Bad timing at Bray

[packetswitch]

So, we were on the platform at Bray, waiting for the 2030 northbound DART. First of all two carriages arrive in, and then the 'rest' of the train comes in behind and joins up, and the doors open. We all pile on, various staff shuffling around (complete with the odd black-clad torch-totin' "rail security" staff that becoming a feature of evening DARTs!), and lots of interesting train noises. For about five-seven minutes, complete with opening and closing of doors. Then about five minutes of silence.

Followed by "We are sorry to inform you that due to technical issues this train is going out of service, please leave it and wait for the next DART" or words to that effect. So we all pile out, to discover that they've waited right until the 2013 to Connolly (i.e. the 1745 ex Rosslare Harbour) is arriving (half an hour later) and departing (immediately) from the opposite platform (i.e. the southbound!). If they had given us some information in a timely fashion, instead of leaving us to sit and wait, those passengers for whom the Connolly train would have been an advantage could have crossed over.

Something like "We're sorry, this train may be going out of service, we're working on it, in the meantime for those of you who are travelling to or connecting at Connolly, the commuter train is due to arrive at X on platform Y, for everyone else we'll let you know as soon as we know what time we'll be on the way at".

Would that be so hard?

(edited to add: this was yesterday, Sunday 5th)

[MrX]

Well lets not forget Iarnrod Eireann operate trains. Passengers are just those annoying things that get in the way of the smooth running of a railway.

I sometimes wonder if train information is classified under the official secrets act.

Time and time again, they repeat the inability to provide the most basic customer service information. It's just inexcusable.

It's quite clear that they simply don't care or at the very least that there's absolutely no trace of a customer service ethos within the company. To be quite honest, I have had better service from some of the most notoriously unfriendly state bodies; e.g., the Revenue Commissioners than I have had from the CIE companies.

Things are improving, but painfully slowly and mostly by the automation of customer information systems; i.e., introduction of automatic PAs, platform displays and on-board automatic announcements/displays.
Communication efforts by staff, with some notable exceptions, are generally so poor it's unbelievable.

No announcements, inaudible PAs, deafening PAs, incomprehensible accents, inability to use a microphone, lack of signage, wrong signs displayed on trains, etc etc.

It's clearly an organisation-wide issue. Staff (including management) really need to get better training on the basics of good communication and on the use of technical systems like PAs etc. They should also be incentivised to provide good customer service through their bonus schemes.