Rail Users Ireland Forum - Enterprise fleet refurbishment

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- - Enterprise fleet refurbishment (http://www.railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=15246)

1035 ex Belfast 19 late train fault

1400 ex Dublin 30 minutes late due to train fault at Connolly

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9 (Post 77487)

Consistency, really....there is no a single bit of consistency between both services.

Lack of interest, would think they are operating in the real world, there never has been strong demand for first class and never will be. Yes the product is not good however no matter how much you improve it, it will never be profitable as it just takes away standard seating on units and would required additional coaches i.e. restoring 5 coach units to 6 and so on.

And for what, maybe on a good day 6-10 people having a coach to themselves. Tralee does reasonably well when you compare to other routes however it's not spectacular by a long stretch. The same with Cork.

Time is money and IE would be better addressing such issues on the network.

This bravado that Belfast needs first class is complete rubbish, times have changed and I really don't think either company grasp that. Ask a single passenger what needs to change on the route:
Increase in service to hourly or just an increase?
Faster service?
Reliable service?
Would non first class stop you from using the service?

I think we know what the answers would be, with the service failing daily how on earth are the rich boy's coping with NIR stock, have they all switched to the cars, you know since first class is so critical to the route...

By all means provide on the real peak services but I'm sure even today off peak is not bursting at the scenes, so it's not so important.

It's like the whole Aer Lingus/Ryanair divide long ago, now they are more less the same!

Then who I am to tell the alleged experts running our railways who have made such wonderful decisions in the last few months, they would never be wrong :rolleyes:

First Class on IE has been an odd fish for years on IE as there were various different versions of it depending on how the train you were on was fitted out. What I can say is that on the services I used it on it was always well used, if not full. This would range from the front half of the first carriage on the train to Limerick to the full executive car on the Cork train. That there is a demand for it cannot be denied, even if it amounts to a fairly lousy upgrade on ICR's these days. I read last week (cant remember where) that some operators are investing in making train travel less of being on a bus on rails and more of an experience, and indeed ryanair have gone down the same way including business class.

i would say form my own experience that the crash killed off a lot of Business class, which was mostly paid out of the passengers employers expenses, but at the same time the product was downgraded to make it not that attractive too.

on a different note, perhaps they could look at proper catering.

The lack of proper catering is a bigger omission than first class - the offering on Sligo is terrible when you consider that is a journey that can take longer than three hours. But Irish Rail's attitude is that on-board amenities need to be a profit centre instead of something to attract business so we'll never see hot meals prepared on a Sligo train again.

That being said, maybe there could be a technological solution to the issue - if the catering crowd were to go in partnership with a couple of takeaways (or even somebody like JustEat) in Longford or Mullingar, it might be feasible to make an order from the trolley guy that could be passed on via an app and delivered to the train.

I used to travel first class on Sligo years ago when it was a nice comfortable upgrade with bigger seats and a carpet when there was none in standard. I think the key thing is the bigger seat and in this the 22K offering falls down badly. Personally, I'd feel ripped off if I paid for an upgrade on 22K. But I don't think there is much of a general appetite for paying enough of a premium to allow for lower passenger density that would make it worthwhile for Irish Rail on lines where it isn't there already.

Quote:

on a different note, perhaps they could look at proper catering.

Totally agree, the current operators have/are getting progressively worse.

Network Catering were great and the food was fairly decent especially the hot food.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9 (Post 77516)

Totally agree, the current operators have/are getting progressively worse.

Network Catering were great and the food was fairly decent especially the hot food.

You have a very short memory.

There's a huge difference between Network Catering and Rail Gourmet. For a start one was a massive loss maker, not helped by disinterested staff who never made than one pass through the train with the trolley, and who frequently closed up the buffet long before they were supposed to.

I can recall boarding a Dublin bound train at Ballybrophy to find that the buffet had already closed.

Sure the restaurant cars were better under Network Catering with a good range of meals but that's about it.

The customer now gets a service throughout the journey with catering trolleys making repeated passes through the train.

Quote:

I can recall boarding a Dublin bound train at Ballybrophy to find that the buffet had already closed.

Sure the restaurant cars were better under Network Catering with a good range of meals but that's about it.

The customer now gets a service throughout the journey with catering trolleys making repeated passes through the train.

On the Cork line Dinning Cart usually closes before Portlaoise so not much has changed on a lot of evening services....I expect during the day it's closer to Kildare and for most other routes.

Rail Gourmet, tell staff to do continuous service with the trolley however it actually annoys passengers being asked every 5 minutes for x, y, z.

Most of the established staff do a once or twice and on many services must move to the other side of the train. if they don't move I have never courted more than 3 runs.

There is no reason why quality of food can improve as with NC it was good quality and low price and we have the opposite today and the offering continues to be poor, even on the trolley.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9 (Post 77518)

Buffet counters are (more often than not) open until Kildare these days on the Cork line and certainly not Portlaoise.

I think most people would prefer the trolley to do several runs rather than just one as it was before. Once again you're taking the hyperbole route with "every 5 minutes". Let's not exaggerate here.

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Without going off topic to much, they really are no, it's not unusual for them to close 40-45 minutes before arrival. Once as it was before is not as clear as you say, the Cork route only has one run on the Mark IV and on busy service it could be Mallow before it runs through 7 coaches.

0735 ex Dublin 35 late mechanical fault before departure

Turns out the 0735 was replaced by a railcar, unknown what type. It is now the turn of the 1520 which is 30 late also due to a failure

Well the 1905 to Sligo is a 29K so there's a good chance they borrowed a 4 car 22K unit for it.

How is still going on months after introduction? While it wasn't the most reliable service beforehand, it is quite an achievement to spend £12million fancying up the trains and end up with a worse service afterwards.

Quote:

Probably because of a fault on the 16.00 to Sligo.

Ah, I didn't see that. Probably likely due to red mist descending on realising I'd have to spend the guts of 2 hours on a 29K with my neighbour emptying a chicken stuffing sandwich into my laptop.

1405 ex Belfast C3K 72 late after DD failure

1650 ex Dublin 4 car IE train

All they seemed to have been able to manage was a 4-car 29K. At least there will be plenty of space for everyone to stand. Why anybody would bother paying a premium for this pathetic attempt at a service is beyond me.

At least most of the fault with this is with translink but this seems to be an appalling waste of £12 million. If they don't these reliability problems sorted out soon, there will be nobody left using this service.

1700 Cork gone wallop as well. Train failure of some sort at Connolly, signalling issues Pearse area. Not a good eveing at all.

Going off-topic a bit but the 1715 to Longford just conked out at Ashtown. Lucky for me I managed to get the 1705 to Sligo.

0645 ex Belfast 6 coach C3K