[24/10/2007] Trouble on Northern Line

[James Shields]

No sign of the 9:28 Drogheda to Pearse this morning. I'm on the Enterprise that normally passes through Drogheda about 9:20 without stopping. It stopped on platform 2, so all the people waiting on platform 1 went over and tried to get on, but the doors were locked. Eventually station staff came over and spoke to the train crew who opened the doors, but there's still no movement.

As far as I've heard, there has been no announcement, either on the train or the platform.

[James Shields]

Finally left Drogheda at 10:10. Still no announcement.

[James Shields]

It gets better. we stopped in Laytown and picked up all the people who had been on the 8.32 from Drogheda. It failed due to stuck brakes. There was a 2600 set parked in Mosney, which I'm guessing was the culprit.

[Mark Gleeson]

Still nothing on the IE site, usual policy of don't tell anyone

[KSW]

Those 2600 sets should be abolished, I remember the Rosslare line suffered because of these 2600 sets. There was also an incident when the last 2sets of the train became detached. Still no Mention on Irish Rail site

[ThomasJ]

Those 2600 sets should be abolished, I remember the Rosslare line suffered because of these 2600 sets. There was also an incident when the last 2sets of the train became detached. Still no Mention on Irish Rail site

That was the 2700 sets when they were running on the Rosslare line, remember it well! Haven't heard much about them since they went to Cork so all must be well

[Thomas Ralph]

Those 2600 sets should be abolished, I remember the Rosslare line suffered because of these 2600 sets. There was also an incident when the last 2sets of the train became detached. Still no Mention on Irish Rail site

That's all well and good, but what'll replace them? There are still 2600s operating the likes of Manulla-Westport, Cork-Cobh (some), Limerick-Rosslare Europort, etc.

[ciaran@quest.ie]

Hi,
I posted the following complaint (below) on the Irish rail site which details more about what happened. Sorry about where I'm SHOUTING but this is infuriating. I also phoned up and talked to someone in customer service. The salient points I got from that conversation are
1) One train breaking down can cause this level of disruption (no trains for over 2 hours either way) as there is no way to switch trains from one line to the other between Drogheda and Balbriggan. That's what he said!
2) We can't get better information that we got this morning as Irish RAil don't really know until they can see if the train can be fixed so we have to stand about and guess when the next train will be.


"I was at Gormanston station this morning. The first train (9.30 from Drogheda) was delayed. We got no information except that there was a "technical fault" repeatedly for the first 15 minutes. There was then no update for 1/2 an hour or a bit more, then just as the next train was due we got an announcement that it was cancelled due to a train failure. This is the first issue WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT ARE YOU CHNAGING TO MAKE SURE IT DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN. I would also like to ask how the passengers waiting at stations can be left waiting for so long with no information? This is really not good enough! I want to know what is being done to make sure this does not happen again. THIS IS THE SECOND ISSUE LACK OF INFORMATION FIOR PASSENGERS WHEN SOMETHING GOES WORNG. I had to drive to work in the end do I would like a full refund for the portion of my ticket covering my return fare today. THIS IS THE THIRD ISSUE I WANT COMPENSATION FOR THIS. I ALSO WANT COMPENSATION FOR ALL THE TIMES THE TRAIN ON THIS ROUTE HAS BEEN LATE OVER THE LAST FEW WEEKS. "

[PaulM]

Slightly OT but I was on a Luas the other day and as we pulled IN to Charlemont, the driver announced "Sorry folks, I've just heard from control that we'll be waiting about 60 seconds here." Sure enough we moved in no time.

It's amazing how far not being kept in the dark goes.

[tigger1962]

not sure if its related but translink reporting a delay on 15.20 enterprise due to points failure at malahide. incoming enterprise just arived. this might affect other northern line comuters

[tigger1962]

ok now it gets funny... I just asked a IE customer service person about the delay and if the points failure had been cleared... I was told
"What points failure?" and didn't know why the incoming train was delayed....
from translink website

Oct 16:10
Due to points failure at Malahide, the 1520 service from Dublin Connolly to Belfast Central has been delayed by 25 minutes...>>

[Mark Gleeson]

Unless a complaint is made in writting to the correct address http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_info/complaints.php#ne it will not be responded to, even then a response is somewhat unlikely and if you get one its likely to be quite insulting

If you where delayed by more than 1 hour you are entitled to a refund of 50% of the value of the ticket for that journey ie annual ticket divided by 420 * 50% http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_info/refunds.php#their_fault reasonably enough you must produce the ticket or copy of such to validate your claim

If you bought the ticket in Gormanston this morning and decided not to travel you can get a instant 100% refund on the spot by surrending the ticket at the booking office

Irish Rail refuse to issue performance based compensation to monthly and annual ticket holders as they do up north and in the UK, however some new EU rules coming into force in the next few years will provide for this

There is only one troublesome set of coaches on the northern line and they where the ones which failed this morning. The second train may have been cancelled on the grounds it would have sat in the countryside for hours or it may have been commandeered to tow the broken train

Wrong line running of trains is only possible Booterstown - Howth Junc and on the Dublin bound Skerries Balbriggan. There are manual proceedures to permit it elsewhere but its takes quite a while to arrange

[StephenM]

Manulla-Westport

The Intercities operate into Wesport with the 2600 on Manulla - Ballina. Normally they run fine from my experiences.

[ThomasJ]

Passengers for the 18.15 Pearse Drogheda were told to go to Connolly. THe guy announcing at Tara Street said it was due to an earlier technical failure on the train.

[James Shields]

I think the biggest issue for most people was the complete lack of information. There were no announcements at all in Drogheda, and the only announcement on the Enterprise was to apologise for it running late as we were coming into Connolly. I have to say both the Drogheda and Enterprise staff are usually quite good about these things, but they both failed on this occasion.

I think the 9:28 is normally an earlier northbound train, so it's possible it hadn't been able to get through. If anything had towed it, it hadn't hung around.

In general the 2600s are reliable, so as Mark says, one rogue set. I don't think we can argue for anything to be scrapped while we're desperately short of trains. The interiors leave a lot to be desired, though. Hopefully they'll be due for a mid life refurbishment when our immediate train shortage is resolved.

[Thomas Ralph]

The Intercities operate into Wesport with the 2600 on Manulla - Ballina. Normally they run fine from my experiences.

Yup, I knew what I was trying to type but typed the wrong place name. Thanks!