[15-5-2006] Severe Delays Maynooth line

[Mark Gleeson]

There was a train failure this morning

7:57 Maynooth Bray died at Broombridge and required assistance leading to serious delays

IE site has the generic delay notice but no details

If the delay exceeded one hour, claim a refund
http://www.platform11.org/passenger_info/refunds.php

[clubcrown]

There was a train failure this morning

7:57 Maynooth Bray died at Broombridge and required assistance leading to serious delays

IE site has the generic delay notice but no details

If the delay exceeded one hour, claim a refund
http://www.platform11.org/passenger_info/refunds.php


Most commuters on that route would have annual tickets. How does that work for refunds?

I was on that train; it eventually got into Connolly at 10.15.

In fairness, the announcements and information was pretty good, though thats a change from the norm.

[Mark Gleeson]

We are looking for an arrangement like the UK and Northern Ireland where is punctuality and reliability fails before a set standard a 5% or even 10% discount be applied to monthly and annual ticket holders

We are pushing this and will continue to do so

That level of delay is excessive it should have been possible to get people to town faster. We don't know what went wrong.

[Mark Gleeson]

Brakes failure causes rail route chaos
RAIL services from Maynooth to Dublin were disrupted for up to 90 minutes yesterday, after a train broke down on one of the country's busiest commuter lines.

The break-down meant that other trains to and from Maynooth throughout the morning were up to an hour later than scheduled.
Passengers travelling on the 7.57am train from Maynooth to Dublin were left sitting for an hour and a half at Broombridge station in Dublin after the train ran into technical difficulties at around 8.30am.

Iarnrod Eireann identified a problem with the train's brakes and sent out a relief train. Services resumed at around 9.30am but later trains were disrupted for up to an hour

A spokeswoman for Iarnrod Eireann said that the brake failure was in one of the company's new fleet of trains.

"It was unusual for it to happen in one of the new trains but the most people were delayed for was up to an hour," she said.
Four other trains were delayed yesterday morning as a result of the break down but by lunch time services were back to normal
Louise Healy


© Irish Independent 2006
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1614400&issue_id=14046

[James Shields]

Do we know which class of train this was?

Is the Maynooth line reversably signalled? Could trains have been diverted through the other platform in Broombridge?

[Mark Gleeson]

Was a 29000 unit, being a brake system fault its not actually important what rolling stock it was. Brake system failures are fairly indiscriminate

The down line (Sligo bound) is supposed to be reversible. Wrong line working is possible using the crossover at Clonsilla level crossing and then onwards to the traling crossover at west of Glasnevin Junc, it does appear to be signalled for such but I don't know if the level crossings are signalled to allow it.

[James Shields]

The signalling system in general seems to be very slow about identifying problems and trying to work around them. It should be far quicker to spot, "Okay everythings stuck behind train X. It's obviously going nowhere. Here are gaps on the opposite line that train Y can fit through."

I don't think we should be turning everything over to the computers, but the point of information systems is to give the human controllers options and aid them in making decisions to resolve the problem quickly.