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Originally Posted by craigybagel
Was on the 0900 Dublin Cork on Tuesday we were running a little late by Mallow and a number of passengers bound for Fota and Cobh for the day were worried about making theyre connection at cork. So they ask the guard/train manager/random member of staff in nice new blue uniform if he can get the Conh train held at cork for them. Staff member duly rang Kent station but his request was denied. What was interesting though was what he said afterwards. "id ask the driver to speed up a bit but because of industrial relations issues im not allowed do so".
Any thoughts anyone?
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Holding the train could be problematic. There's a tight turnaround in Cobh (6 mins) and any delay to the train could have had a knock on effect during the day.
As regards making the connection, there are a few points. Cork-Mallow is one of the most heavily padded sections of the network. InterCities are scheduled to take over half an hour, but it's not uncommon for them to do it in 23/24 minutes. Being late in Mallow does not necessarily mean you'll be late in Cork.
More relevant is that the 9:00am Dublin-Cork train is the 11:21 Mallow-Cork train. The 12:00 Cork-Cobh is the 11:35 Mallow-Cobh. So, unless the train was over quarter of an hour late in Mallow, it would have been still running ahead of the train that they were connecting too. Once they were in Mallow, there would either have been no possibility or no problem. The guard should have been able to find this out.
If Cork-Cobh could go half-hourly throughout the day, this would cease to be a significant problem.