[01/10/2012 - mechanical failure(s) between Newry and Dundalk AM

[Rashers]

Don't have all the details. But I think the 07.00am Dundalk to Connolly either failed or encountered other issues. Anyhow it never arrived into Dublin suburban stations while I waited.
LED displays switched from out of use, to this service delayed, to this service missing altogether. No CTC announcements to customers waiting, and no local staff announcements at my station. Driver of the following service never made any apologies either.
I know later services were also delayed, by up to 15 mins.
Also 07.12am Drogheda to Bray delayed 10 mins. Not enough to pick up the passengers on the following service though.
Irish Rail website made no mention of it. AA roadwatch radio announcements mentioned 45 min delays to one Dunalk originating service, and delays to another.
Anyone know what actually happened, and why information was so poor, again?

[Inniskeen]

The 0700 from Dundalk, 0645 from Newry and 0650 from Belfast arrived in Connolly at 0905, 0919 and 0923 respectively. The 0700 apparently stopped for about forty minutes between Dundalk and Drogheda.

[Jamie2k9]

Irish Rail website made no mention of it. AA roadwatch radio announcements mentioned 45 min delays to one Dunalk originating service,

IR had a message posted on twitter about the delays

[longword]

The truth, as ever, was a little more nuanced.

Apparently because the 07:00 Dundalk to Connolly didn't leave Dundalk anywhere near that time, the realtime information system just assumed it was running to schedule. I'm guessing it never "entered the system". For each station along the way the web site was reporting that train as running on time, due in X minutes, counting down as you expect. Standing at Laytown, the PIS displayed a hopeful "Connolly 5 minutes" for a good half hour before it changed to "Connolly Delayed".

The train itself did eventually make an appearance around 08:15, served all its usual stations plus Gormanston, and arrived in Connolly at 09:10 or so. There were no platform announcements except one from the local staff just before the out-of-sequence Connolly train arrived. There was a tweet, but it was long after it could have been useful.

The earlier 07:12 Drogheda to Bray departed Laytown 10 minutes behind schedule. I don't know if that was an unrelated issue or a deliberate coping mechanism to mop up some portion of the passengers for the missing train. The 06:45 service from Newry was delayed, but managed to pass the stricken 07:00 Dundalk train and ran ahead of it. The 08:00 from Drogheda ran behind; I'd guess that was delayed 10-15 minutes.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by longword

The truth, as ever, was a little more nuanced.

Apparently because the 07:00 Dundalk to Connolly didn't leave Dundalk anywhere near that time, the realtime information system just assumed it was running to schedule. I'm guessing it never "entered the system". For each station along the way the web site was reporting that train as running on time, due in X minutes, counting down as you expect. Standing at Laytown, the PIS displayed a hopeful "Connolly 5 minutes" for a good half hour before it changed to "Connolly Delayed".

The train itself did eventually make an appearance around 08:15, served all its usual stations plus Gormanston, and arrived in Connolly at 09:10 or so. There were no platform announcements except one from the local staff just before the out-of-sequence Connolly train arrived. There was a tweet, but it was long after it could have been useful.

The earlier 07:12 Drogheda to Bray departed Laytown 10 minutes behind schedule. I don't know if that was an unrelated issue or a deliberate coping mechanism to mop up some portion of the passengers for the missing train. The 06:45 service from Newry was delayed, but managed to pass the stricken 07:00 Dundalk train and ran ahead of it. The 08:00 from Drogheda ran behind; I'd guess that was delayed 10-15 minutes.

Your post describes the deficiency of IR's information system perfectly. As regards the 0645 from Newry it ran behind the 0700 from Dundalk. The 0800 from Drogheda departed Drogheda early and ran roughly in the path of the 0645 from Newry !

The 0700 from Dundalk ran roughly in the path of the 0800 from Drogheda but terminated at Connolly, much to the annoyance of most of the 700 passengers.

[longword]

Originally Posted by Inniskeen

As regards the 0645 from Newry it ran behind the 0700 from Dundalk. The 0800 from Drogheda departed Drogheda early and ran roughly in the path of the 0645 from Newry !

The 0700 from Dundalk ran roughly in the path of the 0800 from Drogheda but terminated at Connolly, much to the annoyance of most of the 700 passengers.

Ah! That makes more sense. I was just going by what I could see and what I saw was a 29k train for Bray appearing at a time that was a bit late for the Newry train (10 mins?) but *much* too early for the service after it, also a Bray train. It never occurred to me that they could run a service early. To be fair, how it worked out was probably as good as it was going to get given the Dundalk train's predicament, from the pragmatic point of view of squeezing bodies into carriages and mitigating the delay for any given passenger. Seems clear that some thought was given to it. Pity about the silence and the lies on the PIS & web.