First experience of the Mark 4

[Colm Moore]

So I travelled Heuston-Cork on a Mark 4 for the first time on Wednesday evening.

I arrived with only a few minutes to go and rushed for the gate. While I imagine loading the train from a midpoint improves distribution, the rush of the extra distance didn't help my asthma.

Departure was prompt and the train seemed to glide out of Heuston instead of the previous lurch. Between Heuston and Inchicore I was slightly disappointed to notice that there is still a section of jointed track, although there was no vibration and the noise was well muffled. Otherwise the ride was good, with no buffeting (although average speed was down substantially). I think the only points I noticed were Ballybrophy, but that was in no way objectionable.

I stole Mark Gleeson's usual seat. The seats are comfortable, although the table could do with being just a little bigger. However, with only about 30-40% occupancy this wasn't a problem on this trip. The variety of seating options (pairs, foursomes, rear-facing pairs) was good.

The big windows, with tinting, were good, although I was slightly uncomfortable with the amount of glass in the main doors - felt really exposed. Neither of the internal doors between Car C and the dining car were working and were in the open position. This is unacceptable as that area is a ventilation lobby for the toilet. In the car forward (D), the toilet was out of order and there was a strong enough sewage-like smell in the lobby. The positioning of the 'open' button on toilet doors is unfortunate - one passenger forced the door open by hand, thinking that it was merely stiff, not that she was going agaisnt a motor. Extra signage at the door 'handle' would be useful.

The snack car was well advertised, although the English and Irish announcements seem to be slightly different. Of note the English announcement, it seems to say "sale ... and cold snacks". Despite listening to the message intently a number of times, I ws not able to work out if it included the word "hot". Food is a bit on the expensive side and service was functional, even minimalist. I lolled at he use of a calcuator to add the price of a drink to a sandwich. I returned later for another drink to find a bag of ice in the wash hand basin ("hand washing only") and both the ice and on-counter sandwiches sitting in the evening sun.

Arrival was on time, although with only a few stops 2h55m is a ridiculous journey time that 15 years ago could be done in 2h30m .

EDIT: Ticket was checked at Heuston and Thurles.

Staff
(a) Ticket checker - no name badge, but otherwise OK.
(b) On board cleaner - only seemed to operate in one direction, I never say him walk the other way. Name bage hidden under t-shirt.
(c) Train host - well presented, passed by twice, didn't seem to interact with passengers, no name badge - only identification was an IÉ tie.
(d) Heuston yellow shirts - not to be seen anywhere.