DART driver change.

Van.Bosch

As I am on a DART where just just happened and seems to happen quite regularly to me I wondered has there ever been attempt to change it?

The depot in clontarf is a changeover point for drivers which was fine but when clontarf station opened was there ever an attempt to get drivers to switch on the platform and not 200 m down the track, right at the depot. It's ludicrous that it stops there, drives to the station and stops again or vice versa.

Rashers72

Agreed, but sure who cares what I think. I'm just a passenger.

EB_2013

I always thought this too as sometimes the change over can take quite a while. I'm guessing the unions would probably be up in arms if they tried to change it to Clontarf Station :eek:.

Dravokivich

Is there a clear, safe and visible pathway available for them to get to the platform?

If not, is there room for one?

Pete_Cavan

Dravokivich wrote: »

Is there a clear, safe and visible pathway available for them to get to the platform?

If not, is there room for one?

Well if the pathway was deemed to be unsafe then surely the drivers should be made walk from the depot to entrance on the Clontarf Road and around to enter the station as passengers do to get into the train rather than stepping out of the depot beside a busy live rail track? Would be interesting to see how they would react if that was put to them.

Hilly Bill

They want a ridiculous some of money to change at clontarf and was refused.

loyatemu

Dravokivich wrote: »

Is there a clear, safe and visible pathway available for them to get to the platform?

they already cross a live and busy railway to get to the gantry where they change on the southbound side. I don't think walking up to the station would introduce any extra risk.

It's 10 years since I used Clontarf Rd station on a regular basis but this used to drive me mad - the Dart would pull out of the station then stop 50 metres down the track and wait 5 minutes for the new driver to finish his tea. It often took 15 minutes to get from CR to Connolly between waiting for the driver change and waiting in North Strand for a platform.

devnull

There are DARTS parked over the opposite side of the railway than the depot. To access those they have to cross two lines of traffic which is far more dangerous than walking from the depot up to a platform.

However if it is deemed unsafe to cross any line then unfortunately the only option is for forced redundancy for a number of drivers since the trains on that side of the depot cannot enter service for safety reasons.

:rolleyes:

schemingbohemia

I'd thought they got rid of this rubbish, can't believe it's still going on. I think they did get rid of the Inchicore changeover, that was infuriating as you could be stopped virtually within sight of Heuston for a few minutes.

LXFlyer

loyatemu wrote: »

they already cross a live and busy railway to get to the gantry where they change on the southbound side. I don't think walking up to the station would introduce any extra risk.

It's 10 years since I used Clontarf Rd station on a regular basis but this used to drive me mad - the Dart would pull out of the station then stop 50 metres down the track and wait 5 minutes for the new driver to finish his tea. It often took 15 minutes to get from CR to Connolly between waiting for the driver change and waiting in North Strand for a platform.

Presumably you would be waiting at Clontarf Road in those situations as well as it may be down to the driver taking his full break where he has taken it late.

One would expect the driver to be waiting for the train rather than the other way around.

neris

EB_2013 wrote: »

I always thought this too as sometimes the change over can take quite a while. I'm guessing the unions would probably be up in arms if they tried to change it to Clontarf Station :eek:.

Problem nailed right there

schemingbohemia

It's funny they don't seem to have an issue when leaving the trains in Grand Canal Dock sidings with safety......

devnull

That is generally the way things are in most of those kind of disputes.

Safety is often a red herring in such arguments which is brought in to arguments in order to smokescreen the real reason in order to gain public support.

Hence why it's very common to go on strike about "pay and safety" and when someone gets paid enough they forget all about the safety part.

Jamie2k9

Hilly Bill wrote: »

They want a ridiculous some of money to change at clontarf and was refused.

If IE were clever a change at Clontarf should be an epxress term of employment for the new bunch, union arguments gone once the current drivers are phased out.

Irish Rail would be in an way better position if they had a couple of million to get rid of older staff, most have a price.

Carawaystick

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

If IE were clever a change at Clontarf should be an epxress term of employment for the new bunch, union arguments gone once the current drivers are phased out.

Irish Rail would be in an way better position if they had a couple of million to get rid of older staff, most have a price.

The Nta could light a fire under their backsides if they had the passenger rather than commercial competitor interest/EU interest at heart.

loyatemu

Jamie2k9 wrote:

If IE were clever a change at Clontarf should be an epxress term of employment for the new bunch, union arguments gone once the current drivers are phased out.

It shouldn't be necessary to put that sort of specific arrangement into a contract. The problem is Clontarf Rd was built after the depot, if it had been there already when the Dart started I'm sure they would have done the changeovers there from day one.

Jamie2k9

loyatemu wrote: »

Jamie2k9 wrote:

If IE were clever a change at Clontarf should be an epxress term of employment for the new bunch, union arguments gone once the current drivers are phased out.

It shouldn't be necessary to put that sort of specific arrangement into a contract. The problem is Clontarf Rd was built after the depot, if it had been there already when the Dart started I'm sure they would have done the changeovers there from day one.

You are dealing with unions and Irish Rail, contracts should contain every single little detail.

As for changing who cares when it was built, changing should be taking place at the station.

end of the road

chances are when you add up the time you will still wait the same whether they change at the depot or not. so maybe the current system with all its faults really has no advantages to be changed? i think inchicore was probably different in that most trains aren't maintained there any more so no need for a depot stop there?

Van.Bosch

end of the road wrote: »

chances are when you add up the time you will still wait the same whether they change at the depot or not. so maybe the current system with all its faults really has no advantages to be changed? i think inchicore was probably different in that most trains aren't maintained there any more so no need for a depot stop there?

How do you work that out? They could change drivers while pax board and get off so that would save. You also wouldn't have the time lost as the train speeds up / slows down again at the depot?

end of the road

if that was the case then it would have been changed. like i said when you add it up it would probably take the same time wherever they change, if you factor in all the eledged delays of drivers not waiting to jump straight on

Jamie2k9

end of the road wrote: »

if that was the case then it would have been changed. like i said when you add it up it would probably take the same time wherever they change, if you factor in all the eledged delays of drivers not waiting to jump straight on

Easily 1 or 1.5 minutes wasted, as for changing it as already said cost to much, remember they wanted extra pay for walking the full train not so long ago while IE were implementing nee software to address a door issue.

ixoy

It's highly irritating, especially as they like to do this during rush hour. One reason I've often tried to avoid the 18:22 from Tara is that I know there's always a switch over with that train and hence a further delay.

It's ridiculous that they don't just walk down to the station (and can't be a safety issue as I've seen IR personnel walk off the Clontarf Road platform to go to the depot). It would obviously save time if they changed at the platform where the train needs to stop anyway. All it requires is them to leave two minutes earlier but in their mind that's probably a shockingly unreasonable request.

Sultan of Bling

Remember when I used the dart a couple of years ago, an irish rail employee would get off the dart at clontarf and then go up the platform and have a 5 minute yap with the driver.

lost count of the amount of times I missed a luas over it. Drove me f***ing mad.