Failure of commuter services from Kildare

[endar]

Again this morning the 06.45 service from Limerick had to make unannounced stops in Sallins and Hazelhatch to pick up passengers. This apparently was due to the failure of the local commuter train. This is happening to often lately and while we get apologies when we reach Heuston it is annoying a lot of people who end up late for work regularly (myself included). Last week the management made themselves available to the public in Hueston from 4.30pm to 6.30pm as a result of a number of delays the week before. It seems they have come to some agreement with their maintenance crews in relation to train servicing/repairs etc (I dont have the details). Why is it necessary for Irish Rail to tell its passengers that they have had to make an "agreement" with their staff in order that the trains will break down less often? After over 5 years of this kind of treatment I'm getting sick of it.

[Mark Gleeson]

Firstly and I am being totally serious Irish trains are as reliable if not more so that the rest of europe, I'm being serious thats not the real issue

Secondly this mumbo jumbo about agreements and targets it is kind of true. The depot in Drogheda (all railcars) operates under a performance regime and has agreed targets with the operational section to provide x number of units per day. Bonuses and penalties apply. Again not an issue the depot ranks in the top 10 in Ireland and the UK and has a Q mark amongst other awards, again not the issue

Steve Murphy and his team was out on the concourse in Heuston on Tuesday 6th. The excuse is bull and could only be dreamt up by a former UK manager. Sure trains break down and always will but to shift the blame is not on the passenger doesn't care.

On the upside new rolling stock was deployed on the Kildare line this week which is more reliable than the fleet it replaces

What is missing is the UK passenger charter style performance clause which discounts monthly tickets based on performance failures thats something I've wanted for ages but IE have fudged the timetable to beat the system

[PaulM]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

What is missing is the UK passenger charter style performance clause which discounts monthly tickets based on performance failures thats something I've wanted for ages but IE have fudged the timetable to beat the system

That is something that would be welcomed.

[Mark Gleeson]

This is the message handed out on Tuesday 6th 2005, the P11 crew by chance was in Heuston that evening on business

Its not quite clear what is going on

The notice was a photocopy of a non white page so it was a tricky scan and the OCR wouldn't pick up the letters

[endar]

Yeah, that's the notice that was left in the trains alright.

The piece above about the UK Customer Charter is interesting, though I very much doubt that anything similar will happen here. "Customer Service" is not a concept that is fully understood (if at all!!) by most IE staff whatever about the management! Apologising continuously for "any inconvenience caused" gets a bit tired after the umpteenth time you've heard it!, especially when it should be for "THE inconvenience caused". Its amazing the little things that bug you after a while.

I take the point that generally Irish trains are reliable, but when things go wrong they often go horribly wrong.

[PaulM]

Originally Posted by endar

Apologising continuously for "any inconvenience caused" gets a bit tired after the umpteenth time you've heard it!, especially when it should be for "THE inconvenience caused".

I never thought of that.