I frequently see drivers having a nice little chat with the station attendant (whatever they are called now) at Edgeworthstown blithely ignoring the timetable. I get a strong impression that a lot of delays are generated by staff not being bothered. When is the last time you've seen a driver run while changing ends of a train that has just arrived in late for its next run? Similarly, while it is charming, there is more than a hint of the "Are you right there Michael" about trains closing up, pulling off and then stopping to pick up a late passenger.
I think that this year it is particularly bad for some services and they have scored a spectacular own-goal by reconfiguring the rolling stock during peak leaf-slip season. Mercifully for me, the Sligo line has been relatively unaffected by delays largely thanks to the demise of the 1700 up-train.
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