ThomasJ
27-12-2009, 19:37
Okay so we might as well throw this discussion out again. The whole "services over christmas" debate!
Anyway the question I am asking is "how out of touch with what todays society is Irish rail?"
The first is stephens day. The stephens day discussion has been done to death for years, but there is a significance to this years as most of the major retailers in Dublin City Centre began their sales on stephens day and town was packed. a good sign for dublin city centre traders.
The major shopping centres out of the city had a limited number of shops open but rumblings in blanchardstown for example are we may see most if not all shops open for stephens day next day.
Dublin bus made a decision (a few weeks back) to run extra earlier services to the city on stephens day. Isn't it time now for irish rail to realise that stephens day maybe about to become a major shopping day and not shut up shop!
The other thing is the standard of service over the christmas holidays. The saturday/sunday timetable on quiet a few routes are a significant reduction from the normal workday timetables. A clear example would be Wexford/Rosslare services where there there is 3-4 services on the day and a large wait for passengers on that line.
Last Years saturday timetable on the 27th/28th/29th caused problems for passengers on the maynooth line some for whom were working on those days. As a result of services being reduced and train sizes being halved passengers were left behind.
Anger from local residents prompted a statement from local TD Joan Burton on the matterhttp://www.joanburton.ie/?postid=1042
Deputy Burton, pointed out to Barry Kenny that she had received a large number of complains from constituents over the Christmas and New Year period, when Irish Rail only provided a very limited service. Deputy Burton argued that Irish Rail did not take into account the large number of people who return to work to find that their regular trains were cancelled and only a minimal service in its place.
Barry Kenny stated that Irish Rail had held a review of the Christmas service on the Maynooth Line (which serves Dublin 15) and that there would be improvements to the schedule for next Christmas.
sadly the same saturday service seems to apply to this years timetable for maynooth line passengers.
So, any thoughts on this?
Anyway the question I am asking is "how out of touch with what todays society is Irish rail?"
The first is stephens day. The stephens day discussion has been done to death for years, but there is a significance to this years as most of the major retailers in Dublin City Centre began their sales on stephens day and town was packed. a good sign for dublin city centre traders.
The major shopping centres out of the city had a limited number of shops open but rumblings in blanchardstown for example are we may see most if not all shops open for stephens day next day.
Dublin bus made a decision (a few weeks back) to run extra earlier services to the city on stephens day. Isn't it time now for irish rail to realise that stephens day maybe about to become a major shopping day and not shut up shop!
The other thing is the standard of service over the christmas holidays. The saturday/sunday timetable on quiet a few routes are a significant reduction from the normal workday timetables. A clear example would be Wexford/Rosslare services where there there is 3-4 services on the day and a large wait for passengers on that line.
Last Years saturday timetable on the 27th/28th/29th caused problems for passengers on the maynooth line some for whom were working on those days. As a result of services being reduced and train sizes being halved passengers were left behind.
Anger from local residents prompted a statement from local TD Joan Burton on the matterhttp://www.joanburton.ie/?postid=1042
Deputy Burton, pointed out to Barry Kenny that she had received a large number of complains from constituents over the Christmas and New Year period, when Irish Rail only provided a very limited service. Deputy Burton argued that Irish Rail did not take into account the large number of people who return to work to find that their regular trains were cancelled and only a minimal service in its place.
Barry Kenny stated that Irish Rail had held a review of the Christmas service on the Maynooth Line (which serves Dublin 15) and that there would be improvements to the schedule for next Christmas.
sadly the same saturday service seems to apply to this years timetable for maynooth line passengers.
So, any thoughts on this?