Waterford/Limerick Jn and Ballybrophy/Limerick approach the end of the line?

Judgement Day

A little bird told me, and a senior insider wouldn't deny it, that the grey men who decide on these things have been discussing the future (?) of these two lightly used railway lines given that CIE/IE are likely to be on the receiving end of further budget cutbacks.
The Limerick Jn/Waterford line is currently closed between L.Jn and Tipperary for engineering work see here: http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=925 and this should do wonders for any remaining traffic. I'm not sure about current traffic levels on the Nenagh branch but suspect that they are not good. More deliberate poor timetabling and sparse services do little to breathe life into either route and I expect that early in the New Year the "Chicken Dinner" specials will be rolling again. Sooner or later somebody is going to have to bite the bullet and take the inevitable decision to close down the whole inter-city network - nobody better than FG methinks.

Oliver1985

Fine gael if they get in will have cork and belfast routes, dublin area, everything else will go, well maybe enda might keep the mayo line so he does not get heat down the local!!!

corktina

have to keep limerick to galway too surely....:D

flyingsnail

Judgement Day wrote: »

A little bird told me, and a senior insider wouldn't deny it, that the grey men who decide on these things have been discussing the future (?) of these two lightly used railway lines given that CIE/IE are likely to be on the receiving end of further budget cutbacks.
The Limerick Jn/Waterford line is currently closed between L.Jn and Tipperary for engineering work see here: http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=925 and this should do wonders for any remaining traffic. I'm not sure about current traffic levels on the Nenagh branch but suspect that they are not good. More deliberate poor timetabling and sparse services do little to breathe life into either route and I expect that early in the New Year the "Chicken Dinner" specials will be rolling again. Sooner or later somebody is going to have to bite the bullet and take the inevitable decision to close down the whole inter-city network - nobody better than FG methinks.

I have no problem having a proper debate but can we drop the chicken dinner crap, it has been done to death already

Judgement Day

flyingsnail wrote: »

I have no problem having a proper debate but can we drop the chicken dinner crap, it has been done to death already

Nope. Debate all you like but I enjoy poking fun at moribund institutions and their supporters. If you don't like chicken start your own thread or get me banned like DW.

charlemont

eventually they will be reopened , as long as they dont rip up the track..

Ham'nd'egger

Judgement Day wrote: »

Nope. Debate all you like but I enjoy poking fun at moribund institutions and their supporters. If you don't like chicken start your own thread or get me banned like DW.

No it isn't funny; it never was and never will be unless you are at a childish level like you are. All this thing is just you keeping up your petty vendetta with the IRRS a body who do good work in railway preservation and historical circles over the years.

mickydoomsux

Judgement Day wrote: »

Sooner or later somebody is going to have to bite the bullet and take the inevitable decision to close down the whole inter-city network - nobody better than FG methinks.

Yes, because the next logical step after closing down underperforming routes is to close down the ones that make money :rolleyes:

serfboard

Judgement Day wrote: »

Sooner or later somebody is going to have to bite the bullet and take the inevitable decision to close down the whole inter-city network - nobody better than FG methinks.

Don't think this will happen, but this ...

Oliver1985 wrote: »

Fine gael if they get in will have cork and belfast routes, dublin area, everything else will go, well maybe enda might keep the mayo line so he does not get heat down the local!!!

... is much more likely. IE's latest zero fares proposal shows that they're getting their asses kicked on Dublin->Galway by cars and buses. The same will happen on the Limerick and Waterford routes.

I think Cork will stay because of

(a) volumes,
(b) it's still a long enough drive, and
(c) they have the opportunity on this line for speed improvements (specially if they remove Limerick and Galway trains).

As more people switch to cars and buses the subsidy per passenger gets greater and therefore harder to justify.

falconio

My tuppence ha'penny

The alleged level of corruption in CIE would allegedly make fas board members go red with shame. It is disheartening to see railways closed 'in the public interest' by people who have allegedly helped themselves thanks to the daft amounts of cash that have been invested in this putrid company over the past 15 years or so.

I hate to say it but I think it would be better for a scheme like the interconnector not to go ahead until something has been done to end CIE.

Looking at my own local line I can say 20 years of enormous investment have delivered the following:

the same service level
the same or slower travel times
Filthy trains that stink of human waste and have the appearance of general neglect
non existing customer service and the ending of catering more or less
The continued deterioration of staff enthusiasm for the railway and decorum and respect for the customer.

Ten years ago I would never have imagined that the Westport line could possibly close but having traveled on it recently I was shocked at the decline - closure seems very plausible.

On the other hand I'm (pleasantly) surprised at the levels of freight being carried. Perhaps it would be no bad thing for some of these lines to be turned over to private freight operators altogether - give them a chance to make a go of it at least and have some positive spin off for the local economy apart form providing jobs for their own sake.

Hopefully the truth about CIE will come out sooner rather than later but bearing in mind the official reaction to the FAS scandal I doubt they'll be too worried.

I hate to say it as a railway supporter my whole life, but if you are a vehicle owner you would be mad to pay for such an abject, inconvenient service. Nuts.

Propellerhead

Hamndegger wrote: »

No it isn't funny; it never was and never will be unless you are at a childish level like you are. All this thing is just you keeping up your petty vendetta with the IRRS a body who do good work in railway preservation and historical circles over the years.

I was a very young subscriber to Travellers Fare and Westrail and it is disappointing to see that energy dissipated into puerile nonsense which serves no purpose whatsoever.

-Chris-

Judgement Day wrote: »

Nope. Debate all you like but I enjoy poking fun at moribund institutions and their supporters. If you don't like chicken start your own thread or get me banned like DW.

WRT Chicken Dinners:

From Wikipedia: Troll

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

So, based on this definition, and the fact that you know that reference to Chicken Dinners will elicit an emotional response, even though you know you could make your point equally well without making the Chicken Dinners reference, you are trolling.

Therefore: STOP! Thanks


WRT "...get me banned like DW"

The only person who can get you banned is you, there's no point in worrying about anyone else or what they say/do.

Hamndegger wrote: »

No it isn't funny; it never was and never will be unless you are at a childish level like you are. All this thing is just you keeping up your petty vendetta with the IRRS a body who do good work in railway preservation and historical circles over the years.

Attack the post and not the poster, you know this...

Judgement Day

mickydoomsux wrote: »

Yes, because the next logical step after closing down underperforming routes is to close down the ones that make money :rolleyes:

Which routes make money and a link to proof of this or don't bother posting?

murphaph

We need an end to CIE and IE, not the railway. The railway should be taken off CIE and CIE wound up. It's beyond reform at this stage. IE is a company plagued with corruption and downright theft.

It isn't even a sackable offence to be caught!

Take OUR railway of these clowns before it's too late (if it isn't already). I'd love to see a DB (that's Deutsche Bahn, not Dublin Bus) report on their honest opinion of IE as a railway operator. I'd say it would make interesting reading.

CIE

murphaph wrote: »

We need an end to CIE and IE, not the railway. The railway should be taken off CIE and CIE wound up. It's beyond reform at this stage. IE is a company plagued with corruption and downright theft.

It isn't even a sackable offence to be caught

Then that's a problem with the government further up. A corrupt government engenders corrupt public agencies.

Take OUR railway of these clowns before it's too late (if it isn't already). I'd love to see a DB (that's Deutsche Bahn, not Dublin Bus) report on their honest opinion of IE as a railway operator. I'd say it would make interesting reading

I'm sure that Ruediger Grube wouldn't mind taking over IE in the same manner that he's taken over EWS and Arriva. But ultimately, all you'll be doing is substituting one government agency for another, which belongs to what is ultimately an alien government. (The Germans are not too pleased with DB of late, not only because of public money going to buy foreign transport companies but also because they're going for "pork" projects such as Stuttgart 21; look up the overruns on that one, and the huge protests against it.)

dowlingm

The basic problem as I see it is this: Irish Rail have no accountability. Their board meetings are not public and the taxpayer has no public documents apart from the annual report which outline strategy, instead the use of "strategic leaks" to journos is deemed acceptable. There are project pages for major new works but no status reports and plans for existing lines - it's all "trust us we know what we're at" until it's "sorry we spent too much on a line which makes no money".

If I was on the transport committee, I'd be asking what the business justification was for the Nenagh line upgrade (for example), what the projections are for traffic post-upgrade, what upgrade schemes were considered and if this one was appropriate given the projections mentioned above, and where a suitable arrival slot has been found in Limerick to benefit the faster transit time from Nenagh to Killonan or was the intent to simply pad pad pad.

I'd also remind them if there was any talk of commercial confidentiality that IE has no competition on the rails, a big fat subsidy and their competitors on the roads have at least notional regulation in respect of route licences.

dermo88

As an emigrant, away from Ireland looking in, I think the economic crisis and bad governance has reached the scorched earth stage. Basically it means that when a new Government takes over, there will be nothing of value remaining.

Limerick to Ballybrophy will close, and that much is inevitable. The writing was on the wall from 1974 onwards when the Limerick Junction to Limerick service got priority over the duplicate route via Nenagh and Roscrea, both of which are medium sized towns of 7,000 people. The reversal at Ballybrophy does not help its business case at all.

As for Waterford to Limerick Junction, it has potential, but it needs proper timetabling to compete and succeed.

Finally, as for CIE and Iarnrod Eireann, privatisation will definitely be on the cards within 3 years as the cutbacks and revenue raising measures really begin to bite. Mass closures will be politically untenable, even with the IMF dictating the game. But, I suspect that many routes will see a trimming of services back to 4 or 5 daily.

murphaph

CIE wrote: »

Then that's a problem with the government further up. A corrupt government engenders corrupt public agencies.

It's a problem with CIE too!

CIE wrote: »

I'm sure that Ruediger Grube wouldn't mind taking over IE in the same manner that he's taken over EWS and Arriva. But ultimately, all you'll be doing is substituting one government agency for another, which belongs to what is ultimately an alien government. (The Germans are not too pleased with DB of late, not only because of public money going to buy foreign transport companies but also because they're going for "pork" projects such as Stuttgart 21; look up the overruns on that one, and the huge protests against it.)

I don't have to look it up. It's on the fecking news here every day. DB, despite any of this high profile nonsenes, is REAL railway operator which knows how to operate a railway. I am a daily DB customer and I find their service would kick the arse of IE any day. I used DB just a few hours ago, and as usual, the train turned up when it was supposed to, was clean, was correctly shown on the departure board, had the correct destination on front of it, had a working PIS inside (both audio and visual) and arrived on time. IE can't manage to do these things (which normal European rail operators do in their sleep) with any degree of regularity, despite having hundreds of millions thrown at them for the past 15 years. They are a shambles and always will be.

I will be using the ICE next weekend to head down to Erfurt. Get back to me when IE manage even 160km/h THROUGHOUT on the Dublin-Cork line. Useless pack of jokers: many regional lines around here have faster journey times than the so-called Inter City service provided by IE.

Jehuty42

All fair points, but Germany and Ireland aren't really comparable. We will never have anything close to the ICE, it would just be unnecessary for such a small country.

Judgement Day

Jehuty42 wrote: »

All fair points, but Germany and Ireland aren't really comparable. We will never have anything close to the ICE, it would just be unnecessary for such a small country.

I don't think that he was suggesting a comparison between ICE and Irish Rail Inter-city services but more the whole approach by the Germans to rail operations. Countless millions have been poured into the Dublin/Cork and Dublin/Belfast services in the last thirty years - CTC, CWR, new rolling stock and locomotives and the speeds are slower than they were back in the 1980s. The catering has gone from bad to worse, there's no freight left on either route and CIE/IE's only answer is WiFi for everybody. :rolleyes:

Transportuser09

The fact that IÉ have at least made some attempt to improve services over Waterford-Limerick Junction in the last ten years suggests that they might have some interest in keeping the route open, whereas Rosslare-Waterford only got a service decrease in the years leading to its closure.

Ballybrophy-Limerick on the other hand seems more doubtful, especially seen as the Nenagh commuter service was partly the work of a campaign ratehr than at IÉ's own instigation; coupled with the fact that freight is now entirely withdrawn from the line.

The Ballina-Manulla line was suggested for closure in the Bord Snip report but I can't see that happening, it has decent passenger and freight traffic levels.

foggy_lad

just look at irish rails suspension of services between clontarf road and pearse street stations this weekend! i got to connolly earlier today and asked what arrangements had been made for disabled passengers to get to pearse from clontarf road and was told none at all and they had no information on busses running along the route between the stations i was basically told that people could walk or get the information themselves! this came from the information desk in connolly station!

when i got to pearse street i was told by very friendly and helpful staff that they had all the information i could need on busses to any northside destination and they also told me of the shuttle bus which was leaving roughly every 15minutes from just outside tha station and travelling between all the affected stations!

the ar$e doesn't know what the elbow is doing!

the dart to bray was very quick with no other traffic on the line, reminded me of the 80's before all the commuter trains to maynooth drogheda etc but the stations were all mixed up on the information displays and speakers with sandycove coming before dunlaoighre etc etc

i found it hard to believe that irish rail are paying for a shuttle bus from dublin bus yet not advertising it in any of the affected stations or even on their website. what a shower of wasters.

murphaph

Jehuty42 wrote: »

All fair points, but Germany and Ireland aren't really comparable. We will never have anything close to the ICE, it would just be unnecessary for such a small country.

I clearly didn't state that Ireland should have or needs an ICE type service. What I did state is that Ireland needs:

Functioning PIS, both in train and on platform, both audio and visual.
Clean trains.
Punctual trains with no unnecessary padding in their schedules.
160km/h (100mph) service MINIMUM throughout on main Intercity routes. Ideally 200km/h (125mph) on the better bits. This is all achievable with the money IE have been given already. They simply spent too much of it on the wrong things!

saywhatyousee

i hope they dont close any lines,i love a good train journey.
to be fair to IR they increased from 4 to 7 trains a day from sligo
i am happy enough with there service anyway

sorry i went slighty off topic there

mikemac

I think the Limerick Ballybrophy will close.

For years that service left Nenagh around 11am and returned around 3:30pm. If you like some lunch in Limerick and some shopping it's perfect, not so good if you want to work. And tens of thousands leave North Tipp to Limerick every morning, many of them students.
If you were cynical you'd say the timetable was planned to give the driver and station staff a 9-5 shift

It only improved once a campaign got started and extensive surveys of locals were carried out.
This was all done by volunteers and a lot of it done at bus stops, the route has an excellent bus service being on the N7.
And with the M7, the train will fall further behind Bus Éireann, JJ Kavanaghs and private motorists.

A shame, but Irish Rail have done very little to promote the service and it took a campaign to get anything done.
Nenagh to Dublin on the train is or at least was €25 return and takes 2 hours 20 minutes so that was pretty good value I reckon

CIE

murphaph wrote: »

It's a problem with CIE too

I thought I already said that.

murphaph wrote: »

I don't have to look it up. It's on the fecking news here every day. DB, despite any of this high profile nonsenes, is REAL railway operator which knows how to operate a railway. I am a daily DB customer and I find their service would kick the arse of IE any day. I used DB just a few hours ago, and as usual, the train turned up when it was supposed to, was clean, was correctly shown on the departure board, had the correct destination on front of it, had a working PIS inside (both audio and visual) and arrived on time. IE can't manage to do these things (which normal European rail operators do in their sleep) with any degree of regularity, despite having hundreds of millions thrown at them for the past 15 years. They are a shambles and always will be.

I will be using the ICE next weekend to head down to Erfurt. Get back to me when IE manage even 160km/h THROUGHOUT on the Dublin-Cork line. Useless pack of jokers: many regional lines around here have faster journey times than the so-called Inter City service provided by IE.

Apples and oranges. Whereas CIE and its divisions have had "hundreds of millions" thrown at it, DBAG has had multiple billions.


DBAG is anything but problem-free.

• Last year, two-thirds of the Berlin S-Bahn fleet were out of service; DBAG got the blame.
• This past summer, the vaunted ICE between Hannover and Köln suffered air-conditioning "failure", or more accurately insufficient capacity, only being good up to about 32°C. Temperatures inside trains soared to 50°C.
• "Stuttgart 21" has been a sore point with natives of that city, culminating in very violent protests (the Polizei resorted to using water cannons and pepper spray, victimising seniors and children); the protesters have even gone to Berlin to have their voices heard, given the federal government's intransigence over the overpriced project.
• The previous winter, a third of ICE trains couldn't run. OHLE was iced over, and there were other problems with the high-speed alignments besides. Snow on the tracks actually caused short circuits.
• Most German citizens are wary about DBAG not only going public, but also angry over their spending too much tax revenue on foreign purchases, feeling that the company is not focussing enough on German operations.
• Pro-Bahn, an advocacy group, has long criticised DBAG for deferring maintenance on both rolling stock and alignments. Kay Mitusch of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology concurs, and adds that DBAG cannot even keep up with the maintenance needs of its domestic operations in Germany.
• There's an ongoing scandal in regards to DBAG spying on its employees.
• On the freight side of things, more money has to be spent on de-rusting some 50,000 wagons sidelined by the recession.

So yes, you do have to look it up. All that exchanging DBAG for IE would result in is a transfer of that "baggage" into Ireland. After that, they would only concern themselves with operations, not capital expenditure; no miracles would occur, you won't have electric tilt-trains running between Dublin and Cork, the Luas won't be converted to tram-train so you could ride from Tallaght to Howth (besides, they knocked down the ramp at Connolly so that potential is utterly removed without another huge capital infusion), and given the divided focus between several diverse operations, things might turn out worse for Ireland than the status quo (if that's imaginable).

murphaph

CIE wrote: »

I thought I already said that.Apples and oranges. Whereas CIE and its divisions have had "hundreds of millions" thrown at it, DBAG has had multiple billions.


DBAG is anything but problem-free.

• Last year, two-thirds of the Berlin S-Bahn fleet were out of service; DBAG got the blame.
• This past summer, the vaunted ICE between Hannover and Köln suffered air-conditioning "failure", or more accurately insufficient capacity, only being good up to about 32°C. Temperatures inside trains soared to 50°C.
• "Stuttgart 21" has been a sore point with natives of that city, culminating in very violent protests (the Polizei resorted to using water cannons and pepper spray, victimising seniors and children); the protesters have even gone to Berlin to have their voices heard, given the federal government's intransigence over the overpriced project.
• The previous winter, a third of ICE trains couldn't run. OHLE was iced over, and there were other problems with the high-speed alignments besides. Snow on the tracks actually caused short circuits.
• Most German citizens are wary about DBAG not only going public, but also angry over their spending too much tax revenue on foreign purchases, feeling that the company is not focussing enough on German operations.
• Pro-Bahn, an advocacy group, has long criticised DBAG for deferring maintenance on both rolling stock and alignments. Kay Mitusch of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology concurs, and adds that DBAG cannot even keep up with the maintenance needs of its domestic operations in Germany.
• There's an ongoing scandal in regards to DBAG spying on its employees.
• On the freight side of things, more money has to be spent on de-rusting some 50,000 wagons sidelined by the recession.

So yes, you do have to look it up. All that exchanging DBAG for IE would result in is a transfer of that "baggage" into Ireland. After that, they would only concern themselves with operations, not capital expenditure; no miracles would occur, you won't have electric tilt-trains running between Dublin and Cork, the Luas won't be converted to tram-train so you could ride from Tallaght to Howth (besides, they knocked down the ramp at Connolly so that potential is utterly removed without another huge capital infusion), and given the divided focus between several diverse operations, things might turn out worse for Ireland than the status quo (if that's imaginable).

Are you seriously claiming here that DBAG are in the same league as Iarnrod Eireann?

I am a Berlin S Bahn customer. Yes, there were serious problems (by German standards) on the S Bahn last year. When I say serious I mean 10 minute frequencies instead of 5. The trains were crowded, but ran. S Bahn Berlin did not run some outlying lines at all for a number of weeks but full bus replacement was offered and by all accounts worked well. You will note that the CEO of S Bahn Berlin was forced to resign over the whole affair...has a senior head in IE had to resign over either of their potentially fatal bridge collapses in the past decade?

Oh, and as a "sorry" for the issues last year, I have received 2 months free travel this year from DB. Have IE ever done that?

The incidents with the ICE AC not working was exceptional in fairness to DB. They were hit by some of the hottest days in decades. In Berlin it got hotter on one day last summer than it has been since the 1940's. Trains with AC didn't exist the last time it got that hot so they had no experience of it.

I suppose it's relatively easy to find lots of individual incidents about DB as they operate tens of thousands of services EVERY DAY (99% of them without incident).

IMO however the BIGGEST difference between IE and DB is information. IE tell you absolutely nothing, sometimes (quite often actually) not even the next station your train is going to stop at! DB provide more information than you can shake a stick at. If a train is running 2 mins late on the S Bahn an announcement will be made by the computer automatically.

On board all Regional and IC services as a train pulls into an interchange station, the train manager will announce all connections and their relevant platforms WITHOUT FAIL (ie, not just when the lad feels like it).

I'm laughing here that you believe IE and DBAG to be on the same par. All DB's fcuk ups have been motivated by profit. IE doesn't know the meaning of the word, it just fcuks up naturally!

Snow Leopard

murphaph wrote: »

Functioning PIS, both in train and on platform, both audio and visual.

It's astonishing how they can't even get something as simple as this right. Waiting on the platform in Ennis on Monday evening....the automated announcements were trying to convince us (repeatably) that the next train on Platform 1 was the 17:15 service to.....Ennis....but what's worse is that nobody even bothered to fix it or at least shut it off. Fair enough, nobody's going to get a panic attack over it.....but it's the fact that I'm seeing stupid things like this week after week after week that annoys me.

No one honestly seems to give a shit about anything there. A few weeks ago a morning train to Limerick had to be delayed because the ticket inspector at the station didn't show up for work in time...he strolls in, nearly 15 mins late, as cool as a breeze, no apology...no nothing..... I mean WTF? How can this be allowed happen? It's a disgrace. The direct train to Heuston had to be subsequently delayed in Limerick as a result...just because a fella in Ennis couldn't be arsed showing up for work in time. Ridiculous stuff.

Rant over :mad:

foggy_lad

It really is time to give Irish rail staff statutory redundancy and shut the whole operation down until it can be run efficiently and in such a way that the company is the boss and not the unions!

Zebra3

CIE wrote: »

the Luas won't be converted to tram-train so you could ride from Tallaght to Howth (besides, they knocked down the ramp at Connolly so that potential is utterly removed without another huge capital infusion),

*Scratches head*

mickydoomsux

Snow Leopard wrote: »

No one honestly seems to give a shit about anything there. A few weeks ago a morning train to Limerick had to be delayed because the ticket inspector at the station didn't show up for work in time...he strolls in, nearly 15 mins late, as cool as a breeze, no apology...no nothing..... I mean WTF? How can this be allowed happen? It's a disgrace. The direct train to Heuston had to be subsequently delayed in Limerick as a result...just because a fella in Ennis couldn't be arsed showing up for work in time. Ridiculous stuff.

Rant over :mad:

That just sounds odd. Are you sure he was a ticket inspector? They aren't needed to run a train so i don't see why him turning up late would cause the train to be delayed

Snow Leopard

mickydoomsux wrote: »

That just sounds odd. Are you sure he was a ticket inspector? They aren't needed to run a train so i don't see why him turning up late would cause the train to be delayed

Just to clarify...

It's up to the ticket inspector to open the platform doors in the morning (in Ennis anyway). As it was the first departure of the day (06:45) the doors were locked and nobody could get out onto the platform until this fella arrived to open them. It's not like busier stations where there'd be ample staff around to do this. The only other staff member in sight was the ticket desk attendant. When he did eventually arrive, he didn't bother checking anyones tickets and just let everyone straight out onto the train to save time. What's worse is that he didn't even seem to care.

murphaph

Snow Leopard wrote: »

Just to clarify...

It's up to the ticket inspector to open the platform doors in the morning (in Ennis anyway). As it was the first departure of the day (06:45) the doors were locked and nobody could get out onto the platform until this fella arrived to open them. It's not like busier stations where there'd be ample staff around to do this. The only other staff member in sight was the ticket desk attendant. When he did eventually arrive, he didn't bother checking anyones tickets and just let everyone straight out onto the train to save time. What's worse is that he didn't even seem to care.

He didn't care. He doesn't care. Most Irish Rail staff don't care. They are a shambles of a "rail operator". That lad would be fired if he worked for DB and his union would laugh at him if he turned to them for support.

DDigital

murphaph wrote: »

He didn't care. He doesn't care. Most Irish Rail staff don't care. They are a shambles of a "rail operator". That lad would be fired if he worked for DB and his union would laugh at him if he turned to them for support.

I'd have to second that opinion. From my experience there is a very shabby attitude on irish rail. I know nothing about the engineering side despite its inconvenience but the basic customer service side of things is hit and miss with mainly miss being the ultimate target reached.

KC61

Snow Leopard wrote: »

Just to clarify...

It's up to the ticket inspector to open the platform doors in the morning (in Ennis anyway). As it was the first departure of the day (06:45) the doors were locked and nobody could get out onto the platform until this fella arrived to open them. It's not like busier stations where there'd be ample staff around to do this. The only other staff member in sight was the ticket desk attendant. When he did eventually arrive, he didn't bother checking anyones tickets and just let everyone straight out onto the train to save time. What's worse is that he didn't even seem to care.

Did you report this? This really is totally unacceptable behaviour and the staff member ought to face disciplinerary action. This may be already happening for all we know, but I certainly would not leave that sort of thing go.

L1011

Drumcondra has failed to open some mornings due to the exact same, I got a IE-paid for taxi from Connolly to Swords after flying off the handle at the station manager over a train having to skip Drumcondra due to nobody having opened up. Everyone else (there'd be well over 100 people getting off those early trains at Drumcondra) just seemed to take the delay and reorganise their journey, I wasn't going to.

There was some poor fecker who'd been let off a Maynooth bound train trapped on the outbound platform!

mickydoomsux

That's just terrible.

Never heard of that happening in my little area. Should be a straight A-form if you can't provide a backed-up excuse.