letting people out.
Don't use public transport often so don't now how common this is.

Pure ignorance and it slows everyone down:mad:

MarkoP11

Skyhater wrote:

Is there a passenger safety limit on these trains? Are IE responsible for ensuring that the trains are not overcrowded in an unsafe manner?

You are responsible for not boarding a train which you consider dangerously overcrowded, of course thats a bit impractical at 8am. If you work in the IFSC and live between Clonsilla and Broombridge get the train to Docklands instead, shorter journey time less crowded do your fellow commuters a favour

If you are feeling any way unwell don't even think about getting on a overcrowded train, carry a bottle of water with you and take your coat off before you get on

All the trains and trams are designed to carry way more people than it is physically possible to fit, DART coaches are designed for a crush load of 250 people where in practice it rarely breaks 175

There are no safety regulations for this anywhere in Europe, and the Japanese well they pay people to squash you in. It seems to suit the rail operators to ignore the problem and the safety people wash there hands of it claiming they have no jurisdiction. Slight issue is if a heavy draconian piece of legislation surfaced the net result would be fewer people carried so you can't have it both ways

clubcrown

MarkoP11 wrote:

You are responsible for not boarding a train which you consider dangerously overcrowded, of course thats a bit impractical at 8am. If you work in the IFSC and live between Clonsilla and Broombridge get the train to Docklands instead, shorter journey time less crowded do your fellow commuters a favour

Just on that.........whats the story with the docklands? I've seen about 8 of them so far in coolmine (I get the regular train) and theres barely anyone on them, or getting onto them at that station.

Do they fill up from there on, or is it jsut not working for people? Everyone I know in the IFSC has stuck with the regular trains, as a result theres no real difference in the crush at rush hour that I can see.

MarkoP11

Numbers are not bad in the region of 150 on the 7:45 from Clonsilla similar on the 8:20, the 7:00 am from Clonsilla is quiet. First major tenant moved into Spencer Dock last week so it will pick up

End of the day if you work in the IFSC area you have an alternative if you are coming in from Clonsilla-Broombridge, its faster as well. People seem to be very stuck in their ways which is unfourtuate

pclancy

This morning was mayhem, it took the driver about 5 attempts to get the doors closed. When I seen the mayhem begin I just backed off and didnt bother squeezing in, walked down the road and got the bus instead. Peoples attitudes are terrible on busy trains its as if the world will actually end if they dont get on no matter how many other people get squashed. It was full to the brim leaving coolmine so im sure the next few stations were horrible also!

From a safety point of view im sure there would be injuries if the driver had to stop quickly and ive seen people be sick or feint either on the trains or getting off. Terrible.

I work near baggot st and have got the docklands train a good few times in in the morning and I usually get it every night home. The 7:45 from coolmine means ive to leg it to get to work for 8:30 but the 6:45 home is grand as its very quiet and journey is only 15 mins. 7:45 is fairly well loaded though most people get a seat, the one home is quiet but im sure the earlier ones are busy.

I love the docklands train, the jam of the 6:30 and 7:00 trains from pearse to coolmine wreck my head and its only a 20 minute walk from baggot st to spencers dock.

_Kaiser_

pclancy wrote:

This morning was mayhem, it took the driver about 5 attempts to get the doors closed. When I seen the mayhem begin I just backed off and didnt bother squeezing in, walked down the road and got the bus instead. Peoples attitudes are terrible on busy trains its as if the world will actually end if they dont get on no matter how many other people get squashed. It was full to the brim leaving coolmine so im sure the next few stations were horrible also!

The problem and reason for behavior like that is that people realise IE (or public transport in general) can't be relied on. The next train may be late, full (especially if the one you try to board is before it arrives) or not even show at all (have IE turned on the displays at Coolmine yet?)

As a result the attitude is to take what you can get. If people knew that the next train was only 5/10 minutes away AND THAT IT WOULD ACTUALLY SHOW ON TIME, then situations like this wouldn't arise.

daymobrew

MarkoP11 wrote:

Numbers are not bad in the region of 150 on the 7:45 from Clonsilla similar on the 8:20, the 7:00 am from Clonsilla is quiet. First major tenant moved into Spencer Dock last week so it will pick up

I was on the front carriage on the 8:20 on Tuesday morning. All seats taken and 27 people standing (quite comfortable). It's certainly getting more popular.
As a resident in the Coolmine area, I see more people parking in the area too, maybe due to the extra capacity via the Docklands service.

Victor

MarkoP11 wrote:

Irish Rail have denied that there is a shortage of railcars, fact is there is and its only going to get worse

Its true, the shortage is in EMUs and electrified railways.

mal1

I got the following reply from irishrail regarding th 4 carriage trains on the Maynooth line. I was surprised that I got a reply at all.


30th April, 2007

Dear Mr. xxxxxxx,

Thank you for your email of 20th April regarding your journey on the 06.45 service from Enfield which you joined en route.

I am sorry for the high loadings experienced on the morning in question. This was due to a reduction in train size as a result of a fault on the train set in Connolly station earlier than morning. As all rolling stock is in use at peak times, we have no additional carriages to add and therefore your train ran as a smaller size.

I trust that the discomfort experienced on the morning in question will not deter you from continue to commute on Iarnód Éireann services.

Yours sincerely,

xxxx xxxxxx



Customer Relations Manager,

(Northern/Eastern), Connolly

Victor

mal1 wrote:

I was surprised that I got a reply at all.

Election, Election, Election!