Bus Transfer Provided for Busy Westport Service

[Jamie2k9]

http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?opt...news&Itemid=46

Irish Rail has encouraged rail users to pre-book their tickets after a bus transfer was provided for passengers travelling to Dublin on Friday, when demand in Mayo outstripped the train’s capacity.
The Mayo News was informed by Irish Rail that an alternative transport service was offered to passengers at Claremorris train station intending to use the 1.10pm Westport to Dublin Heuston service, rather than letting them travel on an ‘overcrowded train’.
A spokesperson for Irish Rail explained that because the ‘high volume’ of passengers who turned up on the day to buy tickets at the stations in Mayo, it was decided to provide alternative transport.
“A high volume of passengers turned up on the day, and the District Manager called on a local bus service to provide transport. We have people on hand locally to provide a bus service if it is needed to get people to their destination. We apologise to people who may have been inconvenienced.
“We don’t want passengers standing on our intercity services, and we provide buses for our customers because we feel it is better that they have a seat on a bus rather than standing on the train.
“We would always advise people to pre-book online as they can get cheaper tickets, but it will also give us a better idea of how busy the service will be,” the spokesperson explained.
The bus service was also provided for passengers getting on the train in Ballyhaunis and Castlerea stations. While some passengers accepted the alternative transport others chose to travel on the train. It is understood that a bus service was not provided at other stations along the route.
The 1.10pm service is currently a three-carriage train which seats approximately 200 passengers, and Irish Rail confirmed this service was particularly busy on Fridays.
Last week, it was revealed that 21 surplus Intercity train carriages valued at €44 million are sitting idle at any one time. When asked if Irish Rail will provide extra capacity for the Friday afternoon service, a spokesperson said the company has to take into account a number of factors before providing extra capacity.
“There are some instances where we will provide additional capacity if there is advanced notice. But you can’t provide just one extra carriage, you have to provide three extra carriages [at one time] and we have to look at the cost as well. Adding an additional three carriages would be a significant cost for us.”
However, Irish Rail did say that it would monitor the service ‘going forward’ and that if the service continues to be busy, it will ensure it provides the best service for the public.
Independent councillor Richard Finn told The Mayo News that he got on the train at Claremorris and felt there was no need for a bus, as there were ‘plenty of seats’ available all the way to Dublin. He said it was his first time travelling by train in five years and he had no complaints describing it as a ‘lovely service’.
An extra service was recently added to the Westport to Dublin line, with a new 9.45am service added to the 2013 timetable. This brings the frequency from Westport to Dublin from four to five time daily. The additional service and some departure time changes were introduced by Irish Rail following consultations with the tourism industry in Mayo, and it is hoped that this extra service will meet the demand for the train service.

It great how we have to put up with standing and Mayo passengers get a bus and a train that is not full. I supose its purly down to geographical location.....

[Mark Gleeson]

Nope its politics

Local TD is a fella called E Kenny, wonder who he is...

[Inniskeen]

What has Enda Kenny got to do with the 1310 from Westport ?

Irish Rail have been making a mess of this service for years. It really couldn't be simpler, demand routinely exceeds the capacity of a 3-car ICR on a daily basis during summer and on Fridays during winter.

[James Howard]

How surprising is it that increasing service has had the effect of increasing business? Exactly the same happened on the Sligo line. They went from four half empty services a day to 8 busy ones. Well 6 busy services and two half empty.

The stupid thing here is the inflexibility of only being able to run railcars in groups of 3. If they have spare railcars how about running Friday only services?

[Jamie2k9]

Irish Rail have been making a mess of this service for years. It really couldn't be simpler, demand routinely exceeds the capacity of a 3-car ICR on a daily basis during summer and on Fridays during winter.

I saw the service arrive the previous two Fridays and it was busy but not overly busy. The 09.45 service has taken some of the loadings off the service and with low online bookings the most sensable thing to do was operate with a 3 car set. The move by IE is highly politically motivated as if passengers from Mayo had to stand it would be raised in the Dail the following week.

13.00 from Waterford is always heavly loaded on Fridays and other weekdays do you see us getting a longer train or a bus transfers in place. IE would leave passengers on the platform and told to wait for the next train before a bus is provided.

If you look at any newspaper article its not acceptable for people to stand going West but sure people going to the South East its grand they will be fine and TD's won't get involved but if over the west they will.

[Inniskeen]

Did Irish Rail not recently double capacity on the 1310 to Waterford on Fridays ?

[Jamie2k9]

Did Irish Rail not recently double capacity on the 1310 to Waterford on Fridays ?

They did a few months after it was started. I meant to refer to the 13.05 up on Fridays. You would never see a bus replacement if the 3 car set was packed.

[Thomas J Stamp]

maybe it was a once off, but i do know from mayo friends that there appears to be a lot of capacity issues with the westport service. i was a bit taken aback to discover it was a three car to be honest. I would have thought that such long distance serivces should have a six car as standard for several reasons, one of which would be a visible statement on attacting passengers.

Hearing of having to get a replacement bus conjours up calcutta type images and will ward locals off getting the train at all.