Enterprise Mess

MJohnston

A post from a friend on Facebook, file under "why Irish Rail are failing":

After a monumental f*ck up with Irish Rail I have never been so happy to see a Translink member of staff!

Apparently reserving a specific seat two weeks in advance doesn't mean you're guaranteed on the train, despite being there a half hour early! That's what they told me and 100 other paying customers earlier when they oversold 150 tickets.

Not one apology, just conductor and station managers repeatedly saying that it 'wasn't their fault' and that we had to wait three hours for another train when it 'would probably happen again', their words. When I asked what a 'reserved seat' was, three people ran (literally sprinted) away, saying they didn't have to answer my questions. This was at the 'ticket info' kiosk.

Thanks only to me and the other 50 or so people wise enough to hang about and bring the f*cking noise, they got a rickety old train to take us to newry an hour later, where Translink picked us up. Again, not one apology from Irish Rail.

Lord knows I've had my troubles with Translink, but when they arrived to rescue us within 2 minutes of being at Newry, one conductor assured us they'd get us home immediately while another asked every individual person where they needed to go.

All we ever wanted was for one of the f*ckers to assume some degree of responsibilty or at least grow a f*cking spine.

dowlingm

The oldest 29K is 10 years old. Mightn't be what I'd employ for cross border service when there are 22000s which should be doing it, but old it isn't.

Hilly Bill

MJohnston wrote: »

A post from a friend on Facebook, file under "why Irish Rail are failing":

Was that posted on their facebook page? if not then post it there as you might get some reply off them there.

ArmaniJeanss

Curious stuff.
******
If there'd been a problem with the booking system such that it oversold by 150 tickets, I still think if you were to arrive half an hour early that you'd get on. As the rest of the passengers wouldn't know about the overbooking either so those there 30 minutes beforehand would be amongst the first.

Hilly Bill

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Curious stuff.
******
If there'd been a problem with the booking system such that it oversold by 150 tickets, I still think if you were to arrive half an hour early that you'd get on. As the rest of the passengers wouldn't know about the overbooking either so those there 30 minutes beforehand would be amongst the first.

If you arrive half hour early you could be still in the waiting room waiting to board. Overselling by 150 is a serious issue that would need to be addressed ASP.

ArmaniJeanss

Hilly Bill wrote: »

If you arrive half hour early you could be still in the waiting room waiting to board. Overselling by 150 is a serious issue that would need to be addressed ASP.

Is there a waiting room? If you are sitting around in a waiting room them you haven't really got there 'half an hour early' - you havn't really arrived until you head up to the ticket barrier imo.

Curious also about "conductor and station managers repeatedly saying that it 'wasn't their fault' and that we had to wait three hours for another train when it 'would probably happen again'"
3 hours until the next train can only happen on Sundays as there is a 90-140 minute timetable the rest of the week. So we are looking at a Sunday morning or lunchtime train that was so popular that it managed to be overbooked by 150 people. I've been on a Sunday Enterprises and had a couple of 4 seaters to myself! Yet on this day two trains in a row may be overbooked by 150+ passengers. Maybe there was a big event on in Belfast, concert or something.

And can people not stand on the Enterprise (I don't know the answer to this).

********
Meh, whole thing just piqued my curiousity and would like more details, but seeing as its a second hand facebook rant thats unlikely to happen.

Hilly Bill

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Is there a waiting room? If you are sitting around in a waiting room them you haven't really got there 'half an hour early' - you havn't really arrived until you head up to the ticket barrier imo.

Curious also about "conductor and station managers repeatedly saying that it 'wasn't their fault' and that we had to wait three hours for another train when it 'would probably happen again'"
3 hours until the next train can only happen on Sundays as there is a 90-140 minute timetable the rest of the week. So we are looking at a Sunday morning or lunchtime train that was so popular that it managed to be overbooked by 150 people. I've been on a Sunday Enterprises and had a couple of 4 seaters to myself! Yet on this day two trains in a row may be overbooked by 150+ passengers. Maybe there was a big event on in Belfast, concert or something.

And can people not stand on the Enterprise (I don't know the answer to this).

********
Meh, whole thing just piqued my curiousity and would like more details, but seeing as its a second hand facebook rant thats unlikely to happen.

In Connolly there is a waiting room for the enterprise after the barriers. You could be waiting in there until told that you can board.

trellheim

IE corral the Connolly Enterprise punters into a waiting room, with release to train 5-10 mins before departure.

n97 mini

Barry Kenny will probably be on the radio tomorrow saying it wasn't that bad/no-one told them/everyone was looked after in the end/yada yada yada

ArmaniJeanss

Hilly Bill wrote: »

In Connolly there is a waiting room for the enterprise after the barriers. You could be waiting in there until told that you can board.

trellheim wrote: »

IE corral the Connolly Enterprise punters into a waiting room, with release to train 5-10 mins before departure.

Fair enough, have taken the Enterprise from Connolly about 30 times and never knew that.:) I'm usually the person dashing through the ticket barrier with 2 minutes to spare though. Have actually been considering getting there early next time, so that once, just once, the seat number I've reserved doesn't have someone else sitting in it (rant for a different thread though).

Hilly Bill

If you reserve a seat on the enterprise from connolly then you should be able to sit in that seat regardless of the time you get there be it 10 or 30 mins before departure. If you get on in Drogheda then there should be a note on the seat head at Connolly that the seat is reserved between Drogheda and Belfast .
If you cant then the whole pre booking system is flawed and pointless.

MJohnston

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Is there a waiting room? If you are sitting around in a waiting room them you haven't really got there 'half an hour early' - you havn't really arrived until you head up to the ticket barrier imo.

Curious also about "conductor and station managers repeatedly saying that it 'wasn't their fault' and that we had to wait three hours for another train when it 'would probably happen again'"
3 hours until the next train can only happen on Sundays as there is a 90-140 minute timetable the rest of the week. So we are looking at a Sunday morning or lunchtime train that was so popular that it managed to be overbooked by 150 people. I've been on a Sunday Enterprises and had a couple of 4 seaters to myself! Yet on this day two trains in a row may be overbooked by 150+ passengers. Maybe there was a big event on in Belfast, concert or something.

And can people not stand on the Enterprise (I don't know the answer to this).

********
Meh, whole thing just piqued my curiousity and would like more details, but seeing as its a second hand facebook rant thats unlikely to happen.

I'm sure a few of the numbers were embellished in favour of a rant, but I know the person wouldn't exaggerate that much - this looked to have happened around 12 midday today judging by the post. I can't think of what could contribute to that overloading - could there perhaps have been a lot of Belfast people down for Gaga and Robbie Williams? Hard to know