[21-9-2006] Galway/Mayo/Cork - Heuston late trains

[Oisin88]

Tree down at 20:30 somewhere between Portarlington and Monasterevin. 18:30 Galway-ublin delayed 65 minutes. Westport and Thurles services behind presumably also late.

Customer Services in Heuston allegedly announced a partial refund. I didn't hear it, although I was not first out of my carriage.

[Mark Gleeson]

We got a tree down south of Kildare

Weather alert - Southside DART, and Heuston Intercity services disrupted by Corporate Communications


Thursday 21st September: This evening's high winds are affecting southside DART and Heuston Intercity services this evening.

High winds have caused overhead lines to be damaged, and the DART service is suspended between Dun Laoghaire and Bray. Dublin Bus are honouring rail tickets to areas affected, and substitute buses are operating as well. Services will not resume this evening

South of Kildare, a tree has fallen on the line. One line has been cleared, but there are significant delays to late evening Intercity services to and from Heuston in each direction of up to an hour.

[sandraoh]

The 21:00 didn't get into Portlaoise until 23:50 due to a tree on the line.

[ACustomer]

The Irish Rail website was reasonably up to date and informative last night. A minor miracle!

[Mark Gleeson]

Miracle possibly but still

No specific details are given on any train
No details on where bus transfers are in place
No time of publication/update is given

The notice was removed from the site sometime before 23:45 last night, while there where still a number of trains in motion

[Oisin88]

Was there many people queing for refunds?

Nobody on the scheduled 21:20 arrival from Galway.

[Mark Gleeson]

Extreme weather is a disqualifying event

[Derek Wheeler]

Extreme weather is a serious problem for rail services. There's a well documented history of it.

However, updating the IE web site is only half the battle for informing customers. In a situation like this, on train announcements by staff are of the utmost importance.Most people on the train are not surfing or consulting on the net. Unlike the disruption caused by passing hurricanes 20 years ago, these days we have mobile phones. Info can be passed on in an easier fashion and should be conveyed to passengers.

Storms are complicated, but 21st century methods of communication are very simple and reletively unaffected by said storms. A little bit of info is all it takes.

This is 2006 and not 1986.

[Oisin88]

As discussed by someone else on another thread:

does it take an hour to move a tree?