[article] Enough Empty Trains to get to the Moon

[Thomas Ralph]

Originally Posted by KennyG

Hi, I'm the author of the Tribune piece. As Mark said, I was refering to the arrival time into Greystones rather than the departure time from the city. Any confusion is due to my phrasing rather than lack of research. It took me three weeks to carry out all the work involved.

Regards,
Ken Griffin

Thanks for the clarification and apologies for assuming the negative.

[Laois Commuter]

Originally Posted by tralph

Thanks for the clarification and apologies for assuming the negative.

However, if a journalist can't phrase things clearly and concisely (when writing is his job) how can he criticise others??

LC

[KennyG]

Originally Posted by Laois Commuter

However, if a journalist can't phrase things clearly and concisely (when writing is his job) how can he criticise others??

Just two quick points: (a) I wasn't criticising IE's mastery of the English language so there is no hypocracy involved and (b) the sentence makes perfect sense but I hadn't realised that it could be read in a different way.

Unfortunately, with the sheer amount of writing we have to do, the occasional phrase which is open to different interpretations sometimes creeps in.

Regards,
Ken

[Mark Gleeson]

I read the text in the article as meaning arrival in Greystones

[Donal Quinn]

Dick fearn had a letter in this mornings Metro in response. Movements are vital to allow for early starts...

[Mark Gleeson]

Curiously enough the key complaints is not the early starts

Its the 18:50 Howth Bray, 22:00 Heuston Portlaois and so on

Irish Rail seem to want to both ways, when they got caught spending €70,000 per annum on taxis to Longford, they relocated the drivers to Longford problem solved

Curiously the solution isn't workable elsewhere. Until IE place staff in Gorey a late evening service isn't a runner

[Laois Commuter]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Curiously enough the key complaints is not the early starts

Its the 18:50 Howth Bray, 22:00 Heuston Portlaois and so on

Irish Rail seem to want to both ways, when they got caught spending €70,000 per annum on taxis to Longford, they relocated the drivers to Longford problem solved

Curiously the solution isn't workable elsewhere. Until IE place staff in Gorey a late evening service isn't a runner

How many crews are at Longford - and how many trains start there? A Gorey starter is only likely to require two shifts - a morning and an evening. Factor in spare cover for rest days, leave, sickness, training etc, and you would need at least 4 crews to cover those two shifts - three if it was Monday - Friday only, although even this would probably require additional cover from Dublin. Less, and reliability will be poor. Cost is too great for the amount of traffic likely to be on offer.

There are (I believe) crews at Portlaoise. I share the frustration about the evening train which runs empty, but suspect that as the trains worked by the new units has varied during the introduction period so has the time of movements to and from the new depot - as well as the effect of the KRP works. As the letter in Metro says, this will be consolidated when the new fleet is fully up and running. Having said that, driving down the N7/M7 at about that time in the evening it is near empty after Naas, so again how much of a market is there is open to debate.

LC

[Thomas J Stamp]

woah there!!

When the fleet is up and running? That date is in two months. The draft timetable for December is already being poured over. So, it is either there for next year or it isnt. The trains are there. So, whats the missing element? Why is it missing? Whose job is it to ensure it isnt missing?

[Mark Hennessy]

Originally Posted by Donalq

Dick fearn had a letter in this mornings Metro in response. Movements are vital to allow for early starts...

And lots of angry letters back at him this morning....

[Mark Gleeson]

As was so well put on Tuesdays letter page, its simply bad management

[dowlingm]

Just listened to the Last Word excerpt. A masterclass from the John "What Senator Obama doesn't understand" McCain school of debating on behalf of the IE rep. I would fault Matt C for not devoting more time to what were two important issues - the ghost trains and the fare increase.

First, she lashed Mark about his lack of research and that a stopping train wouldn't work - but she didn't say why the train couldn't simply pick up at origin and destination. People love express trains! Then when Portlaoise came up it was "well there may be a point there" when she essentially rubbished the whole notion as an essential practice earlier on.

Hopefully this lady will see a comeuppance similar to that Matt handed out just after to the cereal woman.

[just thought of something else - she said the extra train wouldn't be guaranteed as it mightn't run everyday. This would differ from normal IE ops how?]