22K power sockets

[James Howard]

You can generally find power in one or two cars. This week there seems to be power on the Sligo end car on the first train up. This is an absurd situation and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the root of the problem is drivers not doing what they consider to be maintenance work.

[Thomas Ralph]

You're doing well. Normally there isn't a conductor to complain to, or he's in the other set.

[Mark Gleeson]

The story made the Irish Times yesterday after we released a press release

http://www.railusers.ie/news/news.ph...2011&no=6.html

I'm told a question has been submitted in the Dail to seek answers.

Its clear there is something quite badly wrong with the wiring setup on the trains. The problem is the circuit breaker for the middle coaches is behind a locked panel and is not visible unless the panel is opened, in the driving cabs the fuse panel is behind a perspex door behind the drivers seat so it is easier to spot. That said in general staff are not allowed to reset a circuit breaker unless instructed to do so by maintenance staff.



Please ensure you push the test button before use to reset the socket

[James Howard]

Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph

You're doing well. Normally there isn't a conductor to complain to, or he's in the other set.

The morning Sligo up train has been a 6 car set with a corridor all the way through pretty much every morning for the last year and the conductor is usually on between Mullingar and Maynooth.

I think I've detected a bit of a pattern with Irish Rail

• Millions spent replacing rolling stock where the biggest new feature is power sockets. Power sockets don't work most of time
• Millions spent resignalling the Sligo line. No improvement in running times
• Millions spent putting in 4 tracks to Kildare. No overtaking

Could it perhaps be that Irish Rail is a little bit inefficient? Perhaps we could just buy Dick Fearn & Co a nice shiny Thomas the Tank Engine train set and let some people who care more about customers that projects get on with running the network.

[Ballymore]

No power as usual this morning - maybe if they leave it unaddressed IR think we'll just get used to it like all the rest of the things they make a hash of.
I've never seen so many employees employed to do so little :-)

Also noticed a few shattered windows in one carriage this morning (7.26 from Mullingar).

[Mark Gleeson]

The railway safety commission is looking into this as well following a complaint from us

They tend to get things sorted quickly

Advice here is simple, travel in the front coach, and tell driver at next stop, he has access to the trip switch

It is unacceptable and we have made that very clear in our press release, which did reach the Irish Times

Sadly don't know anyone in the depot in Portlaoise so we can't get an inside line. For reference I've spoken to a senior driver recently and he knew nothing about this problem despite driving ICR's all day

[Ballymore]

Power is still hit and miss on these trains. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you dont :-)

[James Howard]

It does seem a bit better over the last couple of weeks. Power seems to be working in about half of the cars on the Sligo line. But I think the improvement is just because somebody is now resetting the breakers because I've now seen the power drop out twice.

Oddly enough, on both occasions the train was stationary - once while waiting to pull out of Connolly and the second time while stuck in Enfield for an hour. Probably just a co-incidence.