[16-11-2006] Heuston after 18:30

[Mark Gleeson]

Total farce here on the 19:00 to Cork

Passengers ended up on not the first, not the second but the third train which was a Mk3

No information and no mention of refunds

First train was a Mk4 then moved to another Mk4 (the set of the 21:00 I'd say), that didn't work so a Mk3 set was found, rather unclean from reports

Left sometime after 21:20

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Apparently the same for the 18:35 to Thurles.

Boarded about 18:32, didn't move, announcement at 18:40 'technical difficulties', announcement 18:55 'technicians working on it'.
I (and plenty of others although we were not advised of the option) hopped it to the 19:05 to Galway (for Portarlington).
We left on time. (I've only used the 18:35 twice this month and this has happened both times )

A friend 's work colleage on the 18:35 (for Sallins) got changed 3 times on the trains I think and got home about 21:30.

[Mark Gleeson]

Full 100% refunds apply http://www.platform11.org/passenger_info/refunds.php

Customer Relations
Southern and Western
Iarnród Éireann
Heuston Station
Dublin 8

Contact 01 703 4499

Manager in Charge: Steve Murphy
Manager of customer relations: Liam Kenny

I'd very interested to know exactly how long a response takes

[sandraoh]

I got on the 18:35 after the 2 announcements I went and queued for the 7pm train on platform 5 but at 20:20 were put on the train on platform 6 from there we were moved to platform 8 which left at 21:20 and arrived in Portlaoise at 22:25. The announcements were few and far between and the announcer apologising for the delayed boarding of the 7pm train kept saying for over an hour that the train would be boarding very shortly. Once the 7pm train was an hour late I went and got a pile of refund forms and handed them out to people in the queue. There was no announcement made to people about the right to a refund though there was free "everything except alcohol" from the dining car on the 4th train.

[sandraoh]

Another thing - once we boarded the train at 20:20 people who had reserved seats were kicking people out of the seats. I saw an eldery woman be removed from her seat by a passenger who was apparently told that reservations still stood. No seats were marked either electronically or otherwise. Also as soon as it turned 7pm the yellow tshirted people left the station. There were no staff on hand to handle the number of disputes over seating - it was absolutely crazy!

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Full 100% refunds apply http://www.platform11.org/passenger_info/refunds.php

Customer Relations
Southern and Western
Heuston Station
Dublin 8

01 7034499

I'd very interested to know exactly how long a response takes

You'd be surprised how many people aren't bothered cos 'it's only a few quid', it's very frustrating when you tell them about the refunds.

[Thomas J Stamp]

What exactle happend, does anyone know?

From reading Marks first post it looks as though TWO Mk4's sat down. Why was this?

So it was what, the 1900 to Cork? And it left at 21.30? What happned to the 18.35? Was it singnals or trains?

[sandraoh]

18:35 caught the 21:20 train too. It was technical difficulties with the 18:35 it was technical difficulties with the 7pm (I heard the brakes were locked) it was technical difficulties with the 2nd MK4 and the final one was fine because it left. I think it only left late because it was waiting for board all the people from all the various trains. There were no posters in Heuston this morning which I expected and there is nothing on the website either.

[Mark Gleeson]

Reports I got suggested total chaos

It appeared passengers for different stations where herded onto different trains, or when it became clear another train serving some stations would leave before the Cork train everyone had to move.

Of course what broke is not clear

Since the new train was in pull mode the hot money is on a suspension failure or a parking brake failure

The 19:05 to Galway left on time so a signalling, suicide, bridge strike, flood, aliens etc can be ruled out

[Mark Gleeson]

Reports indicate that sets 4005 and 4006 where involved and that indeed it was a brake related problem on both sets

Thanks to all who reported in info

[2Funki4Wheelz]

And as always - neither passengers for Portarlington or Kildare were told of the 19.05 Galway alternative option. Regular commuters are aware of it but anyone else is left sitting, wasting their time.

Surely when there's an alternative it's best practice to get as many people affected out of the way on normal services, so there's less of crush on any replacement train?

[Mark Gleeson]

Never thought I'd read this, kudos to Steve for being the only manager to have the guts to go on record (never has the apology gone on line) but again short on details, no availabilty of the refund form online and no description of the refund amounts. No apology for the chaos or poor information

The backup train for the 19:00 is to use the 21:00 set and fix the 19:00 in time didn't work, of course someone should have called Connolly and a full intercity set could have been in Heuston within 30 minutes ready to roll

Heuston Station services Thursday evening 16th November - an apology by General Manager, Southern & Western

Dear Customers,

Please accept my sincere apologies for the major disruption to the 18:35, 19:00 and 21:00 services from Heuston last night (Thursday 16th November).

A series of mechanical faults occurred to the trains operating these services and critically also occurred to the standby trains which we would normally use to cover such eventualities.

As a result our contingency service plan for your services simply was not good enough.

Today I am conducting a full enquiry into the route cause of each mechanical failure and also how we can improve our contingency planning to deal with these exceptional circumstances in order to limit the extent of delays experienced last night.

Of course compensation is available, forms can be obtained at the customer service desk at Heuston Station.

In addition, I will be holding a meet the manager event on Heuston concourse in the coming weeks and will be available to provide updates on actions taken following my enquiry.

Steve Murphy

General Manager,

Southern & Western

[sandraoh]

most people have a refund form because I gave them one and told them their right to refunds under the charter. No staff were anywhere near the queue for the train. Did i mention we were made queue in the freezing cold? They most hid behind one of those yellow skip things on platform 5

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by IE

Today I am conducting a full enquiry into the route cause of each mechanical failure and also how we can improve our contingency planning to deal with these exceptional circumstances in order to limit the extent of delays experienced last night.

I can solve that for you Steve,

Crap quailty equipment, 6000 mpc is fairly crap for a unpowered coach set
Total lack of quailty control by IE, locknuts and split pins had to be fitted when bolts worked loose
Poor training of staff on all levels
Lack of facilities to maintain the train, like to explain why the sets end up in Connolly?
Lack of spare parts, yes I know you have knicked them out of set 8
Staff lied and mislead passengers and failed utterly to provide timely information about getting home

Seriously though its odds on a electrical fault on the control car of the 18:35 which made it impossible to get a blue light, of course 2/3 of the locomotives have the abilty to power the coaches if required. The Mk4 is odds on a instrumentation fault which made it impossible to confirm the parking brake released or maybe it was a the visual inspection which found a bolt had snapped on the secondary suspension

These where not exceptional circumstances, the 18:35 frequently has problems and the Mk4 sets have serious trouble, on the day of the press launch the train was delayed by 20 minutes since a Mk4 suffered a parking brake problem in Heuston, happened a few other times as well, there was the Knocklong incident, the list goes on. Nothing happened last night that hasn't happened before

BTW does anyone in IE proof read stuff ? its root cause not route

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

BTW does anyone in IE proof read stuff ? its root cause not route

Maybe they're blaming the routes, the trains only like to go to certain places.
No one proofreads anything anywhere anymore.

[sandraoh]

I proof read a tort book a few weeks ago.

[Mark Gleeson]

You do get the feeling that if a handfull of the P11 committee where calling the shots last night that things would have been different?

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Originally Posted by sandraoh

I proof read a tort book a few weeks ago.

If we had a smiley where I took off my hat to you I would insert it here -> <-.
I used to proofread terms & conditions a lot and it was never a fun experience.

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

You do get the feeling that if a handfull of the P11 committee where calling the shots last night that things would have been different?

would have been better

[sandraoh]

I think it is a joke really. People were freezing cold and standing for over an hour in a queue that was going nowhere. They was an air of "any minutue now" so people were afraid to leave to go to the toilet or to buy a burger or a paper on whatever. At the very least they should have made a staff presence clear and passed out refund forms. They should have kept people in the loop by telling the truth when it came to us boarding the train on platform 5 from platform 6 the guy that you passed at the ticket gate told us the platform - they didn't announce it. I would be interested to see it Steve will ask for customer versions of what happened in his invesigation or it he will believe what he was told. I saw a heavily pregnant woman in the crowd - she could have been offered a seat or assistance with her bags with all the different moving between trains etc. Instead it was down to passengers to look out for eachother. After all the queuing to mind your place we moved train so many times that people who were at the top of the queue the first time could have been left without seats so they should have just told people to go and sit down or let us sit in the train while it was being fixed. Customer service is not really something that I would have commended irish rail for in the past but last night was the worst I have ever seen. Where was the train manager on the train? hiding in the dining car. I'm very surprised things didn't get violent in the end - even with all the stops people were standing until a big crowd of us got to Portlaoise and people with reserved seats throwing their weight around with no staff to supervise things....

[Mark Gleeson]

Post away here since IE is the 3rd most frequent visitor to the site, there is someone in IE reading this thread right now and I know its not the IT guys.

And when the crew show up on the platform in Heuston next week, give'em hell