RSC report into RPSI Midelton train 2014

John Denver

Del.Monte wrote: »

A lot of hot air in my opinion. With all the red tape it's a wonder the railway operates at all. It seems to have been a well organised/policed event and who blew the whistle on it? Also, if the rest of the report is as inaccurate as the statement at the beginning which says the Youghal branch east of Midleton closed in 1981...:rolleyes:

I suspect someone who was stuck in the traffic on Mill road for 25mins could be responsible for blowing the whistle!!!
And rightly so in my opinion. Alerting the local authority and emergency services 15 mins before the arrival of the train in Midelton is crazy. Totally unacceptable!
There is comments on this thread about the lack of run round facilities at Midelton etc etc but I cannot see many comments about the absolute ridiculous time line in which decisions about this service were made in. On the 5th November it was recommended to shorten the train or terminate it in Cork, 2 days before the commencement of the service (which was fully booked up).
I can't fathom this situation at all.

yachtsman

Why was the track between the barriers and the trap points left so short in the first place. If the traps and stop signal were further out the siding towards Youghal the whole train could have cleared the gates while passengers detained. Poor design of the new station in my view.

Jem72

This sort of rubbish must be why my train pass now costs 4 grand a year. Is there really nothing better for people to be doing? This actually costs lives by forcing people onto the roads due to increased costs. As road travel is more risky, the overall result is more deaths and injuries.

10 years ago, every single train on the Sligo line was too long for half the platforms on the line and yet somehow we all lived to tell the tale. Blocking the level crossing for 25 minutes is out of order but does it warrant a 32 page report that will probably have consumed a person-year's worth of effort?

Jamie2k9

yachtsman wrote: »

Why was the track between the barriers and the trap points left so short in the first place. If the traps and stop signal were further out the siding towards Youghal the whole train could have cleared the gates while passengers detained. Poor design of the new station in my view.

As I said already it was a railway build for a purpose not long once off RPSI trains.

Del.Monte

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

As I said already it was a railway build for a purpose not long once off RPSI trains.

It was a railway rebuilt without any real thought about developing traffic - just like the railway enthusiasts wet dream that is Ballybrophy.

Jamie2k9

Del.Monte wrote: »

It was a railway rebuilt without any real thought about developing traffic - just like the railway enthusiasts wet dream that is Ballybrophy.

Why?

Cork commuter is highly efficient operator compared to the rest of the network.

Captain Chaos

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

As I said already it was a railway build for a purpose not long once off RPSI trains.

A platform built for just a 4 car train is hardly fit for purpose in this day and age anywhere in the country. 8 car at a minimum. What if a 4 car set has to haul a 4 car set that failed in service?

It happens, a 2 car 2700 set has had to rescue a 6 ICR and an 6 car DART formation has had to rescue a 6 car DART, both full of passengers at rush hour.

Better to have and not need than to need and no have.

Jamie2k9

Captain Chaos wrote: »

A platform built for just a 4 car train is hardly fit for purpose in this day and age anywhere in the country. 8 car at a minimum. What if a 4 car set has to haul a 4 car set that failed in service?

It happens, a 2 car 2700 set has had to rescue a 6 ICR and an 6 car DART formation has had to rescue a 6 car DART, both full of passengers at rush hour.

Better to have and not need than to need and no have.

The failure rate of the Cork commuter is probably less than 5 annually if even that. Like the 2900 they are reliable once cheeked often.

There is next to no cases today where IE will haul a passenger service with passengers on board or by another in service train. If they did then I wouldn't of been up to 4 hours delayed while crews traveled to the train and repaired it.

I am aware it happened but put it this way if an ICR failed blocked all inbound Heuston services there is no chance IE would send a loco or other rolling stock to move the train. If you lucky after maybe 2 hours they might introduce single line running!

Cookie_Monster

GM228 wrote: »

Top and tailing has never been permitted in Ireland until recent times when it was introduced for Ballast trains.

that's incorrect. The Hunslets used to top and tail the enterprise in the 70s

GM228

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

that's incorrect. The Hunslets used to top and tail the enterprise in the 70s

That's true until the DBSOs arrived (I forgot about that)-more accurate to say not allowed in Ireland by CIE/IE. The top and tailing of the Hunslets was unique to the NIR Enterprise sets.

tabbey

GM228 wrote: »

That's true until the DBSOs arrived (I forgot about that)-more accurate to say not allowed in Ireland by CIE/IE. The top and tailing of the Hunslets was unique to the NIR Enterprise sets.

If I remember correctly that was push-pull, the two locos were controlled by the driver in the front loco. 2,700 hp for eight passenger coaches.

At less busy times, one loco would power five coaches, with a driving trailer.l

Losty Dublin

Captain Chaos wrote: »

A platform built for just a 4 car train is hardly fit for purpose in this day and age anywhere in the country. 8 car at a minimum. What if a 4 car set has to haul a 4 car set that failed in service?

It happens, a 2 car 2700 set has had to rescue a 6 ICR and an 6 car DART formation has had to rescue a 6 car DART, both full of passengers at rush hour.

Better to have and not need than to need and no have.

Cork trains are two unit railcar sets with the odd 4 car working on busy days; that's why the platform and blocks on the Cobh/Midleton branch are as short as they are.

On the train involved in the report, loading at a short problem played no part in the reported working and was not a worry of the RSC.

Grandeeod

tabbey wrote: »

The date of 1981 is I think when beet trains finished.

Regular passenger services ended 1963,but summer excursions continued until late 1980s.

The report should be a bit more accurate, otherwise it should not criticise IR and RPSI for trivial failings.

No way summer excursions continued to the late 80s. May have been an IRRS special in 1987. Definately a knock special out of Midleton that year anyway. Circa 1981, the line closed to any regular traffic, so the RSC are right.

GM228

Grandeeod wrote: »

No way summer excursions continued to the late 80s. May have been an IRRS special in 1987. Definately a knock special out of Midleton that year anyway. Circa 1981, the line closed to any regular traffic, so the RSC are right.

The regular summer excursions ended in 1982, the line remained open and available for traffic until 1987 but with no regular traffic (with the odd excursion and pilgrimage specials running and the final IRRS train in 1987) - to date the line has never actually been officially closed so the RSC report is technically incorrect.

Grandeeod

GM228 wrote: »

The regular summer excursions ended in 1982, the line remained open and available for traffic until 1987 but with no regular traffic (with the odd excursion and pilgrimage specials running and the final IRRS train in 1987) - to date the line has never actually been officially closed so the RSC report is technically incorrect.

Lets not be pedantic about this. What you have posted is more or less what I posted. I know the history of the line. The RSC report is about something completely different anyway and their preference for a closing date has no relevence to their actual report.

goingnowhere

Not the first time this kind of thing has happened

The IRRS Mk3/WRC tour had several coaches removed after the RSC was tipped off that Irish Rail management refused to address the platform length concern on the WRC section.

Had the RSC known about the RPSI trip to Midleton you can be pretty confident they would have put the foot down and said 4 passenger coaches and no more.

GM228

Grandeeod wrote: »

Lets not be pedantic about this. What you have posted is more or less what I posted. I know the history of the line. The RSC report is about something completely different anyway and their preference for a closing date has no relevence to their actual report.

I'm not been pedantic (or trying to post the same as yourself - I already posted the same info several days ago so apologies if you tought that).

Anyway I agree 100% with the part in bold as I showed early in the thread, the error in date of closure is irrelevant to the report.

Losty Dublin

Easter being a quiet news day for the Sunday's, this story managed to make it into Easter's UK Times