Are we back to the old days again??
 

This mornings 06.25 from Waterford was delayed again. I was at Athy waiting for it (due to arrive 07.37) and eventually got an announcement at 07.45 from the IE guy to say that it was only arriving in Bagnelstown and would be another 30 mins.I ended up in a big convoy to Kildare to try and catch the Portlaoise train there!
Why they could not have known that it was running this late earlier is beyond me. No reason why given but assume it was the infamous signals in Waterford again (same train was 25 mins late on Tuesday morning for that reason).
I went through several months last year complaining solid about the consistantly late trains but things had seemed to have improved so thought that the dark days were over, obviously not!

And over 20 minutes late into Athy again this morning, and last Friday, too, I think. Any reason for this? Is it the same problem with getting the level crossing open in Waterford? There's simply no excuse for the first train (from Waterford) to be this late this often.

Not sure, it was late into Athy again this morning (13 mins) and no explanation given. Will try to add a post on this thread to see if there is a trend on particular days if fellow commuters can do the same?

Sorry, have not had a chance to add the times recently.

Yesterday 21/10/08 6.25pm from Heuston left 5 mins late and got into Athy 15 minutes late, no reason given.

This morning 22/10/08 6.05am from Waterford arrived Athy at 8.15am (38 mins late) and arrived Heuston 9.12am (27 mins late), reason given on train was 'poor rail condition'

Kilkea: what you reported makes sense: it's the Autumn "leaves on the line" season. If the loco was an 071 class then they are very prone to slipping in these conditions. Other loco types are not immune either.

Would be a 201

Its not an unexpected situation, compared to the UK, Irish Rail have little or no equipment to deal with this problem. UK heavily invested in high pressure water jetting to clean the rails as have a lot of other European railways.

To be fair they have invested heavily, in posters, telling people to expect delays because of the leaves.

All Irish Rail have is a few sandite machines, which lay a sandy paste on the rails, doesn't clean them. Castleknock is a classic example of the mess that follows.

UK model is to blast the rail with high pressure water jet to clean it, then place the sandite. They have dabbled in hi frequency lasers as well.

Its not unexpected and Irish Rail have not followed industry best practice in dealing with it.

Agreed, I saw the posters going up recently, but going on previous years experience this will begin to affect the services daily out of Athy (and many other stations). I know I'm just repeating what other members have already stated, but think it is crazy that they can't amend the timetable semi annually considering the effect it has on us poorly commuters. Me getting into work 30 mins late everyday is a bit much for my boss to put up with!

It was a 201 super rocket speed loco :D

today 23/10/08 (loco 221)
07.37 from Athy actually arrived 07.54 (17 mins late), then due to arr Heuston 08.45 actually arrived 08.59 (14 mins late)