[article] Commuter safety at risk as fainting spate hits crowded, creaking trains

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Sunday Independent

Commuter safety at risk as fainting spate hits crowded, creaking trains

ON THE POINT OF COLLAPSE: Left, Leanne Kerr, who takes a fold-up chair on the northbound train to Drogheda to prevent herself from suffering another fainting episode. Right, Jessica Reilly, a passenger on the same train, finds nowhere to sit but the floor. Below, the notorious Dublin-Dundalk line is particularly vulnerable to overcrowding. Photos: Tony Gavin and Richard Stokes

LARISSA NOLAN
OVERCROWDING on commuter trains has led to a spate of passengers fainting from lack of oxygen, and a GP working near one Dublin train corridor has slammed our "creaking" train system.

Dr James Reilly says he is seeing an increasing number of patients who attend his clinic in Lusk, Co Dublin, after passing out on board packed commuter lines. Dr Reilly, the former head of the Irish Medical Organisation, said the phenomenon was a direct result of the "creaking" publictransport system, which is so inadequate that most trains are packed after just a few stops.

Dr Reilly told the Sunday Independent: "Pregnant women, elderly people and children make up the bulk of those who have fainted, but it could happen to any one of those crammed onto an overcrowded train.

"People are fainting because they can't breathe or because of a sudden drop in blood pressure because they are standing so long.
"A number of people have attended my surgery after they lost consciousness on a packed train."

He said many of them were on the same train - the Dublin to Dundalk line - which has become notorious amongst commuters.
Dr Reilly, the former IMO president, is standing for Fine Gael in Dublin North in the next general election.

The two most affected trains on this line are the 07.50 weekday morning service citybound from Dundalk, and the 17.50 service outbound in the evenings.

Those who take the line every day say it is constantly overcrowded, with large volumes of people pushing onto already full trains and often hurling abuse at others in their determination toget on.

Last Thursday, the peak-time evening train to Dundalk was no exception. After leaving from Pearse Station, it was full by the time it reached Connolly, when hundreds more travellers piled on.

All passengers stood shoulder to shoulder and many had problems making their way down the packed carriage to get off at their stop.
A sign warning people not to sit on the floors and not to bring their own portable seating was being widely ignored by exhausted commuters.

Leanne Kerr was one of those who had taken her own fold-up chair. Having fainted on the train herself on a previous occasion, she felt she had to do so for her own safety.

Leanne, from Laytown, Co Meath, said: "It was a winter's night, so I got on the train with my coat on. With so many people on board it was really hot, but I didn't have space to remove my coat.

"I started to feel faint and I passed out and smacked my head off a metal bar. Then I came to and passed out again. It was very frightening and it would not have happened if there had not been such a high volume of people on the train."

The 26-year-old credit controller takes the train every day and says she finds the journey unbearable. "I try to find some place to stand inthe corridor, where it isless crowded, but that can be difficult."

Jessica Reilly also depends on the service to get to and from work and says she can never get a seat.

"Everyone is pushing and shoving to get on and shouting at people to move up the train. You can feel other passengers' breath on your face. It's disgusting, and I can see how a person could faint in such conditions."

Fine Gael Transport spokesperson Olivia Mitchell said she too had heard cases of passengers fainting on trains.
"I believe that this particular train is especially unbearable, you can't move on it," she said.

"The fact that fainting onboard has become a medical phenomenon just goes to show how critical the issue of overcrowding is."
A comprehensive, high-capacity train system for the city is the only solution to the transport problem, according to Deputy Mitchell.

"Dublin is far behind when it comes to a decent public transport system. It is time for an underground system like the New York subway or the Paris metro.

"With such a hugely growing commuter population, demand outstrips supply year on year. A fully linked-up rail service is the only way to solve the problem."

Iarnrod Eireann spokesperson Cliodhna Ni Fhatharta said overcrowding is an unfortunate reality of peak-time rail travel.
"Passengers have to stand on crowded trains all over the world and that is because trains are a safe, fast and reliable way to travel.

"We have lengthened train carriages, extended platforms and put on more trains, but it is still not enough."
Ms Ni Fhatharta claimed there was no danger involved in travelling while standing on a packed train.
"There is no evidence to prove that you are more at risk from injury when standing than when seated," she said.

Iarnrod Eireann hopes their new Interconnector service will go some way to easing the congestion.
The Interconnector is an 5.2km underground Dart line which will go from the Docklands to Heuston Station.
Two other Dart lines have been proposed for Balbriggan to Hazelhatch and Maynooth to Bray

© Sunday Independent 2006
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independe...issue_id=14075

[Mark Gleeson]

Hear Derek go head to head with Barry Kenny on Matt Cooper, The Last Word, Today FM, tonight 5:10pm ish

Windows media stream here
http://exodus.interoutemediaservices...h/today_fm.asx

[James Shields]

In my experience, the worst affected train is the 17:13 Pearse-Dundalk, which doesn't even stop at Rush & Lusk, so the doctor in the article doesn't even get the worst of it.

It has to be said, we are running at almost maximum capacity on both Northern and Maynooth lines. Realistically speaking, I can't see how the northern line can last until the scheduled interconnector date without some capacity increase. Are there likely to be any capacity increases in the short to medium term, and is there scope for such?

[philip]

Originally Posted by lostcarpark

...and is there scope for such?

There is of course, but it's politically unpopular as it would mean terminating all Maynooth services at P7 in Connolly and asking Maynooth pax to change to DART to go southbound. It'd be much neater to do this. Also, stop running Rosslare trains as far as Connolly, run them from Pearse. Some trackwork might be needed for his but so what. They could get more people through the system if they made the tough decisions.

[Mark Gleeson]

The IE smokescreen of track capacity is bull, how many trains pass through Connolly during the rush which are not 8 coaches? Might want to fix that first, its simple and provides a quick result

[craigybagel]

But virtually all the Northern trains are 8 coach its only the darts that arent. And wont that be fixed when they get back from their extended czech holiday?

[Colm Donoghue]

Jeez,
Derek they didn't give you much time. Nice of Barry not to dwell on giving people actual information as to what the problem with their current train is, and nice of Matt not to give you any reply.
Good Job though.

yep Mark, 4 car trains at rush hour. I suppose Barry did mention getting the ones from the Sligo line back for the Northern Line. and in fairness he does eat his own dogsh1t as he mentioned. When was the last time Cu11en travelled by public transport?

[Mark Gleeson]

There be 2 Drogheda trains which are not, one is 6 coaches to Rosslare the second is 4 coaches to Connolly, the Maynooth line has a few 4 coach arrivals into Connolly P7 as well

[Colm Donoghue]

Just thinking about the crowding, It's only occasionally as crowded as a public house at 11pm on a weekend night. Never seen sober people collapse in that setting.

I don't think healthy fed people faint. If they do, maybe this would indicate some medical problem. Last year the same girl on the 6:35 Dundalk/Bray fainted 3 times in a fortnight. She was getting on at HJ and fainting north of Connolly.... This is timetabled to take 8 minutes, maybe takes 12 tops. in a non crush-loaded train??

[Kevin K Kelehan]

Capacity is a huge issue here; looking at Tara St off peak one gets to see just how narrow the platform is at the Georges Quay end. Longer trains are required to make this section safe and that alone forgets about passenger comfort which doesn't appear to enter the equation in certain quarters at all.

[Derek Wheeler]

Yea, would have liked my time. Had a jugular point or two, but hey the last word were good to us last week.

Additional points that I wanted to make were,

1. Explaining new plans through the media should not be the sole outlet. IE have a captive audience. A regular newsletter for commuters should now be a priority.

2. More customer service reps enroute during peak times.

3. Radical overhaul of current commuter timetables to provide a better distribution of trains.

4. Free bottles of mineral water, especially during summer months.

5. The standard class seat reservation system on the new MK4s is still not operational due to software problems. Poor management of new products like this only compound the potential for overcrowding.

Overall, nothing new from Barry Kenny, except his comments about poor planning and the pressure it puts the railway under. His comparison between Dublin and London is not like with like.

Im sure this issue will come up again.

[sean]

Originally Posted by colmd

yep Mark, 4 car trains at rush hour. I suppose Barry did mention getting the ones from the Sligo line back for the Northern Line. and in fairness he does eat his own dogsh1t as he mentioned. When was the last time Cu11en travelled by public transport?

Yes, that's right, lots of nice commuter railcars leaving Connolly running with vacant seats ... TO SLIGO ... which up until March had a lovely pair of Mk2ds purring like kittens despite the abuse and deliberate neglect they'd been getting.

Logic would have mandated that any 4-car trains in peak Maynooth/Northern service should have been augmented to 8-cars with the new commuter railcars.

But no, this is CIE/Irish Rail, the "Logic Free Zone"

[craigybagel]

My mistake haent been up there in the peak for awhile sorry about that.

[James Shields]

Originally Posted by philip

There is of course, but it's politically unpopular as it would mean terminating all Maynooth services at P7 in Connolly and asking Maynooth pax to change to DART to go southbound. It'd be much neater to do this. Also, stop running Rosslare trains as far as Connolly, run them from Pearse. Some trackwork might be needed for his but so what. They could get more people through the system if they made the tough decisions.

There is some logic in this, but I don't think IE are using all of the capacity currently available to them, so it's a little premature.

I was hoping for some idea of what plans IE actually have to increase capacity pre-Interconnector, but it seems that if they have any, they haven't been made public.

In the short term, the problem is lack of rolling stock, not lack of slots in Connolly. A limited amount of stock will become available as the CDEs free up Mk3s for Intercity routes. This should probably go to make some 4-car sets into 8-car sets.

36 2900 coaches will become available in 2007-08 when Sligo and Roslare get IC DMUs. These could provide a number of extra peak-time services on the Maynooth and Northern lines. The extra Maynooth services could originate from Spencer Dock, while extra Northern services could start from the sheds in Connolly. Currently there are a lot of people walking over to Pearse from the IFSC via the new footbridge in the hopes of nabbing a seat. Extra trains from Connolly would take a lot of the pressure off Pearse as well as saving a lot of people the extra walk. I would fit them all in like this:

1. DART to Howth.
2. DMU from Pearse to Maynooth.
3. DMU from Connolly to Drogheda/Dundalk (departs Connolly at same time as Maynooth train, skips Howth Junction).
4. DMU from Pearse to Drogheda/Dundalk (follows Connolly train closely, stops at Howth Junction).
5. DMU from Connolly P7 to Maynooth (departs Connolly at same time as second Northern train).
6. DART to Malahide.

In the 2009-10 timescale, I would hope we'd see electrification to Maynooth, with a new DART line. This would free up a lot of stock for the Northern line, though the Kildare Route Project would also be coming on stream around then, so it would need a fair bit of it. We should also have extra capacity through Connolly-Pearse with DASH2.

Of course we need the Interconnector to really get to the root of the problem, and we need it as soon as possible.

[MrX]

I wonder if the Air Con units are re-circulating too much air given the number of passengers on board.

Perhaps it might be possible to configure them to suck in more air from outside?

[Thomas J Stamp]

Mr X may have a point there with the a/c. Another point is (in relation to the DART) surely they can have Howth Junction Howth as a two car shuttle service at least during the winter months? Perhaps this wouldnt be needed if they brought back the older refurbished darts. (Or will the drivers refuse to drive the "NEW" trains?)

In relation to the Sligo line, its fairly obvous from what Sean says that these trains were never intended to go all the way to sligo, someone pulled some sort of stroke, and they really should have been used on the Maynooth and northern line. Anyone got a view on that?