The strike is over.

[Derek Wheeler]

From irishrail.ie

Unofficial Industrial Action Concluded

The unofficial industrial action by train drivers that has lead to serious service disruptions in services in the South and West since Monday has concluded.

The majority of services will operate as timetabled today although there will be some services which will be disrupted.

Iarnród Éireann would like to apologise to all customers affected.

[Navan Junction]

Striking train drivers are returning to work today after a deal was reached with Iarnród Éireann late last night. ireland.com

The company said the majority of trains will operate on time today although there will be some disruption as services get back to normal.

The unofficial action lead to severe disruption to services on Monday and yesterday. There were no trains between Heuston Station in Dublin and Cork, Galway or Westport, while only one train ran between Dublin and Limerick.

Only the Waterford service from Heuston was operating to a near-normal level.

A deal was reached after 14 hours of talks. The intensive efforts to resolve the dispute, assisted by industrial relations consultant Phil Flynn, continued late last night.

Mr Flynn was engaged in meetings in Dublin with senior officials of the two unions representing drivers, Siptu and the National Bus and Rail Union. The locomotive drivers' committee, which comprises drivers from both unions, was also involved in the discussions.

The strike began on Monday after two Cork-based drivers refused to operate a new high-tech train that the company had planned to bring into service on the Cork-Dublin route.

The action spread yesterday with drivers based in Athlone and Galway joining those in Dublin, Cork and Limerick who had stopped working on Monday in support of their two colleagues.

It is understood drivers will not be driving the new trains when they return to work today.

© The Irish Times/ireland.com

[Mark Gleeson]

The agreement trashed out will have the new trains in service by Monday next

[colmoc]

Trains back as militant drivers lift strike

TRAIN drivers decided to lift their wildcat strike at 2am this morning to allow talks with management to start.

After 14 hours of bitter negotiations the drivers agreed to abandon their two-day stoppage. This will allow their union representatives to meet Iarnród Éireann management at Connolly Station in Dublin this morning.

The drivers will not be required to operate the new Mark 4 trains today. The talks on issues surrounding these new trains will be mediated by Phil Flynn.

In the early hours of this morning, Mr Flynn was forceful in persuading the locomotive drivers' committee to get their drivers to pull back from their unofficial action.

There was evident dissent in the union ranks as an announcement of the peace moves was delayed for hours.

Thousands of commuters will now escape a further day of disruption but some services may be unpredictable in the early morning.

Iarnród Éireann management has indicated that it will not delay the introduction of the new, faster Mark 4 trains despite the unofficial drivers' action.

Yesterday, the second day of the rail dispute, hit about 45,000 passengers and the cost to Iarnród Éireann is believed to be more than €1m. Union officials from SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union spent over eight hours with the locomotive drivers' committee trying to persuade them to lift their unofficial action.

All train services between Dublin and the south and west were subject to severe disruption during the second day of unofficial action by drivers in Cork backed by some colleagues in Limerick, Galway, Athlone, Westport and Dublin.

Dart services and trains to Belfast, Rosslare, Sligo, Dundalk, Drogheda and Rosslare continued to operate.

Throughout yesterday, the state transport company was unable to guarantee Intercity services from Mayo, Galway, Limerick, Cork, and Kerry or Cork/Cobh, Limerick and Kerry local services. Commuter services to and from Portlaoise and Kildare were also badly affected.

The drivers' group assembled at the North Star Hotel opposite Connolly Station in Dublin at 10.30am for talks. They adjourned briefly in mid-afternoon while union leaders tried to broker a quick peace formula.

The rail management has taken a firm stance that it will not negotiate on training allowances or roster productivity while any form of industrial action is being undertaken.

Strategy director John Keegan said the company had only introduced one of its eight new train sets.

The drivers could have refused to drive it without escalating the issue.

Mr Keegan rejected claims that the company had provoked the action on Monday morning in advance of agreed talks due to start yesterday.

Green Party transport spokesman Eamon Ryan placed the blame on Transport Minister Martin Cullen claiming that he had failed to get a speedy resolution and ensure that the new Mark 4 faster trains were in operation earlier this year.

The dispute centres on negotiations over increased safety monitoring and potential improved productivity from new working rosters.

The drivers maintain these should be agreed in advance of operating the Mark 4 faster trains.

The management position is that this issue of operating the Mark 4 engines was dealt with the the Labour Court.

In January it ruled the operation was covered by the 2000 'New Deal' restructuring of drivers' work.

SIPTU national organiser Mr Halpenny said earlier yesterday that he did not expect the dispute to escalate outside of routes served from Heuston Station in Dublin.

Gerald Flynn

from uninison.ie

whats this about the

the Mark 4 faster trains.

and

Mark 4 engines

another classic piece from the independent newsgroup

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by RTE News Online

Train drivers resume normal working

17 May 2006 08:22
Train drivers who have been on unofficial strike since Monday morning are to resume normal working later today.

However, passengers will face continuing disruption for some time today before the normal schedule is restored.
A number of early morning trains from the west will not operate this morning, but an Iarnród Éireann spokesman said the schedule should be back to normal by mid-morning.

After a meeting between the unions and mediator Phil Flynn, Iarnród Éireann was given an absolute commitment without conditions that the new Mark 4 trains will be in operation no later than Monday, 22 May.
Later this morning, representatives of the train drivers' unions will meet Iarnród Éireann management to discuss the issues which triggered the strike.

It was shortly after 1am this morning when the breakthrough came.

After over 14 hours of negotiations, trade union officials from SIPTU and the NBRU announced that their members would return to work today.

However, SIPTU National Industrial Secretary Michael Halpenny stressed that drivers will not be operating the Mark 4 rolling stock this morning when work resumes.

Iarnród Éireann's Director of Human Resources, John Keenan, said that after this morning's meeting a definitive statement on the introduction of the Mark 4 trains will be issued.

Thousands of passengers have been inconvenienced by the strike.

© RTE 2006
http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0517/rail.html

[comcor]

Originally Posted by colmoc

from uninison.ie

whats this about the



and



another classic piece from the independent newsgroup

Yesterday's Indo claimed that there would be no locomotive on the sets.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independe...issue_id=14046

Even as a commuter with no engineering background that sounds like they're pretty useless to me.

[Thomas J Stamp]

IE's spokesman on morning Ireland (didnt catch his name) said straight out that the CDE sets will run on Monday.

So, all of this was for nothing. These are the same trains which according to some people are "unsafe" and could kill people (honestly, cant wait to get back onto that line) however it seems that the union feels quite safe about them goin on track next monday. This is Wednesday. Last Wednesday the Cork drivers were asked to do a few aclimatisation runs for the intro of the carriages on the Monday. They refused. They refused to work any trains. Their mates in the Core said the same. Now, this Wednesday suddenly they can in the exact time frame as last week.

Safety wasnt an issue, never was, that was bull, and they and thier supporters know it.

Here I'm preaching to the converted but no-one who supports the unions has explained to me why this happend. I'll now ask how come they can now drive these trains when last week they couldntt, when they are being given the exact same run-in time as last week.

As for the passangers, ie you and me........ well, we just pawns arent we?

[Mark Gleeson]

John Keenan of IE gave the pitch on Morning Ireland

IE will issue a statement later with the details of which services the CDE set will operate on Monday, given its still in Cork its most likely to be the 5:30 am ex Cork as was planned last Monday

[Peter Turner]

That 5.30am train would be the one I would normally catch at Portlaoise.
For the ignorant what does CDE stand for again? Obviously not Cork-Dublin Express.

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Peter Turner

That 5.30am train would be the one I would normally catch at Portlaoise.
For the ignorant what does CDE stand for again? Obviously not Cork-Dublin Express.

Its so obvious that it is true

[MrX]

Perhaps CAF should sue them for tarnishing their reputation and saying that one of their products is dangerous when, it clearly isn't!

If anything the cow incident proves that the CDE's DVT is very sturdy indeed.
RIP Daisy!

[Mark Gleeson]

The train already has its certification, there was as always a few issues but they are sorted thats months ago now.

Ok I've heard it rides like a pig but thats not the same as dangerous

IE staff have been traveling around in it and if its safe enough for them to travel its clearly not dangerous

Poor Daisy met a quick end, I'm now told there is a CCTV camera in the pointy end could make interesting viewing. The front end suffered some damage partly since the obstacle deflector, buffers and coupling are designed to fail in a controlled manner upon impact to absorb the energy

[CSL]

what sweetener was offered to the unions ?

[MrX]

I doubt it rides that badly to be quite honest. MK3 ride is often viewed with rose tinted glasses. It's smooth but lets be objective when this train starts running and not listen out for every creek and sway just because it's new.

The CAF 29000s have different bogies and suspension to this fleet and suffer vibration due to under-floor engines etc.

I'll reserve my judgement on the "CityLink / CDE / MK4 / Pointy Green thing" until I actually board one and go to Cork.

[Mark Gleeson]

The bad news is the CDE bogies are more or less the same as the 29000 ones, same primary and secondard suspension but longer wheelbase but with a yaw damper added to stabilise matters, key concern is corners

I've been told by several different people of varying grades in IE that the ride is not up to standard. I've heard talk of remedial works to the air suspension to sort this out. I don't know what the problem is to be exact

First real test is Sallins where the track is quite poor, the Curragh curves are perfect in a MK3 apart from the bump on the Kildare side. I've got a list of comments I jotted down on a MK3 trip a while back so a reasonable comparision is on

We will have to wait to find out for sure

[sean]

If the Sligo line is anything to go by, ditching Marks carraiges for anything anyway resembling a 29K is a fiasco waiting to happen.

[PaulM]

Well the government have been great in all of this. Yesterday, after we issued a PR, and about 36 hours after the strike, Cullen came out and said: "Strikin's bad. Mmmkay."

Today Cowen has backed up Cullen's sentiments and said "It is bad, I hope it doesn't happen again."

Truely excellent work by our government officials. It is good to see they saw a problem with IE and they commented on it. Next time I write bad code that causes problems for a customer, I am going to follow our government's example and say "That code is bad." then I will follow Cullen's approach and hide under a pile of coats and hope everything turns out ok. It seems to have worked for him.

[Mark Gleeson]

Word is coming through that a deal has been done and we are all go for Monday, no one saying anything about what was conceded if anything at all

Happy days

[Mark Gleeson]

Time frame for new trains agreed

17 May 2006 17:38

Talks between management and unions at Iarnród Éireann have ended. At a press conference, management and unions issued an agreed statement.

The two sides met along with mediator Phil Flynn to resolve issues behind the unofficial two-day stoppage which severely disrupted rail services yesterday and on Monday.

The joint National Locomotive Driving Committee has decided to unanimously recommend that the introduction of the new intercity trains should begin next Monday, 22 May.

In the interim, the trade union will consult with its members involved in the dispute.

A joint trade union/management agenda and schedule for facilitated meetings in respect of issues effecting locomotive drivers nationally was agreed.

Asked about the time frame for the schedule of meetings, Phil Flynn said it would be 'very concentrated'.

Services have been returning to normal today as drivers have gone back to work. The breakthrough came after more than 14 hours of negotiations ended early this morning.

Before today's meeting, SIPTU's Michael Halpenny said clarification was needed in light of earlier comments made by the company.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, John Keenan said Iarnród Éireann had been given an unambiguous commitment that the new trains would be operational by next Monday.

Earlier this afternoon, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said the unofficial strike gave the public service a bad name and should not be repeated.

He said he was glad that the train drivers had returned to work.

However, Mr Cowen said industrial relations work both ways and he hoped any new social partnership agreement would give a clear commitment not to see a repeat of the strike.

Iarnród Éireann has said just one service from Galway and one from Westport did not run this morning but all other services were now operating normally.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0517/rail.html

[Mark Gleeson]

The statement is as follows

The Joint SIPTU / NBRU National Locomotive Drivers Committee today met with Iarnród Eireann Management under the chairmanship of Independent Facilitator Mr Phil Flynn.

The Joint National Locomotive Drivers Committee has decided to unanimously recommend that the introduction of the new Mark IV InterCity Trains should begin next Monday 22nd May 2006.

In the interval, the Trade Unions will consult with their members involved.

A joint Trade Union / Management agenda and schedule for facilitated meetings in respect of issues affecting Locomotive Drivers nationally was agreed.

- END –