Mechanical Problems on the same service two days running
 

I luckily avoid the 1705 service to Sligo yesterday as it left 90 minutes late according to @IrishRail. The same service (which normally uses the same set for a few days running) was held at Maynooth due to a mechanical fault for half an hour on Tuesday.

This all seems very shoddy.

The replacement train broke down to!

As for the fault on Tuesday if they took every train out of service which has a fault logged they would have no service at all. Guess its depends on the nature of the fault and if the right decision was made however the train did make a return to Sligo in the meantime.

I'd be pretty sure they wouldn't set off towards Sligo with a serious fault as it would be a major operation to recover a train that could result in stranding passengers for several hours if it failed near the Sligo end.

However, you would think that they would have given the train a good inspection when it got back to Dublin if it was worth waiting half an hour at Maynooth for. However, yesterday's fault could have been completely different - hence I said it "seems" very shoddy.

I wonder if this is as a result of maintenance being over-optimised due to budget constraints.

I'd be very surprised if the same set did the same train two days on the run.

That would only happen in exceptional circumstances as the standard practice is that sets go through a rota over a period so as to go to maintenance (which in this case is in Drogheda) over a set number of days.

By working the different trains they are in the right order the following morning.

There's no heavy maintenance done in Connolly any more, just servicing (fuel and water). Anything more than that is done in Drogheda depot.

IE always let things slip every so often on the maintenance front, no room for complacency however the second train braking down is frankly embarrassing.

It would be normal practice for the same units to remain joined together and operate a route more than 1 day.

I would have thought so too but the same window was broken (on the inside pane which is why I noticed) on the corresponding up train on Monday and Tuesday this week. Maybe they get it to Drogheda during the day a couple of times a week.

Same route yes, but not the same train two days in a row. As I posted above the normal practice is to follow a full rota which would include visits to the maintenance depot.