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On train information and the lack thereof, post your experience
One the the longest running Platform 11 issues is that of information while you are on the train. In basic terms this translates to
So if you see a suburban or DART train,
Post it here, we need the date, time and the service operated, one of the coach numbers would be handy (but is not essential) as then we could prove that its not just one specifc train but a fleet wide problem. Iarnrod Eireann have a simply shocking record in this area. Complaints with respect to once specifc incident yield little as Iarnrod Eireann use the "once off" excuse when we all know the problem is endemic. We need to build up a body of evidence. Its not just IE the Luas is known to be temperamental as well but to a much lesser extent |
Friday 16-Dec-2005
8:05 Greystones Howth No electronic displays No electronic announcements No destination shown on rear coach * Coaches 8604/03+8205/8405* |
Friday 16-Dec-2005
8:08 Malahide Dun Laoghaire External electronic displays not working on rear 4 coaches Wrong destination shown on rear coach (Out of Service) |
Friday 16-Dec-2005
17:25 Howth Bray External electronic displays not working Internal electronic displays not working No electronic announcements Coaches 8614/13/30/29 |
Saturday 17-12-2005
15:44 Greystones Howth No destination shown on rear coach * Coaches 8604/03+8205/8405* |
Kildare communter train going to Connolly
There's a classic post in IRN regarding new 2900's doing a visit to the Kildare line. In one of the posts it is mentioned that the destination on the front is.............Connolly. It went to Heuston as usual.
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An exception
Yesterday's 1300 from Heuston to Cork was delayed due to a door failaing to close. The announcements kept us upto date and well informed that the mainteance crew were called and how they would only take ten mins to do the work. So, sometimes there are exceptions to the rule
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Monday 19-12-2005
17:25 Howth Bray Everything going fine until Sydney Parade The next station is <blank> says the voice Its a bug in version 7 (10-12-2005) of the software it has the same problem with Salthill and Monkstown Coaches 8626/25/24/23 |
Oh dear
Its amazing how crap IE are I mean a roller blind is easy to turn, if they can't mange that how on earth can we expect computer driven systems to work, Imagine what I'd see if I put my mintd to it, so
Monday 19-12-2005 17:50 Pearse Dundalk (29x20+21) Platform display was stating Maynooth as the next train at the time which reinforces the need for this to work 22:20 Pearse Dundalk (29x19) External displays lit up for approx 3 seconds then died as usual 19:10 Bray Malahide 21:50 Bray Malahide No destination in rear 22:05 Malahide Bray Showing Malahide on rear coach |
The farce continues
Tuesday 20-12-2005
9:11 Howth Dún Laoghaire This train is for <blank> Oh dear oh dear seems like the latest attempt to fix the problem has made it worse, the previous software version was actually bullet proof apart from a issue with the irish translation Coaches 8316/8116/8622/21 (its a persistent offender) |
overheard in dublin
a few from their site..............
such a humble train service A recent automated announcement at Blackrock Dart station: "We regret to announce..... that... due to an accident... the... 12.09 service.... from Howth.... is... on time. Iarnród Éireann apologises for any inconvenience caused" Overheard on Friday, 09th December 2005 - Blackrock Dart Station by James and............ Iarnrod Eireann - Getting There! I was on the train from Waterford to Dublin one Monday morning. The usual announcement came over the intercom ‘Iarnrod Eireann would like to advise passengers that this train will NOT be serving Kilkenny, this train will be stopping at Thomastown, KILKENNY, Carlow, Athy, Kildare and Dublin Heuston’. I looked at my brother somewhat confused at the contradiction! This was promptly followed by another announcement ‘Iarnrod Eireann would like to advise passengers that this train will NOT be serving Kildare, this train will be stopping at Thomastown, Kilkenny, Carlow, Athy, KILDARE and Dublin Heuston’, at this point some random passenger shouts out ‘ya muppet ya, will ya make up you’re f*cking mind’, cue laughter from all around the carriage! There was then another announcement stating that ‘Tea, coffee, sandwiches and a selection of snacks are available from the snack car, which is situated towards the centre of the train’. Nice one, I thought, as we were situation towards the centre of the train. However, after walking through about what seemed like 10 carriages, I finally found the snack car at the REAR of the train! The passenger in front of me was trying to order some food and asked what sandwiches were available and was told ‘eh, we’ve no sandwiches available’, so he asked for a couple of packets of crisp and was told ‘eh, we’ve no crisps’. Getting slightly irate, the passenger said ‘ok so, I’ll have two cans of coke please’ only to be told ‘there’s no coke’. ‘So what the f*ck do you have, you said you had a selection of sandwiches and light snacks’, to which the reply was ‘ eh, we have tea and coffee that’s all, sure you know yourself, it’s a Monday morning and no one stocked up the train’! Classic, ‘Iarnord Eireann, Getting There’ but you might miss your stop or starve along the way! Overheard on Friday, 30th September 2005 - On the train! by Nuls and............. No Control On an Iarnrod Eireann train the following announcement was made on an almost painfully loud PA: "Will passengers please note, the crew have no control over the volume of the PA" Overheard on Tuesday, 06th September 2005 - On the train from Limerick to Dublin by Tony finally.... Irish Rail psychology On the train from dublin to sligo. Shortly after departure when the conductor came to check the tickets I asked him how long the journey would take, having heard that it was one of the slowest lines in the country... "Just over nine hours" was the reply. A bit taken aback I managed to splutter... "NINE HOURS?!?" in a raised voice. He came right back at me with... "Well it's really 4 hours but it doesn't sound too bad now does it." Overheard on Wednesday, 24th August 2005 - afternoon train Dublin to Sligo. by noel |
More
Mystery Train
On the train from Galway to Dublin, the train stopped for no apparent reason just passed Athlone. After five minutes the driver came on the speaker and said we're just waiting for the 18.15 from Heuston to Galway to pass us. (There's only one track). Five minutes later he repeated this explanation. Five minutes later again he came back on the speaker and said "If the driver of the 18.15 train from Heuston to Galway is on this train can he please go to the guard's van". Cue very perplexed faces on all the passengers. Overheard on Saturday, 26th March 2005 - On Galway to Dublin train by Eoghan |
last one.... promise
Bewildered guy on tannoy: "Iarnrod Eireann would like to apoligise for the late arrival of the 1930 service to Drogheda, this was due to..............(silence)"
Overheard on Monday, 07th March 2005 - Pearse Station by Paul |
Wednesday 21-12-2005
17:15 Bray Malahide 22:20 Pearse Dundalk No external displays working 17:25 Bray Howth 19:09 Bray Malahide 21:50 Bray Malahide No destination shown on rear 17:33 Bray Longford Displayed Maynooth as destination front and rear 17:45 Bray Howth Displayed Malahide as destination on rear Its a farce beyond belief its roughyl every second train has something amiss |
Surely there's some legal obligation for IE to at least have the internal displays and announcements working for disabled people? It would be a useful stick to beat them with.
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Its a media angle we are looking at |
In Boston there's a law requiring ALL public transport vechicles to make announcements, including busses.
If there's no automatic system in place, the driver has to do it on a mic, or in some of the MBTA's oldest busses, by shouting down the bus at each stop. The new busses all had GPS-based systems that announced each major junction and stop the bus passed. They also had external speakers which announced info about the bus at the stop! The on-train systems were audio-only but comparable to the Luas and the DART when it's system works. |
Wednesday 28-12-2005
10:38 Malahide Greystones No announcements, no electronic displays and no destination shown in front 14:57 Greystones Howth (E936) Same train but different result, no destination in rear but the announcements and some of the displays where working but it kept telling me about a train with CCTV fitted which none of the six coaches in the train had fitted And the heating wasn't on :( 8204/8404+8601/8602 |
This evening 18.07 pearse-mullingar which departs from bray departed from pearse this evening as a result of the DART failure at Killiney. On the P.I.S. screen at pearse it was displaying mullingar but the platform announcement said Longford and the audio and visual on the train stated longford. The same thing happened at tara street. At connolly the automated announcement was made that it was going to longford then there was a manual announcement at the station to say it was going to mullingar and then driver announced that it was going to mullingar and that it would not serve longford. The display on the train was then changed to mullingar
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It was mean't to go to Mullingar, its Saturday it only goes to Mullingar, its quite clear in the timetable0
There has been ongoing issues since IE haven't updated the software on the 29000 fleet so the 17:33 ex Bray has strange destinations in front. Driver in this case failed to follow the defined protocol to modify the on train information it specifically states what to do its printed on a notice on the bulkhead on the left cab wall. Complete balls up here inexcusable it would have taken 5 seconds to confirm the details in the timetable, its inconceivable that even the most lazy staff should be able to handle this, its impossible to go wrong but this is IE they do the impossible |
Just to add one more in. On this afternoons 12.47 ex clonsilla to pearse the visual stated that it was going to pearse as did the audio but when it got to connolly it stated "The next station is Dublin Connolly, this is the final stop on this service" yet the visual stated pearse station. A few bewildered passengers asked "i thought this was going to pearse?" Anyway the train got into connolly platform 6 and then the announcement "the next station is tara street" and the train went on"
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"The train approaching platform x" is automatic but staff can make announcements at local level they even have a radio mic for this. The automated stuff is generally spot on since its driven by the computer in the signalling system so it knows where everything is going, if it says you are going to Bray you are going to Bray
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Thanks for that he says with a glass of champaigne in his hand as he sits at home with a throat infection tonight! Happy 2006 and hopefully many more successes to come!
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Sunday 1-1-2006
19:10 Bray Howth No destination on rear 19:45 Bray Howth Wrong destination on rear showing Bray instead of Howth |
Tuesday 3-1-2006
17:25 Howth Bray No PIS. no displays, no maps, no announcements 8622/21/24/23 17:15 Bray Howth No external displays working and the wrong destination shown in rear, showing Bray instead of Howth. 17:45 Bray Howth No destination shown in rear |
The 29000's on the Kildare trains currently don't have the destinations correct. Dublin Pearse (I wish) is the most regularly used.
Is this just a software upgrade? Also, should these not have been entered when these units came into service? |
Its a simple software change not even an upgrade its needs the timetable inputted for the Kildare line. IE have known about the use of 29000 on the Kildare line since late October so no excuses
We have a man with camera eager to catch this on the ground Once again IE show they have no clue |
Wednesday 4-1-2006
10:38 Malahide Bray Showing Malahide as the destination in rear coach (8602) instead of Bray 10:59 Bray Howth No destination shown on rear coach (8405) |
Thursday 5-1-2006
8:05 Greystones Howth No announcements made Displays only worked after Booterstown This train did not have CCTV but was happy to keep saying it did No destination shown in rear 8602/01+8204/8404 |
Thursday 5-6-2006
18:45 Bray Malahide No PIS, No announcements, No map Showing Bray as destination on rear coach instead of Malahide 21:48 Bray Malahide Not showing destination on rear* 8608/7 + 8201/8401 * 22:30 Pearse Maynooth External displays lit up for about 3 seconds and died unit 29x08 21:59 Bray Howth Showing Bray as destination on rear coach instead of Howth Friday 6-6-2006 8:05 Greystones Howth No PIS, No announcements |
Northbound DART from Pearse around 6:30pm 5th January 2006.
Original 1980s DART. No announcements (as they're not installed) but the train had no maps on board. A number of tourists were asking where Clontarf Road was and how many stops it would be. There was absolutely no sign of a map anywhere on the train. Also, could IE perhaps light the station platform signs? They cannot be easily read from a train. Also, a bigger font could help too! |
06/01/2006
17:55 Maynooth - Pearse No announcements on the train. 2800 class. 07/01/2006 17:07 Maynooth - Pearse Train was ready to leave on time but was inexplicably held at the station. 10 mins later two clapped out loco's hauling loads of logs passed by our train. We then proceeded slowly behind this log train and were twice delayed for long periods at the level crossing at Intel and the level crossing at Coolmine. My 18 min trip to Coolmine took 40 mins. No announcements on the train and no apologies for the delay either :mad: |
Monday 9-1-2006
8.05 Greystones Howth Rear destination was showing Malahide work that one out, train seemed to be almost devoid of maps, I swear they are now collector items after Howth Junction got renamed 17:15 Bray Malahide Showing Out of Service as the destination on rear 17:15 Howth Greystones Displays working but the announcements only stated destination is Greystones no next station announcements. Half the maps in my coach where not working 19:16 Malahide Bray Showing Malahide as the destination on rear instead of Bray 20:30 Bray Howth Showing Bray as the destination on rear instead of Howth |
Points failure at Clonsilla this morning.
The 8:32am ex clonsilla to pearse departed at approx 9:15am the same time as the delayed 8:32am to maynooth. Packed train it was stuck at castleknock for a couple of minutes trying to close the doors. after constantly asking people to move back the driver announced there would be a door test. I don't think the driver knew that he said over the intercom f**cking hell as he was driving off. got into connolly at 9.45am. to the annoucement "we'd like to passengers arriving at platform 6 for the delays caused this morning. this was due to a points failure at clonsilla". the announcements at clonsilla were good but apparently people were complaining on the train that there were no announcements at certain stations. also noticed that there was no notice on this on the p.i.s at drumcondra or connolly, yet notices have been up to say that dart's were delayed by 10-15 minutes. |
18:00 at Pearse heading to Bray
The system had stuck at Bayside. Map was displaying bayside as the current stop .. howth junction as next stop. Scrolling displays doing the same. No audio announcements at all. 18:44 at Sydney Parade heading northbound. Displays saying this train is for bray - stuck in Irish only. A single announcement en route "This Train is for Bray" Also, I have noticed a LOT of Luas trams at St. Stephen's Green are displaying "Not in Service" before they depart for Sandyford. and... the outbound display at Beechwood seems to be out of order for well over a week. |
10/01/06 14.22 Connolly-Maynooth
No LED displays AT ALL working on this train. None inside, none outside. Barely audible PA system in my car (29304). Don't know if the whole train had this problem. Very poor IE!
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Tuesday 10-1-2006
17:15 Bray Malahide Showing 'Out of Service' on rear 17:45 Bray Howth No destination on rear 17:25 Howth Bray The now classic the next station in <silence> Sidney Parade is never announced |
If it was an infrequent odd software hickup, you could laugh it off. This is beyond ridiculous. I would reckon that over 75% of the DARTs with PIS fitted have not had it working correctly.
Are IE techies not at least embarassed? I would be if I were responsible for such a fiasco of a system. If the announcement system's providing misinformation the driver *should* notice and try and remedy the situation / stop the announcements and do them manually. I think perhaps the best sollution would be to legally require an announcement at every stop. If the train's incapable of doing them - the driver will have to make them manually. Also, the new platform signs are simply too small to see out of the windows of a train and they're positioned at the wrong height too. I had to stick my head out the door of a DART recently to see where I was. I am from Dublin but had no clue where the train was. There were no announcements, no signs, no maps... it's like riding a ghost train... eery and quiet! If you were blind/had poor vision you'd be very lost! |
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