When is a 7:26 not a 7:26?

[Ballymore]

Has anyone else noticed that the 'new' 07:26 service never arrives at Mullingar in the mornings at 07:26 - it's been a couple of minutes late most of the days I've used it anyway.

In it's defence, the change from 7:33 added to the reduced number of stops means I get to work 5 mins early for 9.10 instead of 15 mins late at 9.30 so thats a great help.

[ThomasJ]

Ballymore how is the Maynooth-Drumcondra section of the journey?

Have to say that the Maynooth-Pearse all stops doesn't take as long now between drumcondra and connolly which is a good thing!

[Ballymore]

That part of the trip seems to be fine, I've not noticed any particular problems in the mornings although admittedly I probably doze through that section most days!

It does seem though that the new train could go much much faster than it does presently. Is it's speed restricted because of the track standard or is there another reason behind that?

[Mark Gleeson]

New train capable of 100mph but currently restricted to 70/75mph due to current speed limits. New train only really starts to get going at about 65mph, it gets quieter the faster you go

Talk within Irish Rail that some sections of the line beyond Maynooth may be authorised for 80-90mph, the large number of manual and farm level crossings may restricts this.

Sligo line performance is generally good at destination but can be hit and miss in the middle

[Ballymore]

Even as a passenger it seems that the train is capable of going much faster alright, it's like a high performance car just itching to be given it's head and zip along like it was intended to.

[John J]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Talk within Irish Rail that some sections of the line beyond Maynooth may be authorised for 80-90mph, the large number of manual and farm level crossings may restricts this.

Killucan-Mullingar and Mullingar-Edgeworthstown (beyond the lake) are two sections that spring to mind as being worthy of a limit increase... dead straight and I can't think of any important crossings

[Mark Gleeson]

Its the small farm crossings which are the problem

Certain crossing types limit speeds to 80mph, note the Waterford and Galway lines limits of 80mph

[sean]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Talk within Irish Rail that some sections of the line beyond Maynooth may be authorised for 80-90mph, the large number of manual and farm level crossings may restricts this.

From Shannonbridge to the Westmeath/Meath border is almost totally straight track with only a few large curves most of which are in the immediate vicinity of the stations. This section would be a natural choice for some speed limit increases, though there are a few private crossings alright that would have to be dealt with. It's a bit crap through Meath though.

[Ballymore]

07:26 arrived 31 minutes late in Connolly this morning. Not a good start to the week.

[Ballymore]

Disaster this morning, although this train rarely leaves at the appointed time of 7:26 alluded to in the topic title, this morning it left at 08:18 arriving 09:30 at Connolly.

I arrived at Mullingar at about 07:23 and the ticket inspector told us that the train was going to be about 40 minutes late. Luckily enough there is a warm ticket office / waiting room there so that bit wasnt too bad. However there was the usual startling lack of communication between IR staff and passengers.

At 8.10 or so a coach appeared at the front door and a number of people immediately ran for that and to be honest I couldnt understand why as we ahd been told the train was due in 5 minutes at that stage. Obviously these people were in the know that there was a problem with the train and sure enough - When the train eventually appeared it was missing 3 carriages and there was a brief apology citing mechanical difficulties in Sligo earlier this morning. So some people did end up standing all the way from Mullingar.

As this train arrived in at 9.30 as opposed to 8:47 are people entitled to some sort of refund or something - or is that still within 'acceptable IR performance delivery' limits?

[Mark Gleeson]

Still within the limits I'm afraid, wouldn't be within the limits in Northern Ireland though which goes to show Irish Rail's tactics

[Ballymore]

Cheers for the info Mark, disgraceful really. I wonder what the exact problem was this morning and considering that it's on the brand new train is it going to mean it's 'honeymoon period' is over already?

Also will there be implications for the Longford / Sligo bound trains this evening?

[Mark Gleeson]

This is only the 3rd reported serious problem with the new train

Its currently doing about 22,000-24,000 unit miles per week since late January, so its broken 100,000 miles roughly making 30,000+ miles per failure the Dublin Cork train during its first few months barely made 6,000 miles per failure

Based on the numbers the new railcars are about the most reliable of there type in Europe, the numbers will get better but its still way above average. Things will breakdown, that happens, what is curious is there where 3 separate railcar sets in Sligo, one wonders why they didn't just take one of the other 2 out while the one with the problem was being dealt with

[ThomasJ]

Is there/Will there be reserves set aside (at connolly) for if a breakdown occurs on Sligo/Rosslare services and if a set is pulled for maintenance purposes once all railcars are up and running throughout the Intercity network?

[Ballymore]

Still havent seen this 7:26 leave at 7:26 yet - but thats not my point today.

I was on it this morning and some very inconsiderate person / couple insisted on blasting out 'rave' music from their mobile phone I think (but could have been a fancy coloured Ipod or whatever). Jesus it was annoying at 7.30 in the morning. Even with my own MP3 up high I could still hear the crap.

I was one of several who moved carriages to get away from it.

[Mark Gleeson]

It is an offense

23. (1) No person while upon the railway or in any vehicle shall to the annoyance of any other person or if requested not to do so by an authorised person, sing, perform on any musical or other instrument or use any gramophone, record player, tape recorder or portable wireless or television apparatus.

It is becoming increasingly annoying country wide, on train staff are hard to find, probably know and are hiding

Its always crap high pitched cheap dance music, you could of course fight back with some quality classic music, the trouble makers really hate that

[zag]

I gave out to some bloke doing this last year - he had his music going all the way from Connolly through the city centre and on further.

I asked/told him to turn his music down and he came back with "It's a public train isn't it, bud ? I can listen to my music in public." I told him the rest of the public didn't want to listen to it though. I can't remember whether he turned it off straight away or not, but it went off anyway.

z

[Ballymore]

Did anyone else notice our brand new train on the 7:26 from Mullingar this morning was looking a little shabby? It seemed uncleaned to me anyway, papers everywhere and discarded tickets about the place as well as a shattered emergency window I noticed as the train pulled in also.

[Mark Gleeson]

No excuses for it not being clean

Strictly speaking it shouldn't be in service with shattered emergency window, they are only single panes of glass, non emergency ones tend to be double glazed

[lambo77]

Toilets starting to look shabby too. Didnt take long