Irish rail Waterford to Dublin late again.

mickuhaha

Come on Irish rail. We are late again this morning. The reason according to the driver, poor rail conditions and leaf's on the rail lines. I feel like a suckers having to hear this BS. It's a rail line leaf's don't affect and if they do put something in place to rectify it we live in Ireland. Come on ! Rant over. I feel better now.

cml387

Leaves on the line are a major reason for delays at this time of year for all railways around the world.
Leaves affect the adhesion of the wheels on the track causing slipping.

Companies do their best to reduce the possibility by cutting back vegetation but it still is an issue in Autumn

mickuhaha

cml387 wrote: »

Leaves on the line are a major reason for delays at this time of year for all railways around the world.
Leaves affect the adhesion of the wheels on the track causing slipping.

Companies do their best to reduce the possibility by cutting back vegetation but it still is an issue in Autumn

Your right this does affect lines but not to an extent that would affect the Waterford line in this manner . An air line would blow dirt of a rail line and a brush would clean. It . These could be fixed to a train. It shouldn't be an ongoing issue.

mickuhaha

Got off my back side and looked it up. Use Sanders to fix your leaf problem Irish rail. Install them on the train and it will never be late again.

L1011

mickuhaha wrote: »

Got off my back side and looked it up. Use Sanders to fix your leaf problem Irish rail. Install them on the train and it will never be late again.

They are not 100% effective and the train can only carry a finite supply anyway

end of the road

mickuhaha wrote: »

Your right this does affect lines but not to an extent that would affect the Waterford line in this manner . An air line would blow dirt of a rail line and a brush would clean. It . These could be fixed to a train. It shouldn't be an ongoing issue.

what makes the waterford line different so much so that leaves on the line wouldn't effect it as much as any other line, and wouldn't cause subsiquent delays due to wheel slip?
sanding equipment can only do so much as the train can only cary so much sand, and the leaves when ran over by a train turn in to a grecey mulch which causes the wheel slip. it's a nucence but only so much can be done. IE could do better but this issue is never going to be totally eliminated.

mickuhaha

From what I have found out. The train on the Waterford line travels up and down a few hills as it travels between Waterford and Carlow and these hills are the areas that hold it up. The trains have WSP but not sanding two features useful on trains that drive in leaf slip conditions. The WSP on the old 22000 class seems to not be a reliable system aimed more towards prevention of damage to wheel and line . The sanding could be of benefit , it only kick's in when there is wheel slip, you don't need a full train of it to work. I think they should have thought of this issue when they were buying the trains. Still frustrating.

Rootsblower

22000 class ICR’s are fitted with both WSP system and sanders .Even with both these systems it’s impossible to completely elimanite this problem. Trains must accelerate much slower and brake further back from stations causing delays. I am a I.E driver and I hate this time of year in work.

mickuhaha

Rootsblower wrote: »

22000 class ICR’s are fitted with both WSP system and sanders .Even with both these systems it’s impossible to completely elimanite this problem. Trains must accelerate much slower and brake further back from stations causing delays. I am a I.E driver and I hate this time of year in work.

Thanks for the input. How long does this season go on for? Can you suggest any way that the company could help with the problem. Should timetables be changed to allow time for the expected delay?

Rootsblower

Leaf fall season varies in length year to year. Last year Hurricane Ophelia helped shorten the season by blowing off an awful lot of leaves of off trees in early October. Hard steady rain also helps wash off the mulched leaf residue quicker. Lighter misty rain tends to coat the residue further exacerbating the problem.


I would be first to criticize I.E but I feel they are doing an awful lot to try mitigate the issue. Sanding machines around the Dublin area every night for the leaf fall season plus stationary sandite dispensers at troublesome spots are a serious financial investment especially when every year is completely different.

Jamie2k9

As a passenger clearly I can't speak for drivers on the route but compared to last year leave fall is non existent on the route this year to date. Only poor area is the final half mile into Kilkenny and maybe Lavistown loop. If it was raining it would be significantly worse.

If you ask me speed restrictions this week and two further previous speed restrictions have gone from 80 to 50 and appear to be permanent speed restrictions are eating extra time that was there but most of the disruption like always is when other routes join the mainline from Portarlington.

I would be first to criticize I.E but I feel they are doing an awful lot to try mitigate the issue. Sanding machines around the Dublin area every night for the leaf fall season plus stationary sandite dispensers at troublesome spots are a serious financial investment especially when every year is completely different.

If they were doing a good job a sandite run would take place from Heuston/Portlaoise one a week or every two weeks. 6 days a week in Dublin is to much and 5 wouldn't make any difference.

Losty Dublin

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

If they were doing a good job a sandite run would take place from Heuston/Portlaoise one a week or every two weeks. 6 days a week in Dublin is to much and 5 wouldn't make any difference.

This post makes no sense. Don't sand the busy commuter lines because you say it's ineffectivce when it is done, but instead sand a line that isn't as badly in need of sanding

Drifter50

Where is the Irish Rail sandite train, have`nt seen it for a while? The NIR sandite train is out and about tho

Perhaps Jamie 2k9 or the Wanderer can help with some info

Jamie2k9

Losty Dublin wrote: »

This post makes no sense. Don't sand the busy commuter lines because you say it's ineffectivce when it is done, but instead sand a line that isn't as badly in need of sanding

Perhaps I wasn't clear, currently DART/M3/Maynooth is done 6 days a week. I question its effectiveness because the schedule is still a mess most days year round. Your correct Heuston doesn't traditionally suffer as bad however regular delays of 10-15 minutes cannot be allowed to continue for the next 6-8 weeks. If they ran to/from Portlaoise once a week it might improve things and I don't think going from 5 to 4 days a week on Connolly side will have a material impact. There will still be the daily delays. They could always run during the day either if they have staff. They used to run on Heuston side before but can't remember when it stopped.

Another option might be to look at the rosters for the ICRs and prehaps get them to the depot more frequently to have the wheels cleaned. I appreciate this is easier said than done however has it been considered? Trains putting samdie on tracks and if there isn't sufficient rain it will make things even worse.

I'm not criticizing them and I fully agree its a problem however I am questioning if they could do more to improve the situation.

Where is the Irish Rail sandite train, have`nt seen it for a while? The NIR sandite train is out and about tho

Stays in N Wall until its not needed and I think returns to Kildare plant shop for the rest of the year.