There is no formal list of 8 coach trains, internally we are pretty sure the timetable issued to drivers clearly shows which trains are 4/6/8 coaches. We have asked for a copy in the past and have been refused, OK it is for internal use only but I've had a copy in the past
It will be at least end 2007 before sufficient extra DART coaches are available to even consider running an extra service even then it will have to wait until 2009 for signaling upgrades to be complete.
What has gone wrong is the DART refurbishment project which was to rebuild the 76 remaining original DART coaches that was to occur between December 2004 and December 2006. Unknown to most people is the fact 20 DART coaches have been out of service for over a year, 17 months in the case of 6 coaches, things are so bad that even Irish Rail has lost track of where the coaches are they say Leipzig, we are fairly confident they are in Prague currently, they were due back in service in June 2005, not irish Rails fault but it looks as if the blame lies with Siemens who are under contract to do the work, Irish Rail suspended shipments in April 2005. Its basically running a full year behind time, in simple terms its a difference of about 2,500 capacity per hour. We have had some fun with this with irish Rails spokesperson Barry Kenny (as far as we know he is a passenger on the 7:59)
We know last week was a bad week as the vandals surfaced and started hurling bricks at trains, I know at least one 4 coach train was taken out of service for repairs as a result and given there are no spare coaches you get short trains. There is a priority order it would seem when coaches are short, the 8:08 out of Malahide is always 8, the 7:59 from Howth varies and has varied for several months. There simply are not enough serviceable coaches, I'd much rather short trains instead of 8 coach ones more likely to break down particularly given current weather conditions
The fact is demand on the Howth branch is static Malahide on the other hand is climbing at an incredible rate thats the reason behind the changes end of the day it maximises the capacity of the system thats the only thing that can be done move as many people as possible with no additional resources
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