newstalk 106 sean moncrieff

seamus kilcock · 27-06-2006, 10:26

On Monday 26th July Sean Moncrieff of Newstalk 106 Radio fame, described his, and his wife's, trip by train from Dublin to Athlone last week-end. He booked and reserved his seat on the internet. Total chaos on the train. Couldn't find their seats and the checker was unable to help.
(More chaos at hotel in Athlone as people were already in the room when they opened the door!)
Returning on Sunday the train stopped east of Tullamore. After some time the train reversed to Tullamore. It had been annonced on the train, buses would be provided for the rest of their journey. Total chaos at Tullamore - no buses - and after some considerable time pax were requested to board the train again. This time they did make it to Dublin arriving about 2 hours late.
Billions of Euro have been spent during the last 8/10 years on upgrading our railway network and this is the best IR can do! God help us.

MrX · 30-06-2006, 21:03

There really haven't been billions of euro invested in lines like the one to Tullamore.

Things should improve when the new intercity DMUs arrive though as it will mean improved stock and proper reservations.

Although, to be quite honest a lot of what he described sounded more like complete and utter incompetance than lack of resources. If you reserve seats, you should be able to find them!

Thomas J Stamp · 03-07-2006, 22:23

Sadly no. When you reserve a seat (eg from Templemore on a train that starts out in Limerick) the guard sticks a ticket into the fold of the seat for you. This of course means that if some gob****e gets on at Thurles, likes the loom of your seat he can unreserve it for you by plucking out the ticket ands throwing it out the window. He even gets the added bonus of watching you wandering up and down the train like a moron wondering where your reserved seat is.

With the CDE it works better as theres a little lcd thing (which will in fine IE tradition cease to operate after about 6 months) above the seats and it ought to be on the new DMU's as well.

So now you know why Sean got a bit confused.

27-06-2006, 10:26	#1
seamus kilcock Regular Poster Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 103	newstalk 106 sean moncrieff On Monday 26th July Sean Moncrieff of Newstalk 106 Radio fame, described his, and his wife's, trip by train from Dublin to Athlone last week-end. He booked and reserved his seat on the internet. Total chaos on the train. Couldn't find their seats and the checker was unable to help. (More chaos at hotel in Athlone as people were already in the room when they opened the door!) Returning on Sunday the train stopped east of Tullamore. After some time the train reversed to Tullamore. It had been annonced on the train, buses would be provided for the rest of their journey. Total chaos at Tullamore - no buses - and after some considerable time pax were requested to board the train again. This time they did make it to Dublin arriving about 2 hours late. Billions of Euro have been spent during the last 8/10 years on upgrading our railway network and this is the best IR can do! God help us.

03-07-2006, 22:23	#3
Thomas J Stamp Chairman/Publicity Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: The Home of Hurling Posts: 2,708	Sadly no. When you reserve a seat (eg from Templemore on a train that starts out in Limerick) the guard sticks a ticket into the fold of the seat for you. This of course means that if some gob****e gets on at Thurles, likes the loom of your seat he can unreserve it for you by plucking out the ticket ands throwing it out the window. He even gets the added bonus of watching you wandering up and down the train like a moron wondering where your reserved seat is. With the CDE it works better as theres a little lcd thing (which will in fine IE tradition cease to operate after about 6 months) above the seats and it ought to be on the new DMU's as well. So now you know why Sean got a bit confused. __________________ We are the passengers

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30-06-2006, 21:03	#2
MrX Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 585	There really haven't been billions of euro invested in lines like the one to Tullamore. Things should improve when the new intercity DMUs arrive though as it will mean improved stock and proper reservations. Although, to be quite honest a lot of what he described sounded more like complete and utter incompetance than lack of resources. If you reserve seats, you should be able to find them!