Is there any point in escalating a complaint beyond Irish Rail?

[James Howard]

Every time this flooding disruption happens on the Sligo line, I make a complaint to Irish Rail which elicits vaguely soothing noises from Paul Slowey but little by the way of action. This is ludicrous at this point - this happens every year and we get the same pathetic response - i.e. nothing.

If so, who to you go to? CIE, NTA, Transport for Ireland

[Mark Gleeson]

If you did not receive a reasoned response (EC1371 27.2), you have right of appeal to the NTA

EU courts have ruled that force majeure is not an excuse, the floods can not be used as an excuse. Entitlement to refunds etc applies

[berneyarms]

While I've some sympathy for your plight, I'm not sure though that discomfort would be grounds for a refund - every railway all over the world would be in trouble if that were the case.

Ultimately more flood defences and flood prevention measures are the only solution and that's down to capital funding from the government, which is something that has not been in plentiful supply due to the recession.

[James Howard]

I agree that a once-off disruption is no real grounds for a serious complaint, the issue here is that nothing whatsoever is being done about the issue when it happens year after year. Force Majeure would only apply in any case if it were unpredictable and never happened before.

The underlying issue will take capital to resolve and it may not be realistic to expect this to be done. However, there should be some evidence of a plan being put in place after since this happens every winter. Cheap things that would make the problem less serious would be.

1. Take measures to reduce the amount of rolling stock getting stranded or minimise capacity reduction by borrowing it from elsewhere and distributing the disruption evenly. (For example - the trains on Limerick to Galway are currently sitting at a loose end).

2. Plan for a flooding timetable and put it in place when the line is blocked. This would minimise crossing delays (trains could also skip Enfield if it were necessary to cross there - up evening trains and down morning trains have few enough Enfield passengers to fix in a taxi from Kilcock).

3. Possibly bus very lightly loaded trains all the way to Dublin. For example the 0545 generally carries about 40 passengers from before Longford yet about 400 people are delayed for up to an hour while waiting for them. It would really make more sense to just run the bussed passengers all the way to Dublin. It would make it an easier journey if they didn't have to get off the train onto a bus and then back off the bus onto a train.

[berneyarms]

I agree that a once-off disruption is no real grounds for a serious complaint, the issue here is that nothing whatsoever is being done about the issue when it happens year after year. Force Majeure would only apply in any case if it were unpredictable and never happened before.

The underlying issue will take capital to resolve and it may not be realistic to expect this to be done. However, there should be some evidence of a plan being put in place after since this happens every winter. Cheap things that would make the problem less serious would be.

1. Take measures to reduce the amount of rolling stock getting stranded or minimise capacity reduction by borrowing it from elsewhere and distributing the disruption evenly. (For example - the trains on Limerick to Galway are currently sitting at a loose end).

2. Plan for a flooding timetable and put it in place when the line is blocked. This would minimise crossing delays (trains could also skip Enfield if it were necessary to cross there - up evening trains and down morning trains have few enough Enfield passengers to fix in a taxi from Kilcock).

3. Possibly bus very lightly loaded trains all the way to Dublin. For example the 0545 generally carries about 40 passengers from before Longford yet about 400 people are delayed for up to an hour while waiting for them. It would really make more sense to just run the bussed passengers all the way to Dublin. It would make it an easier journey if they didn't have to get off the train onto a bus and then back off the bus onto a train.

Why don't you write directly to David Franks, the CEO? If you don't get satisfaction, then go to the NTA and ultimately the Minister.

As for the rolling stock from the WRC, I suspect that given the 2600s and 2800s haven't been in Dublin for some time, that there would be very few Dublin drivers still passed to drive them at this point unfortunately.

As ever, it's never straightforward.

I did see from twitter that they took up your final suggestion on at least one morning this week - the 05:45 from Sligo left Longford on time and passengers from earlier stations were put on buses direct to Dublin.

[James Howard]

That's great news about the 05:45 - I've been asking them to do that for years and that alone solves most of the issue for commuters. Maybe I'll be slightly less pissed off with them now.

I've sent a detailed complaint with suggestions through the normal channels so I'll see how it goes before escalating it.

[Jamie2k9]

Any changes to the 05.45 service are not because of suggestions but them been forced into it through overcrowding. Good that it happened all the same.

[Mickey H]

I suppose it is too much like common sense to put extra mk4 sets (3 not being used at present) on Cork trains to free 22000s to temporarily replace those in Sligo.

Also too much like common sense to have translink cover the 0735 ex Dublin which would free the 5 car 22000 for elsewhere (translink would have a 3000 CAF to cover that )

[ThomasJ]

It's good to see that Irish rail have finally stopped responding with the "its normal to see these standards of overcrowding internationally" reply

The pictures on twitter show how bad the overcrowding has been, and Irish rail have come out advising people on the maynooth line to avoid that service .

[Jamie2k9]

I suppose it is too much like common sense to put extra mk4 sets (3 not being used at present) on Cork trains to free 22000s to temporarily replace those in Sligo.

Also too much like common sense to have translink cover the 0735 ex Dublin which would free the 5 car 22000 for elsewhere (translink would have a 3000 CAF to cover that )

Would only take one return Mark IV trip daily to free up a 5 coach ICR, which is problem solved. As you say NIR could well supply rolling stock as well. Given they were able to magic up 4 3 car sets why were IE giving up an ICR since last November when it was needed down here.

It's good to see that Irish rail have finally stopped responding with the "its normal to see these standards of overcrowding internationally" reply

The pictures on twitter show how bad the overcrowding has been, and Irish rail have come out advising people on the maynooth line to avoid that service .

To be fair they never really used that outside major commuter/DART services. They cannot really use it either when they have reduced capacity either.