17.50 Pearse - Dundalk
 

When I was on the DART precedding this suburban service, I noticed that there were 3 four carriage 29000 trains in the sidings south of Pearse, all seperated. I should have known this was a bad sign.
At 17.58, an announcement was made " Pearse that there was a technical fault on the 17.50 service, so the next service would be a northbound DART stopping at all stations to Malahide. A few minutes after the DART came through, a 4 carriage service arrived to replace the delayed 17.50 service. No apologies, no warning about the reduced service. Everyone pushed on at Pearse st, and most seemed to get on at Tara street. But passengers left behind at Connolly (including families with buggies), more at Howth junction, and with the crawl out to Malahide, more passengers left behind at Malahide (group with lots of bags). Those waiting in Malahide travelling to Dundalk (of which I assume there would normally be very few, except for today) would have a long wait for the next service....
Not a single announcement for the driver anywhere along the journey...overall delay = 20-25 minutes,

I shared your pain on this particular train. I was getting on at Tara St and thought there might be a chance of a seat on a Friday (it does happen). Then the half length train showed up, and I had to run back from the front of the platform. The short train, and the fact that anyone early for the 18:20 will cram in meant this train was particularly packed, and there were a lot of people trying to get on at both Howth Junction and Malahide. I didn't check if they were correct, but one of the passengers getting on at Malahide commented that the next train was over an hour away.

The driver did make announcements apologising for the delay and the reduced capacity, but only in Balbriggan and Drogheda.

Announcements
 

Good idea of the driver till wait till Balbriggan - the worst of the overcrowding would have cleared by Balbriggan. I'd say they might have stopped the Dundalk fast train (18.40 ex Connolly) at Malahide to pick up those passengers left behind.....

17/10/2007
 

Unscheduled stop in Portmarnock today. Then a bit of a delay at a standstill on tracks before continuing on to Malahide.