Services were pulled twice on the Maynooth line, no trains before 11 on New Years day. Delays of up to 90 minutes on Wednesday. Passengers in Longford left delayed 3 out of 5 mornings, passengers in Dundalk left without heating. DART level crossings went on the blink, Waterford line services turned into a farce with passenger swapping trains and getting to spend hours stuck in the cold.
I count no fewer than 7 29k failures. 8+ hour journey to Tralee in the cold. No one was left stranded but the scale of disruption was very significant. While things kept moving punctuality nose dived, it was a poor showing, all avoidable and all within Irish Rail's control. They failed to prepare and the infrastructure and trains caved in. The failed heating on the trains has been known for years but hasn't been fixed
Dublin Bus couldn't operate safely and clearly stated that in public, Irish Rail could provide a full service but it collapsed when it was needed most and when it went badly wrong hid the details. During the fire incident on Wednesday no station PA was made to explain, the platform displays said nothing
I know several people who couldn't get home by car, so Dublin Bus are absolved of some responsibility, the roads were clogged, the inability of the local authorities to handle less than an inch of snow and the H&S stopped play.
The only thing we have learned is Irish Rail has no clue how to maintain the heating on its entire fleet of railcars.
In comparison the Luas ran flawlessly bar a shutdown due a lighting strike and minor delay at Charlemont
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