13.25 DART From Connolly to Greystones
 

Was on this DART earlier and pulled in to Tara St. where we were delayed by 5-10 minutes. The driver announced this was due to a commuter train in Pearse waiting to depart the platform to a siding.

As we pull in to Dun Laoghaire about half and hour later, the driver then announced that the service would now be terminating in Bray due to this earlier delay. He also announced that for the Greystones commuters, myself included that the 13.30 Roslare train (from Connolly) was minutes behind.

When everyone alighted at Bray, there were >70 people who stayed waiting for the train. Of course there were also the passengers already waiting for the Greystones train/ Roslare train at Bray. Anyway, up pulls the Intercity train which turned out to be a 3 carriage set. This, as you can imagine turned out to be the old style tin of sardines trip (as were the daily commutes before the DART upgrade) from Bray-Greystones.

I have to say fair play to the driver who kept us informed, but my gripe is, why couldn't the delayed Greystones DART be allowed travel on to Greystones?

My guess is The Greystones DART service which you boarded because of the delay it was scheduled to arrive back at Bray for a Howth/Malahide service therefore all passengers travelling to Greystones had to transfer to the next Greystones service which was the Rosslare Intercity.Because of the clockface timetable it would delay other services.

You seemed surprised it was a 3 carriage set. Isn't it always?
Of course it really should be a 6 carriage. Someday.....

6 22K carriages would be too long for the platform at Rathdrum and several of the off-side platforms on the route.

Has IE failed to award the Selective Door Opening tender? (Although it took from the 27th of January until last week to get 22037 on the road to a repairer, so who can guess at the reasons for glacial progress, not least given possible additional scrutiny arising from procurement failings in the recent past)

Would it be so bad to just stop serving Rathdrum rather than putting undersized trains on the line, notwithstanding the fact that the loop's presence there makes stopping convenient? Or are the other offside platforms elsewhere similarly difficult to extend as Rathdrum's?

Although there are obviously concerns with blind passengers, they used to have a fairly sound approach to this on the old slam-door cars on the Dublin-Sligo line. They had a sticker on the door saying something along the lines of "Stop. Make sure you are at a platform before exiting". My home station - Edgeworthstown used to have room for about 3 cars on the down platform until they lengthened it when the brought in the DMUs.

Of course this would involve having passengers taking on a tiny degree of responsibility for their own safety which we couldn't have in Ireland.

Surely it would be simpler to extend a few platforms than equip 234 cars and 100 platforms with some sort of electronic system which would invariably break down and cause everyone to get locked into to carriages or else decide to allow the doors to open as train hurtled through a station without stopping.

You can't just make a sweeping statement like that, the Rathdrum station is packed every morning and the train is so full these days following Rathdrum that people are standing from Wicklow onwards, surely there has to be a better solution than suggesting a station closes???

I don't think he's suggesting it closes, rather 1 or 2 trains don't stop there like the afternoon train to Rosslare. Although I can't really see that happening.

Someone said the possibility of a 5 carriage train in the near future???

We have so few trains passing through as it is yet paying a premium for a dismal service

That's my answer then I suppose! :D Being so off the main route I thought it might be on the light side.

Not being on the main route is the reason it is so busy. The train is the main form of public transport for the Rathdrum area. As well as people from Rathdrum a large number from Aughrim, Tinahealy, Ballinaclash etc use the train.

The Bus Eireann 133 route is very poor in the area as there is only two bus services a day serving Rathdrum.

The reality is there are too many DART services to Greystones, Rosslare trains should not follow on the tail of a Greystones DART it makes no sense, is duplication and has resulted in delays day in day out.

What Rosslare needs is a more frequent service, the old policy of ever longer trains doesn't grow the business.

7:05, 10:05, 13:05, 16:05, 19:05 to Rosslare is what you need with 17:05 and 18:05 to Gorey

Yes please!