Great Railway Journeys on CIE

Heisenberg1

tabbey wrote: »

If it arrived at it's destination only ten minutes late, Irish Rail will claim it as a punctual train.

To most of us, it is late, but we don't publish the punctuality statistics!

Irish rail do not set the parameters for the punctuality stats the NTA do.

end of the road

Heisenberg1 wrote: »

Irish rail do not set the parameters for the punctuality stats the NTA do.

yes but IE were at the same nonsense before the NTA came into being so that excuse doesn't wash i'm afraid.

Heisenberg1

end of the road wrote: »

yes but IE were at the same nonsense before the NTA came into being so that excuse doesn't wash i'm afraid.

It's not an excuse most rail company's worldwide use the same method.

tabbey

Heisenberg1 wrote: »

It's not an excuse most rail company's worldwide use the same method.

Just because other companies do it, does not excuse NTA / IR being economical with the truth.

If Amtrak disregard ten minutes in the context of an 18 hour overnight journey, I can forgive them, but 10 minutes is more significant in relation to a couple of hours from Limerick or Waterford, and even more so for a person commuting from Kildare.

Del.Monte

From the Wexford Echo 14/2/2017
http://www.wexfordecho.ie/2017/02/14/is-demand-for-ferry-trains-insufficient/

AS A threat to its continued existence hangs over the Dublin – Rosslare rail route, a spokesperson for Irish Rail has described how the advent of low-cost airlines greatly hampered demand for foot passenger rail connections between the Europort and Ireland’s capital city.

Demand among ferry passengers for a ‘sail and rail’ option is, Barry Kenny described, “extremely low.”

The spokesperson was commenting in response to queries regarding the apparent lack of synchronization between rail service schedules and the arrival and departure time of ferries at the port.

At present, two rail services departing Rosslare in the morning and evening, respectively, do so shortly before ferries are scheduled to arrive in the port.
A situation which sees trains depart Rosslare hours before and after ferries are scheduled to arrive into the port on another two occasions during the day, meanwhile, has drawn into question the necessity of such offerings.

According to Mr. Kenny, Irish Rail “review schedules regularly and monitor demand to establish the best timetables to offer our customers.”

end of the road

Del.Monte wrote: »

From the Wexford Echo 14/2/2017
http://www.wexfordecho.ie/2017/02/14/is-demand-for-ferry-trains-insufficient/

AS A threat to its continued existence hangs over the Dublin – Rosslare rail route, a spokesperson for Irish Rail has described how the advent of low-cost airlines greatly hampered demand for foot passenger rail connections between the Europort and Ireland’s capital city.

Demand among ferry passengers for a ‘sail and rail’ option is, Barry Kenny described, “extremely low.”

The spokesperson was commenting in response to queries regarding the apparent lack of synchronization between rail service schedules and the arrival and departure time of ferries at the port.

At present, two rail services departing Rosslare in the morning and evening, respectively, do so shortly before ferries are scheduled to arrive in the port.
A situation which sees trains depart Rosslare hours before and after ferries are scheduled to arrive into the port on another two occasions during the day, meanwhile, has drawn into question the necessity of such offerings.

According to Mr. Kenny, Irish Rail “review schedules regularly and monitor demand to establish the best timetables to offer our customers.”

sure they do all right. does Barry Kenny honestly think people still believe his bs? mind you some of us never did. the funny thing is nobody has ever disputed traffic numbers from the boat have fallen, at any stage. however, the fact they cannot be bothered to improve the services for the towns of wexford, enniscorthy, gorey, arklow and so on is nothing to do with foot passengers from rosslare. the fact they can't even come up with an excuse for that and have to use rosslare as the excuse says it all. also, dispite the lowish boat traffic there was absolutely no excuse what so ever for the deliberate disintegration of the connection between the train and ferry terminal. dubious actions on dubious reasoning as far as i'm concerned and i won't be convinced otherwise.

man98

Sail Rail patronage isn't going to be great if you go out of your way to schedule the trains conflictingly with the ships. The service is a nice revenue earner for Arriva out of Fishguard - whenever I use it there's at least 20 using it (admittedly not very often). IÉ once again showing their greatness.

exaisle

tabbey wrote: »

I also have no smart phone.

Several months ago, I asked in Connolly about timetable leaflets, I was told that new ones would be available in "about two weeks".

Last week I was in France, and there were no timetable leaflets in most stations. Last year, I was there in October, and the timetable racks were full for every route, perhaps they were revised each October.
My main fear is that CIE and SNCF may be discontinuing these leaflets, about six years after CIE dropped the network booklet.

Whatever about Irish Rail timetables on their website, SNCF is a disaster, DB was better for French rail services.
There is no substitute for a proper timetable, preferably on paper.

Given that you've been able to access boards.ie, I dare say that you can now access the timetable online? Time moves on. Paper timetables are, realistically, a thing of the past and are a waste..when the information can be accessed electronically...
Even if you don't have a smart phone, you might have a phone with a camera to take a pic of the relevant web page?

Del.Monte

exaisle wrote: »

Given that you've been able to access boards.ie, I dare say that you can now access the timetable online? Time moves on. Paper timetables are, realistically, a thing of the past and are a waste..when the information can be accessed electronically...
Even if you don't have a smart phone, you might have a phone with a camera to take a pic of the relevant web page?

Yes, yes, but even if everyone wanted to exclusively view timetables online it is idiocy on the part of CIE not to have a pocket sized timetable in which to advertise all their services. Anyway, your post is rubbish.

Quackster

Del.Monte wrote: »

Yes, yes, but even if everyone wanted to exclusively view timetables online it is idiocy on the part of CIE not to have a pocket sized timetable in which to advertise all their services. Anyway, your post is rubbish.

Despite the fact I don't agree with him (some basic print timetables should be available) I can see where he's coming from and I really don't see how you can constructively call his post rubbish.

Grandeeod

Quackster wrote: »

Despite the fact I don't agree with him (some basic print timetables should be available) I can see where he's coming from and I really don't see how you can constructively call his post rubbish.

It's rubbish because there is a certain arrogance expressed regarding smart phones and technology Vs a simple printed timetable. Irish Rail stations still display printed timetables on a lot of their platforms with an electronic display. There is also an assumption that all generations using the service have access to technology or can somehow scramble through it by doing things like "taking a pic of the relevant web page". You couldn't get a more rubbish post.

Isambard

i believe a large slice of the population are not able to use anything other than a printed timetable either because they don't have the technology or are unable to use it, or maybe plain just don't trust anything short of it. I personally know a lady with an iphone5 who is unable to board a train without needing to ask at least a couple of rail employees. She is not unique and the days of paper timetables being a thing of the past have not even remotely arrived.

L1011

My mother *acts* like that, but it's deliberate neo luddism in her case. Can use far more complicated technology if she wants to. She still bemoans the loss of petrol pump attendants!

exaisle

Del.Monte wrote: »

Yes, yes, but even if everyone wanted to exclusively view timetables online it is idiocy on the part of CIE not to have a pocket sized timetable in which to advertise all their services. Anyway, your post is rubbish.

Everybody is entitled to their opinion...

My initial point was that you're entirely capable of using electronic technology when it suits you....to go on boards.ie to whinge about the absence of timetables, but you feel unable to use that same technology to access the information in the timetables...

You think my post was rubbish? Pot...kettle....

roundymac

L1011 wrote: »

My mother *acts* like that, but it's deliberate neo luddism in her case. Can use far more complicated technology if she wants to. She still bemoans the loss of petrol pump attendants!

As do I.

end of the road

exaisle wrote: »

Everybody is entitled to their opinion...

My initial point was that you're entirely capable of using electronic technology when it suits you....to go on boards.ie to whinge about the absence of timetables, but you feel unable to use that same technology to access the information in the timetables...

You think my post was rubbish? Pot...kettle....

none of that matters. the information should be availible in a easy to access format IE a booklet. no excuses. people want information there and then and in a format they can simply access. they do not have the time to waste clicking on to a website, then trying to find the information that is buried deep in the site because IE'S website is a joke.

exaisle

end of the road wrote: »

none of that matters. the information should be availible in a easy to access format IE a booklet. no excuses. people want information there and then and in a format they can simply access. they do not have the time to waste clicking on to a website, then trying to find the information that is buried deep in the site because IE'S website is a joke.

Easy to access for whom? The information is as easy to access online as it is to find in a printed timetable to anybody who is (a) computer literate and (b) print literate.

Printing stuff on paper that's going to be out of date within a year and which will end up at worst in landfill or at best a recycle centre is a waste of resources.

However, isn't there a certain irony in somebody GOING ONLINE to complain about the absence of a printed timetable, the information from which could have been found by GOING ONLINE!

end of the road

exaisle wrote: »

Easy to access for whom? The information is as easy to access online as it is to find in a printed timetable to anybody who is (a) computer literate and (b) print literate.

Printing stuff on paper that's going to be out of date within a year and which will end up at worst in landfill or at best a recycle centre is a waste of resources.

However, isn't there a certain irony in somebody GOING ONLINE to complain about the absence of a printed timetable, the information from which could have been found by GOING ONLINE!

no it isn't. a booklet availible at stations that one can walk up and look in or even take home is a hell of a lot easier to access then a website which one has to open up their phone/computer, get on to the internet and log into the website. when at the station people have better things to do then trying to look through a website for information, they want it there and then so they can get to their train. if you use the railway at all you will know this. printing stuff on paper which is being done anyway is not a waste of resources. it can be done by 1 member of staff. as a huge user and supporter of technology, i'm telling you you are wrong your posts are just making excuses for incompetents and failure at the most basic of levels. IE provision of easy and quick to access information.

Hilly Bill

Del.Monte wrote: »

Yes, yes, but even if everyone wanted to exclusively view timetables online it is idiocy on the part of CIE not to have a pocket sized timetable in which to advertise all their services. Anyway, your post is rubbish.

Pick a route and you can get a paper one for it.

Hilly Bill

Del.Monte wrote: »

Traveled to Bray and back again on Sunday - uneventful trip in both directions. However, the onboard announcements really grind my gears. No less than 14 in each direction if you count the bilingual nature of them and they are completely OTT. I suppose I should be grateful that they aren't in Polish - yet!

However, it is at Bray that my complaint is this time. On arriving back at the station for the evening train I was witness to an altercation between two very large Eastern European security men and a piece of pond life that had possibly been a human at some point. Eventually he was 'persuaded' to leave the premises but no sign of the Gardai and he was free to molest anybody unfortunate enough to encounter him. The security men's approach was a bit like "Netwatch" (you in the blue hoodie) making Ireland a safer place or just moving the problem on.

I needn't have worried as the unwell individual made a bee line for the station car park where he broke into a car and the security men returned to the scene and sat on him until the Gardai finally arrived. Bray station is not a place to linger! Incidentally, would it not be possible for CIE to get in a pest controller to remove/liquidate the pigeons within the station? I'll do it for them - if they pay me.

They have got someone it to sort the pigeons out.

Hilly Bill

Infini2 wrote: »

Or management actually providing the staff the tools for that tbh...... C_C

Realisticaly they might've just stopped printing them because of cost savings as much as it is annoying they keep the timetables up on the wall at least for information as well as online to be printed off. Such is the way things have gone.

They had thousands of timetables last year but they flew out. People taking hand full of them because they were free, some taking one each time they past because they left the other at home. you need good eyesight for the new ones that are out but once they are gone they are gone.

Hilly Bill

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

But Rosslare europort is not a city.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

end of the road

Hilly Bill wrote: »

But Rosslare europort is not a city.

true, it isn't. but it isn't a suburban route either, and is branded an intercity route, just like IE'S pets westport and tralee which aren't cities either. it is a long distance route with a journey time of 3 hours, and the 2900s are only suitable for short distance high capacity suburban duties and their short journeys. the same as the 22000s are not suitable for suburban journeys as their layout is not suited to large crowds and they are ridiculously slow off the mark on those services as witnessed many times by myself.

Del.Monte

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Pick a route and you can get a paper one for it.

Sure you can. :rolleyes:

Enniscorthy rarely has any timetables - which I doubt is a unique occurrence - and when it does they are the small single route ones i.e the rest of the rail system might as well not exist. Why can CIE not revert to a booklet style version and charge for it?

I've had all this out with Dick Fearn et al for years and despite all sorts of excuses, promises and so forth, nothing changes. I even suggested back in the day when they still had a printed timetable that they should advertise CIE's other services - Fastrack, Restaurant na Mara etc. but in a company where the staff and management have no other goal than to collect the lump, golden handshake and clock, what can you expect.

exaisle

end of the road wrote: »

no it isn't. a booklet availible at stations that one can walk up and look in or even take home is a hell of a lot easier to access then a website which one has to open up their phone/computer, get on to the internet and log into the website. when at the station people have better things to do then trying to look through a website for information, they want it there and then so they can get to their train. if you use the railway at all you will know this. printing stuff on paper which is being done anyway is not a waste of resources. it can be done by 1 member of staff. as a huge user and supporter of technology, i'm telling you you are wrong your posts are just making excuses for incompetents and failure at the most basic of levels. IE provision of easy and quick to access information.

What is the problem with accessing the information online? It's the 21st Century, folks....

You'd hope that people wouldn't just turn up at a station hoping a train will turn up...and then consult the timetable... You look up the timetable before you leave for the station in order to get there in good time.
You paint a picture of confused bodies milling around platforms with their head stuck in their printed timetable...well that simply doesn't happen. Main station have large departure and arrival signs and smaller ones have poster sized route schedules.
If people need the comfort of paper, they can go print the relevant route timetable at their own expense. The information is there online and easily accessible.

Don't come here whinging about the lack of timetable information when you can access it on the machine you're already using.

n97 mini

God help tourists arriving here with no/expensive data roaming and no printer. Even proper timetables stuck on the walls of every station would be a start.

end of the road

exaisle wrote: »

What is the problem with accessing the information online? It's the 21st Century, folks....

You'd hope that people wouldn't just turn up at a station hoping a train will turn up...and then consult the timetable... You look up the timetable before you leave for the station in order to get there in good time.
You paint a picture of confused bodies milling around platforms with their head stuck in their printed timetable...well that simply doesn't happen. Main station have large departure and arrival signs and smaller ones have poster sized route schedules.
If people need the comfort of paper, they can go print the relevant route timetable at their own expense. The information is there online and easily accessible.

Don't come here whinging about the lack of timetable information when you can access it on the machine you're already using.

what century it is is irrelevant and means jot. more making excuses for failure and incompetents. accessing a website takes time which people at a railway station haven't got, and have better things to do then trying to access it. an easily availible booklet that one can simply go over and pick up and get the information they want is quick, non time consuming and is common sense. you look up the timetable when you can, in a lot of cases that will be at the train station. that doesn't mean one simply turns up to the station and hopes a train turns up as you suggest (again if you use the railway you will know this)
i paint a picture of people having to take more time then necessary to access information which in normal countries is easy and quickly accessible and availible. it being online isn't easy accessible or quickly availible, as you actually have to open up your computer and or phone and click on to a website and then actually find what you are looking for. when someone who is a supporter of technology and uses it a lot tells you that you are wrong, you are. you have no argument in support of these most basic of failures i'm afraid.

Quackster

n97 mini wrote: »

God help tourists arriving here with no/expensive data roaming and no printer. Even proper timetables stuck on the walls of every station would be a start.

I, for one, never need to go hunting for timetable booklets when using rail in other countries. But I regularly make good use of the timetable posters in stations so if IE doesn't have them in all its stations (I only know they're in the stations I use), that would be quite unforgivable.

n97 mini

Quackster wrote: »

I, for one, never need to go hunting for timetable booklets when using rail in other countries. But I regularly make good use of the timetable posters in stations so if IE doesn't have them in all its stations (I only know they're in the stations I use), that would be quite unforgivable.

Same here with posters. None of the non terminus stations on the Maynooth line have had poster timetables for 10 years. God knows how Michael Portillo got around. He walked the wrong way to exit Leixlip Convey station!