Tuskar Hogan in the Indo Today

The RPA could just as easily post a press release stating that "Tram Passengers Up 100% since 2003" - that's how meaningless this CIE report is. We badly need well informed journalist in this country who actually use and understand the purpose of public transport.

Be great if this guy might be able one day to write an informed article on rail and mentioned that CIE managers were literally forced into running commuter services on the Maynooth line by Albert Reyonlds. They said there was no demand for commuter services on the Maynooth line. Just like they are saying there is no capacity on the Phoenix Park tunnel route now.

Treacy mate, next time you are talking to the CIE Property Developers (who occassionally dabble in public transport), ask them if the alleged CIE public transport information kiosk at Dublin Airport actually performs a meaningful fuction such as selling bus tickets. So that arriving air travellers using Dublin Bus a few yards away do not have to look for excat change and the bus drivers can then concentrate on moving in and out of the terminal ASAP. Suggest to Dr Lynch that it might be a good idea to do that rather with the CIE "bus and rail" kiosk, rather than using it to promote CIE package tours and day trips. While you're at it inform him that public transport is not day trips to Ballykissangel nor building apartments.

Iarnrod Eireann EU's 'fastest growing railway'
Treacy Hogan - Indo (of course...)
Environment Correspondent

IARNROD Eireann is the fastest growing passenger railway in Europe, new figures show.

Passenger numbers have risen by over 40pc in a decade.

In an end of year report published today, Dr John Lynch, CIE chairman, said that following an earlier phase work that focused on track, signalling and other critical infrastructure work, the company was now delivering tangible benefits to customers.

He said that this was happening through their improved fleet, station facilities and customer service initiatives.

Iarnrod Eireann has invested over €1.5bn in rebuilding the railways since 2000. There was continued growth in demand across Intercity, Dart and commuter services, with another record year estimated at 37.7m journeys.

The busy Maynooth line alone saw capacity grow by 40pc with service improvements introduced this month.

The route, which runs through some of the fastest growing communities in the country such as Leixlip, Clonsilla and Castleknock, will now have capacity for over one million additional peak journeys each year.

Of an investment project programme totalling €1.3bn, the company is currently €37m better than budget.

[Mark Gleeson]

The numbers are false the Uk has the fastest growing railway in Europe not us mainly since IE couldn't be bothered to go after business with a proper timetable

2005 passenger numbers are exactly in line with the 3% pa growth projected in 2002

Its just Barry Kenny doing his we are great line, wonder how many of the 37 million passengers where happy with the experience

The numbers are false the Uk has the fastest growing railway in Europe

Privatisation and customer focussed competition anybody?

Whatever happened to the old-time British Rail managers from the old school?

Oh no!

[Mark Gleeson]

It got nothing to do with that at all and you well know that Thomas since there can be no competition on a railway where two operators can't operate the same routes. In fact if BR had been left in charge numbers would still have climbed at a much lower cost

The second fastest growing passenger railway is Spain a good old fashioned state operator, France another state operator is only 0.1% behind us

Its a close call on % increase in passenger numbers the complete collapse of freight well 35% reduction, as a whole IE are nowhere near the top of the pile

Fact is simple IE have produced no evidence to back there claims and it looks as if they are on a shaky foundation

[philip]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Fact is simple IE have produced no evidence to back there claims and it looks as if they are on a shaky foundation

Ah you see they're not good at foundations, they usually leave them to Treasury Holdings to do.

It got nothing to do with that at all and you well know that Thomas since there can be no competition on a railway where two operators can't operate the same routes. In fact if BR had been left in charge numbers would still have climbed at a much lower cost

The British government made it clear it was not going to invest in moderising the UK rolling stock fleet and the money would have to come from private sources. The investments made in this new stock meant that they were pushed to the limits in terms of revenue generation (asset sweating) and this is why the West Coast main line has vastly more services now than under BR. They have to pay for them new trains they bought. The UK private operators have to make the money or they go bust. This would of never happened under BR (and will never happen with IE) were public money provides a cushion.

On the line from Bristol to Penzanzce there was a choice of Wessex Trains, Virgin, Great Western and another one I can't recall. When I travelled on the TransPennine there was a choice between First and ARRIVA, and out of Liverpool Street the choice was First and Anglia. On many recent train trips I bought tickets to and from the same station and it might have been Virgin going there and another rail operator coming back. On the same same line, from the same stations but with two different rail operators. Did I imagine this?

Privatisation was the best thing ever to happened rail in the UK. Both for passenger and freight and I have no doubt would work here in Ireland as well. I am not saying BR was rubbish, there were light years ahead of most national rail companies for many years, but by the mid 1980's they went past they sell-by date, just like Iranrod Eireann has in recent years.

If you look at BR in the mid 1980's it is almost errie how it echos the Irish Rail of recent years. Poor rolling stock purchases in terms of the services they were required for, claiming that railfreight was unviable and the same bizzare ticketing and integration contradictions. An over reliance on consultants, marketing, PR, advertising and spin rather than new ways of rethinking how lines and services could be operated. There are many examples of Phoenix Park tunnel type-routes in the UK under BR which were under exploited at the time and are now filled with busy freight and passenger services that BR did not have the vision (there's that word again!) to work out for themselves.

Final example: CIE, even in your beloved 1973 DART plan wanted to turn the Harcourt Street route in a busway! If took decades of public pressure, Dublin Corporation and a non CIE railway company to finally lay some form of rail tracks on the line and it is going to take the same to get commuter services running through the Phoenix Park tunnel.

The same lack of imagination, stagnation, institutionalisation which was the hallmark of BR in it's final years is there for all to see in Irish Rail today.

Ah you see they're not good at foundations, they usually leave them to Treasury Holdings to do.

Brilliant.

[Kevin K Kelehan]

CIE are not alone in seeking returns from the surplus holdings on their estate:

Birmingham New St station is currently being redeveloped by network rail in a Stg3.9bn mixed use project.

In relation to privatisation being any better; give the dutch or french sysytem as a choice and 99% of the public will chose it above anything else.

UK Trains 'near breaking point'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/306853.stm

Commuter lines into London are becoming so overcrowded the system may soon be unable to cope, senior rail officials are warning.
Figures released on Monday show that overcrowding on rush-hour main line trains is getting worse.



Overcrowding is putting pressure on the rail system
The official report shows two out of ten London commuter train companies have exceeded the maximum permitted level of overcrowding.

Rail Franchising Director John O'Brien warned: "Clearly, if numbers continue to grow at the predicted rate, the system will soon become overloaded."



Transport Correspondent Simon Montague: "Overcrowding won't be eased quickly"
The figures, from the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising, are based on counts in August 1998 compared with August 1997.

The permitted threshold overcrowding figure is an average of 3% over full capacity for morning and evening rush-hours combined.

Full capacity is when all standard class seats are filled on trains with journeys of more than 20 minutes.

Thameslink was 7.1% over capacity, while South West Trains was 3.9% over.

Chiltern and LTS (London Tilbury and Southend) Rail had the least-crowded trains, with both being 0.5% over capacity.

Criticised by Prescott

The number of overcrowded trains drew criticism from Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

He said: "We made it clear at the National Rail Summit that carrying more passengers is no excuse for poor performance.

"While I am pleased that numbers are increasing, the many passengers who are forced to stand every day will find it hard to understand why their services are not classed as 'overcrowded'.

"Passengers expect and deserve to travel in comfort. That doesn't include standing for the length of the journey.

"As passenger numbers continue to grow, there will be more strain on current capacity."

Mr Prescott said he looked to Mr O'Brien to "make sure train operators act immediately, where possible, to reduce any severe overcrowding".



SWT has seen "exceptional growth" in passenger numbers
The number of people using commuter rail services into London rose by 3.8% in 1998 compared with 1997 - an extra 16,050 morning rush-hour passengers a day.

Mr O'Brien said most companies had coped well with the increase.

But he added: "The current trend shows that many more people are travelling to work by rail and commuter capacity is a key issue that the shadow strategic rail authority will need to address urgently."

He said talks were under way with both Thameslink and SWT to help ease overcrowding and that SWT had experienced "exceptional growth" of 9.8% in the morning peak.

Mr O'Brien said: "The underlying factors that contribute towards overcrowding are very difficult to tackle on some specific routes such as Thameslink, but, overall, this is a satisfactory industry performance."

'Wrestling with problems'

Giles Fearnley, chairman of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "The rail system is wrestling with the problems of its own success."

He said more trains and major improvements to track and signalling were needed to provide travellers with the quality of service they were entitled to expect.

In a separate announcement, Mr O'Brien's office said that ScotRail's Edinburgh-Fife commuter line exceeded the overcrowding limit with a figure of 4.7% last year.

There had been an 8% growth in rush-hour passengers on this line but measures had already been put in place to bring the overcrowding down to permitted levels.

The proposed solution:

Commuters face 'C-charge' on train travel
Evening Standard (London), Nov 3, 2005 by DICK MURRAY
RAIL commuters could face a " congestion charge" for arriving in London between the peak hour of 8am and 9am.

The idea is just one of a list of options to reduce chronic overcrowding on services into Waterloo mainline station.

Those passengers travelling either just before or after the rush hour could be offered cheaper rates.

Between 7am and 10am 73,000 commuters come into Waterloo - but this figure is forecast to increase by nearly a quarter over the coming decade.

Overcrowding is already so bad on the Waterloo station concourse that rail chiefs are planning to rip out many of the shops to allow more room for passengers once they arrive.

If successful, the staggered fares idea - with rates calculated to the hour on what time a commuter arrives in the capital, could spread to other mainline stations. Network Rail, responsible for infrastructure, today unveiled major proposals costing more than Pounds 300 million to improve Waterloo in an effort to run more and faster services.

John Armitt, Network Rail chief executive, said that without the new works "the concourse will suffer from extreme overcrowding and periodic closure".