Christmas Trains
 

Because most trains on the Galway/Mayo Lines "off peak" are now 3 carriage, the increase in passengers in the run up to Christmas has led to very busy trains.

While most days there are still just about enough seats, last Friday 30+ passengers were left behind in Tullamore by the 15:35 (Westport-Dublin) and had to wait the hour for the 16:35 (Galway-Dublin) Luckily 6 carriages were provided, it being a Friday.

If this happens, are passengers entitled to 50% refund (arriving 60+ minutes late at destination)?

1200 Dublin Mallow Enterprise on Sat. 5 December 2009.

Booked a first class single [ 54.00 single + 20.00 fc supplement ] ... Sigh.... too bloody expensive for what you get.

Train left on time, arrived on time, seats clean, carriage quiet.

No at-seat meal service, 1x trolley run for Tea + Coffee.

I'd imagine they are.

Its December 8th today which (traditionally) means a significant increase in passengers travelling to/from Dublin for xmas shopping. Will Irish Rail put on extra carriages for some services? I certainly hope so but wouldn't hold my breath. More 6 carriage 22ks over the Christmas period please. Nothing worse than having to stand after a long days shopping!

19/12/09 1100 Heuston-Cork
 

This train set off late due to obsessive ticket checking (what need is there to check everyone's ticket at the end of the queue when they've already been through the ticket gates?) and there was a vast number of people ignoring reservations and sitting in the wrong seats. The train host focused on getting seats for people standing. Due to line speed restrictions it arrived in at 1435.

21/12/09 1330 Cork-Heuston
 

Lots and lots of train host announcements on this one (at least the automated announcements only scrolled over the screen and weren't broadcast out loud). Lots of requests to keep quiet in the quiet carriage too. Some of the reservations didn't work properly. Priveless was the announcement at the end: "We apologise for the late running of this train, this is due to the additional stops brought in in the new timetable".

18.30 Dublin/Rosslare
 

Yesterdays 18.30 Dublin/Rosslare service operated by the new 22k fleet I noticed just after the DART service to Greystones the Rosslare train comes into platform 5 on time. All the outside displays showing Rosslare as its destination were on,but as you enter the carriage there is no internal displays showing its stopping stations. Now I know the train is scheduled to depart at 18.30 but how can it depart on time when 4-5mins before there is a DART to Greystones on the same platform.

When the train approached Tara Street the announcement said Tara Street. Then calling out the stations in Irish down to Rosslare Europort but it never said anything in English,You would have to know your station name in Irish off-hand.
After the train left Pearse Station the writing on the display just said "This is coach A". Just arriving into Dun Laoghaire the announcement said Dun Laoghaire please change here for ferry services. What cant the train display the next station after it leaves Pearse.

Shortly after Bray it displayed "Next station 9.1km" arriving at Greystones "Na Clocah Liatha-Greystones"

It never displayed the distance after Greystones to Wicklow but it did display Wicklow-Rathdrum. It didnt display the distance for Rathdrum-Arklow and the same to Arklow-Gorey. Why cant it display the distance after every station along with the welcome onboard.This is the 18.30 from Connolly to Rosslare serving... Taking a station off it as it travels on...

I think what IE need to do is to introduce the time onto the display screens.

I enjoyed the journey on the new train,it is a very nice train to travel on.

13.30 Rosslare
 

I was on this service just before Christmas (sorry should've reported earlier).
The automated announcements were very annoying. As it left Connolly it basically never shut up. It kept saying "this is the 13.30 hours train to Rosslare Europort calling at... There was a woman across from me going absolutely crazy as she was trying to sleep!

There is no need to keep repeating the same message and it was also very loud. It died down after Pearse but bloody hell was it irritating! I assume this happens for every 22k service to Rosslare? Sort it out Irish Rail.

Rosslare Announcements
 

Today's 0750 Rosslare to Connolly had no destination on the front or sides and the internal PIS showing 'This is coach....'. Driver made manual announcements but were barely audible with much speaker noise. When this service was turned over to intercity railcar the PIS worked with no problems lately all I have seen on this service is 'This is coach...' and no announcements at all. Last week on the 1330 from Connolly in a space of 10 minutes before departure there were 4 'Welcome on board' announcements and no other announcements except two 'Shortly arriving at...' ones for Tara Street and Bray. Irishrail need to sort out the PIS almost 2 months since these trains started working the Rosslare line there is no excuse for this shoddy half working PIS.

As of December 1st 2009 failure of the CIS is now a punishable offense and Irish Rail stand to lose part or all of the payment from the NTA if various standards are not met

18.30 Dub/Ross
 

This evenings service I have to admit was very comfortable, The PA system or whatever it is called:)displayed the next station when we reached the nearest station. But it did not call out the stations the train serves. You couldn't really hear the announcements because it was set to low.

The points mentioned above show be addressed by IE but tonight there is no complaints from this customer. :)

20:08 Tullamore to Heuston
 

I think this might have been 18:10 from Westport.

The scrolling display and Public Address seemed to be in a world of it's own. After Tullamore it was announcing 7.8 Km to the next station, which was announced as Tullamore. Somewhere near Geashill it did the whole welcome to Tullamore thing, and then welcomed people on board. Similar thing happened at Portarlington.

Wouldn't like to have been not Irish. It was pitch dark outside so would never have managed to get out at the right station.

This mornings 08.56 Gorey/Dub service was operated by the 29k fleet. I was actually glad to get this train, It was so much more comfortable than the 22k. It was faster and took 1hr35mins to Tara Street. The 22k seating is really starting to hurt my back than any other previous train on the line.

I was told this morning by the ticket officer that the train drivers are refusing to drive the 22k trains. Their engine performance is not great. The engines keep cutting out or something, 2/3 engines are working from the 3 engines on a 3 car 22k set.

Is anybody else finding the new 22k trains very uncomfortable to seat on. They may be new trains with lovely bright interior and nice looking seats, But when you seat on them they are most uncomfortable.

Is anybody else finding the new 22k trains very uncomfortable to seat on. They may be new trains with lovely bright interior and nice looking seats, But when you seat on them they are most uncomfortable. [/quote]


While I have, thus far, little mileage up on the 22000s I find them a hundred times better than any of the 'Commuter' rubbish. Still the same useless catering facilities on the Rosslare route but that has nothing to do with the 22000s. On my most recent trip No 1st class so I had to put up with a group of reasonably well behaved adolescents discussing the merits of Head shops and what sort of highs are available (at least from Enniscorthy - Bray). Try as I might to concentrate on my book I found it a trying experience - that's why for people like me who value our own space or business people etc who want to work 1st class is essential! Proper catering would be nice too but I suppose we should be thankful to have wheels on the train. :rolleyes:

2/4/10 2330 Limerick-Cork
 

The rugby return special last night could have done with some STT or any sort of on-train staff presence. There was a substantial contingent of drunk and disruptive passengers, singing at high volumes and intimidating and blocking in other passengers. Seat reservations were also not honoured.

I was imagining that IE would contract STT to supply as many bodies as possible for that train, considering how late it was, that it was relating to a sports event, and that it would no doubt be carrying many people who had visited Limerick for its special exemption yesterday.
But clearly such obvious facts elude IE management. It must have been a scary experience from the sounds of it.

Sunday, 4th April 2010
 

Connolly Station, 3rd April 2010
I bought my ticket here and the ticket buying process was straightfoward. Although the person serving me did disappear for about two minutes for some reason during the transaction.

I asked if there was a timetable to accompany the ticket and she said no and pointed to the information desk.

They didn't have timetables either, he said they were being reprinted and seemed genuinely sorry. When he saw my ticket he mentioned that a timetable would have been perfect for me, and then pointed at the individual timetable stand. Ho hum. Not the end of the world.


0830 Dublin Heuston to Galway, 4th April 2010

Dublin Heuston was a much more pleasant station than I recall from my last trip there (I was going to Millstreet) - I remember then it was incredibly noisy and dark - but then I wasn't there on a Sunday morning in Easter!





Boarding started at about 0810hrs, there was quite a queue at Heuston with no one using the barriers. At first I thought the barriers were only for a certain kind of ticket, so I queued, which was weird for someone like me who has been conditioned into using barriers in the UK. I was a bit bemused by the queue of people handing their tickets to the ticket checker, who inserted it into the reader and then handed it back. At this point I walked over to the barriers and was through straightaway.

I was impressed that my ticket worked the barriers - the number of times in the UK that certain tickets are rejected by the barriers is quite annoying, so glad this wasn't an issue here.

The train was two x three car 22 sets, standard class throughout. I found the seats comfortable throughout the journey, although I did have a bay of four to myself. And the plug sockets were great as I was able to charge my phone and camera during the trip.

Another major plus point was that the seats align with the big windows throughout the train. Something that has escaped the designers notice for many recent trainbuilds in the UK.




A trolley service went up and down a few times, tickets were checked and I settled back with a coffee.

There were repeated automatic messages asking passengers not to sit in pre-reserved seats, and to their credit I noticed the passengers checking this.

I did find the first few stations from Dublin (Adamstown etc. ) to be very bleak looking affairs. The more traditional stations on the line seemed to have lifts and footbridges foisted on them: I know that the installation of lifts at stations is a legal requirement but I got the feeling that there was no sense of integrating this with the existing heritage of the stations. Most of the stations I travelled to today felt very stark in their design.

At some point past Clara the information system had a minor breakdown. And messages would appear like "This is the train for... 20.7kms" or something similar. At Athlone the information system announced that passengers for Galway should stay in the first three coaches, as the train splits for Westport.

There then followed a broken announcement from the driver (?) which I think was saying to ignore that automatic message, but it came out as

"Passenger... train... 'scommon and .... Port change at Ath....". Seriously. Finally someone came through the train asking if anyone needed Westport and advising them to change at Athlone. So, potentially some confusion caused by a malfunctioning computer, but dealt with by a real person double checking with the passengers.

The rest of the journey was uneventful.

Had about an hour in Galway before commencing my next train... to Limerick.

Galway to Limerick Sunday 4th April 2010

Galway Station doesn't seem to have any departure boards or any signs indicating where trains are leaving from. Now I know it has just the two platforms, but I still think a small sign for "Limerick Service" would have been welcome.

Compared to Limerick and Cork, Galway Station was a bit ... naff. Very little for passengers, and it didn't feel very welcoming.


A two car train was waiting at the station, at the very end of the platform and I was interested to see how busy the train would be.



I was amongst the first to board...


We left a minute late, with about ten people on the train as far as I could tell, which was branded "Commuter". The stations on the line where again very stark affairs, with the exception of Ennis.







At each station, there were passengers boarding and disembarking, but a one car train would have sufficed. (Ignoring the perception of overcrowding that a one car train would create). However the train was busier than the one I got from Limerick to Limerick Junction for the connection to Cork.

For some reason, I can't recall any ticket checks taking place but given the amount of travelling I did in two days I may have forgotten.

Before long we arrived at Limerick.


I think Galway to Limerick could be a "grower". The service didn't feel 'slow' despite its two hours duration. Bus Eireann at Galway were agressively advertising their Galway - Gort service "in 90 minutes" whereas Irish Rail's noticeboard appeared to be some photocopied sheets.

Next journey that day... Limerick to Limerick Junction

BE's poster is exactly why CIE needs to be broken up. IE's "sister company" is it's biggest competitor. Instead IE should be running its own buses to feed their network, expanding their catchment.

06:30 Cork-Dublin 12/04/2010. Coach C.

On the plus side, the train departed on time and arrived early.

The minuses:

• The PIS only operated between Cork and Mallow. After that, nothing. Not even an announcement from the train host.
• After Kildare, the speaker system made a continuous, irritating crackling/buzzing sound.
• I wanted to buy a one day Dublin Bus ticket (I need to make 4 bus journeys in Dublin today. I couldn't work out where to buy one in Heuston, if it is even possible.
• The gates in Cork were only opened about 10 minutes before the train was due to leave, ruching people onto the train (also makes a bit of a mockery of the bit on the online booking which says you should take your seat 20 minutes beforfe the train leaves).
• After Cork, no attempt was made to enforce reserved seating. In Mallow, there was a free-for-all. In Limerick Junction, people got on to find their reserved seats occupied.
• Some staff members were only semi-presentable
• The train waited for around 10 minutes in Mallow and took 45 minutes to get in from Kildare. Given that it was early, it would make you wonder how fast they could do the journey

On another note, the coffee shop in Kent Station sells a decent capuccino for less than the muck that is peddled as a coffee on the train. This can't be doing any favours for the sales.

We are hearing a lot of complaints about reservations lately and it is something we are going to take further with IÉ.

You cannot buy Dublin Bus tickets in Heuston. You can get a one day bus/Luas ticket from the Luas vending machines, €7.50 I think.