No assigned seat on irishrail

Tar.Aldarion

Was looking at booking a ticket and the interface has changed, I can no longer see an option to choose a seat, is that correct or am I missing where it is located now?

davyboy1975

Should give you this screen once you select your journey then click manual and you can select your seat

Tar.Aldarion

Weird I never got that screen, went through it a few times and had to book without a seat. Seat just says N/A. Maybe a problem with their site or my browser

devnull

What was the route?

Tar.Aldarion

Dublin to sligo

goingnowhere

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Dublin to sligo

Not all trains have assigned seats on the route

Hilly Bill

The 13.05 to sligo today was supposed to be a commuter train so wouldn't have allocated seats even though it ended up being an icr.
The lunch time Rosslare was the opposite.
Basically the icr for Rosslare went to sligo instead.

flaneur

Why are they running commuter trains on that route? It's way too long for those and it's going to just drive people to taking more comfortable buses instead.

Stephen15

It doesn't make sense to me IEs ICR allocation. A few months a was on a commuter train to Rosslare from Connolly and was passed on the loopline by an ICR going to Drogheda which is a commuter service while Rosslare is an intercity service. Allocate commuter trains to commuter services and allocate intercity trains for intercity services simples (but not if your IE of course).

Isambard

Probably because the unit is outbased at Drogheda for maintenance and was diagrammed to head there for service.

Del.Monte

Isambard wrote: »

Probably because the unit is outbased at Drogheda for maintenance and was diagrammed to head there for service.

Should CIE operate its services for the benefit of its staff and maintenance requirements or for passengers? I think we all know the answer to that.

XPS_Zero

Del.Monte wrote: »

Should CIE operate its services for the benefit of its staff and maintenance requirements or for passengers? I think we all know the answer to that.

You need to understand the mentality.
Administrative Staff* at universities, HSE, DSP offices, and CIE see the public not as citizens (though laughably they call them customers while having no customer service ethos whatsoever) to serve but as an aggravation or annoyance intruding on their day.


*no, of course not all, but in my anecdotal non scientifically representative experience, the vast majority.

Jamie2k9

Set probably came from Sligo and going for an A. B or C exam and then back to Sligo that afternoon. You should really focus on a full days roster of an ICR before making a full judgment. I would be surprised outside of M3 Parkway if there was many ICR set doing full commuter runs at Connolly.

end of the road

you are both correct.

however, the reality is there is a 2 sided railway and there probably always will be.
1 side will get a consistent comfortable service. not perfect, but at least some sort of attempt is made.
the other side receives an inconsistent, mostly uncomfortable service and the attitude seems to be "shur itl do, the users will put up with it" . some might but many won't.
if anyone hoped the phoenix park tunnel services would fully unite the 2 networks into 1 railway then it seems you were sadly mistaken. while we are able to get a train between the 2 networks during part of the day, the mentality of there being 2 networks is still there and it's going nowhere by the looks of it.

flaneur

Then you get falling user numbers of an unreliable or uncomfortable services and they conclude there’s no demand and decide to reduce it even further.

Tar.Aldarion

If my train had been a commuter I would be getting the bus back.

Hilly Bill

Del.Monte wrote: »

Should CIE operate its services for the benefit of its staff and maintenance requirements or for passengers? I think we all know the answer to that.

Just keep them running so and don't bother with the maintenance.

Stephen15

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Just keep them running so and don't bother with the maintenance.

Do the maintenance at a time where the train is not needed like during the night.

Del.Monte

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Just keep them running so and don't bother with the maintenance.

Are you denying that CIE operates it services to suit staff and maintenance rosters rather than its passengers? If so, I think that you're in a tiny minority as CIE couldn't even spell customer service let alone introduce it. The bloody railway is not a train set for CIE management to play with as they see fit - it's a service for the public which costs a great deal to the taxpayer and user.

Jamie2k9

Del.Monte wrote: »

Are you denying that CIE operates it services to suit staff and maintenance rosters rather than its passengers? If so, I think that you're in a tiny minority as CIE couldn't even spell customer service let alone introduce it. The bloody railway is not a train set for CIE management to play with as they see fit - it's a service for the public which costs a great deal to the taxpayer and user.

CIE do a lot to suit anybody but the customer but it's not realistic to carry out maintenance on the full fleet at night. Fleet maintenance is carried out day and night in Portlaoise, Heuston, Cork, Limerick, Fairview and Drogheda.

end of the road

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

CIE do a lot to suit anybody but the customer but it's not realistic to carry out maintenance on the full fleet at night. Fleet maintenance is carried out day and night in Portlaoise, Heuston, Cork, Limerick, Fairview and Drogheda.

what maintenence is caried out at heuston? it must only be basic stuff like cleaning?

Stephen15

I also think that maintenance should only be carried in Dublin, Cork and Limerick and not in Drogheda or Portlaoise. It seems ridiculous that a train stabled in Hueston or Connolly has to go all the way to Portlaoise or Drogheda for some rountine maintenance.

Jamie2k9

end of the road wrote: »

what maintenence is caried out at heuston? it must only be basic stuff like cleaning?

Well aside from Mark IVs, minor issues with ICRs are generally fixed there and most which do not go to Portlaoise on a particular day will be looked after in Heuston/Cork/Limerick.

I also think that maintenance should only be carried in Dublin, Cork and Limerick and not in Drogheda or Portlaoise. It seems ridiculous that a train stabled in Hueston or Connolly has to go all the way to Portlaoise or Drogheda for some rountine maintenance.

I never agreed with the Drogheda for ICR's but Portlaoise isn't that bad, given it's a major commuter terminus now it really makes little difference. I could be wrong here but each set doesn't visit that often but every ICR must visit monthly or every 6 weeks for specific checks to be carried out which can only be done there.

If I can remember Portlaoise was political meddling at the time.

end of the road

Stephen15 wrote: »

I also think that maintenance should only be carried in Dublin, Cork and Limerick and not in Drogheda or Portlaoise. It seems ridiculous that a train stabled in Hueston or Connolly has to go all the way to Portlaoise or Drogheda for some rountine maintenance.

completely agree.
all though hasn't much of inchicore works now been zoned for the will never come DU? so returning the work back there as should happen unfortunately can't happen.

Hilly Bill

Del.Monte wrote: »

Are you denying that CIE operates it services to suit staff and maintenance rosters rather than its passengers? If so, I think that you're in a tiny minority as CIE couldn't even spell customer service let alone introduce it. The bloody railway is not a train set for CIE management to play with as they see fit - it's a service for the public which costs a great deal to the taxpayer and user.

Yes, because it's a stupid theory.

Stephen15

end of the road wrote: »

completely agree.
all though hasn't much of inchicore works now been zoned for the will never come DU? so returning the work back there as should happen unfortunately can't happen.

No reason why maintenance couldn't be carried out at either Fairview or Connolly aswell

Hilly Bill

Stephen15 wrote: »

No reason why maintenance couldn't be carried out at either Fairview or Connolly aswell

Fairview looks after th the dart and Connolly do a little bit of maintenance.

XPS_Zero

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Yes, because it's a stupid theory.

We may be correct or incorrect about maintenance (I don't know jack about train maintenance so I'm open to being wrong about how necessary it is to run back to Drougheda) but it's hardly shocking that a state monopoly protected by a hysterical union the politicians have been consistently terrified to challenge does not care about customer service?
Why WOULD they care about it? They've no incentive to.

I'm sure they pay it lip service in documents and in a general sense I'm sure they tell themselves they want to do well for the customer. If they can introduce a new ticket option that will help the customer they might do so. However (1) they have no incentive to innovate being a state monopoly with no prospect of competition and (2) When it's a choice between convenience of the staff/management and the customer in that situation they will consistently choose themselves. This is an attitude throughout the entire Irish public service, not just CIE, but it's especially bad there.

I'm not suggesting privatizing IE of course that would be a disaster, but as a monopoly they need extra shove to have a customer service ethos because their entire structure naturally goes against it. It's not any one persons fault, it's not that it's filled with bad people - it's an inevitable structural systemic issue as a result of how it is set up.

Hilly Bill

Still a stupid theory otherwise you would only have trains running from 9 to 5 and none at the weekend's or bank Holidays. You wouldn't have late night trains at Xmas either.

Del.Monte

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Still a stupid theory otherwise you would only have trains running from 9 to 5 and none at the weekend's or bank Holidays. You wouldn't have late night trains at Xmas either.

Why wouldn't there be as staff get paid overtime. If you really think CIE is the epitome of customer service there's nothing further to discuss.

Hilly Bill

Del.Monte wrote: »

Why wouldn't there be as staff get paid overtime. If you really think CIE is the epitome of customer service there's nothing further to discuss.

Overtime