Midleton station - departure times

[Emertoff]

Just a comment really, as a regular user of either the 6:45 or 7:45 train to Cork, the journey time is supposed to be 23 minutes. The average journey time seems to have crept up by 3-4 minutes almost without anyone noticing, over the last few months.
Maybe, as is the case with the Irish public transport system in general, a few minutes here and there is seen as no big deal, but it's really annoying for anyone has has to get the connecting bus to Cork Airport for work.
There is a big issue with people queueing to get tickets and the trains being held until everyone has one, despite the fact that notices were put up on the platform a few weeks ago saying they were not going to hold trains for people buying tickets. On one occasion recently, the train did leave Midleton until 7:51, which in my view is really not good enough,particularly when there are ticket inspectors on board who could facilitate selling tickets.
Even without this issue, there seems to be a general lag in journey times. This morning November 11, the 6:45 am service arrived at 6:43, left at 6:47 holding for another passenger, and arrived at 7:13, 5 minutes later than scheduled. I am going to take this up with them as it is simply not good enough and would not be tolerated anywhere in continental Europe.

[Eddie]

If none of the stations are manned (I don't know this line) then its a tricky one because Irish Rail want to maximise revenue and minimise annoyed passengers.

But ultimately more people are annoyed by the small number of people delaying the train than benefit by the train waiting for them. The best long-term solution for everyone is that the train leaves on time. People then change their behaviour to give themselves the best chance of getting the train they want, eg by getting a season ticket, buying the ticket the day before, buying on line and picking up, or going by car if they keep missing the train.

IR could help by installing more ticket machines.

Some routes in Britain used to have (and may still have) conductors to collect fares rather than inspectors. But with only 23 minutes to collect fares, this may not be enough if lots of people end up paying this way and it may encourage people to pay this way if there's only a 50% chance (say) of their fare being collected at busy times.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Emertoff

Just a comment really, as a regular user of either the 6:45 or 7:45 train to Cork, the journey time is supposed to be 23 minutes. The average journey time seems to have crept up by 3-4 minutes almost without anyone noticing, over the last few months.
Maybe, as is the case with the Irish public transport system in general, a few minutes here and there is seen as no big deal, but it's really annoying for anyone has has to get the connecting bus to Cork Airport for work.
There is a big issue with people queueing to get tickets and the trains being held until everyone has one, despite the fact that notices were put up on the platform a few weeks ago saying they were not going to hold trains for people buying tickets. On one occasion recently, the train did leave Midleton until 7:51, which in my view is really not good enough,particularly when there are ticket inspectors on board who could facilitate selling tickets.
Even without this issue, there seems to be a general lag in journey times. This morning November 11, the 6:45 am service arrived at 6:43, left at 6:47 holding for another passenger, and arrived at 7:13, 5 minutes later than scheduled. I am going to take this up with them as it is simply not good enough and would not be tolerated anywhere in continental Europe.

There really is no excuse for Cobh and Midleton services being unable to maintain the undemanding schedules given the simple operating environment and the comparatively infrequent service.

Mind you are lucky you are not using services in the Dublin area where delays of anything from 15 to 30 minutes are relatively routine due to a combination of poor traffic management, indifferent DART performance, inapprropriate layouts, track circuit failures, bridge failures, overhead line failures, leaves, train failures etc etc

Going back to the subject, it appears that having spent a small fortune to eliminate a 10 mph speed restriction east of Myrtlehill, Irish Rail have reduced the line speed west of Myrtlehill to 10 mph despite recent renewal of both track and pointwork. Again despite new track, new signalling and level crossing elimination the speed restriction bewtween Myrtlehill and Glounthuane is 50 mph compared to 60 mph in the 1980s. I imagine much of the increase in journey time is due to the current really really slow approach to Cork

[dowlingm]

Was the rationale for keeping speeds down on the Little Island-Kent stretch because a station might go in at Tivoli? I think to ensure the service is not just competitive but attractive that 60 should be aspired to - even if 50mph was timetable speed 60 would allow drivers to put the boot down to get back on schedule.

[Colm Moore]

It might be useful to have staff present on a Monday morning to sell weekly/monthly tickets only.

[kieran4003]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

It might be useful to have staff present on a Monday morning to sell weekly/monthly tickets only.

Ha, Try finding Irish Rail putting on extra staff! The Cobh ine especially has turned into a farce, loads of people are travelling for free because there is no ticket machines or staff at the stations ( except Cobh & Glounthaune) and no ticket checker on most trains to sell tickets! Even people who would want to pay cant. Hop on, Hop off, noone will notice. I was told by a staff member that the revenue at one of the unmanned stations is down 80% the past 2 years! What a way to run a railway. It is such a shame considering it is a good service. Midleton works a lot better, though the trains should have checkers.

[Emertoff]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

It might be useful to have staff present on a Monday morning to sell weekly/monthly tickets only.

They do usually put on extra staff from what I see, but there isn't any consistency with policy. On some occasions they will clear a queue of 10 people to get the train moving, on other occasions the staff stand there and wait. There is a vending machine on either side of the footbridge, but for some reason the vast majority of those buying tickets will only use the one on the platform from which the train leaves. Monday morning is for sure the biggest bottleneck, there is a large student population getting the train and quite a lot of school kids as well. Judging by the amount of people looking at their watches at 7:45 and tut-tutting, there are a lot of people annoyed,and people having to make a dash to get to where they are going by the time we get to Kent.

[jacko]

Originally Posted by kieran4003

Ha, Try finding Irish Rail putting on extra staff! The Cobh ine especially has turned into a farce, loads of people are travelling for free because there is no ticket machines or staff at the stations ( except Cobh & Glounthaune) and no ticket checker on most trains to sell tickets! Even people who would want to pay cant. Hop on, Hop off, noone will notice. I was told by a staff member that the revenue at one of the unmanned stations is down 80% the past 2 years! What a way to run a railway. It is such a shame considering it is a good service. Midleton works a lot better, though the trains should have checkers.

Rushbrooke is in urgent need of a TVM - 50+ passengers getting on each of the morning trains and no opportunity to purchase a ticket

[Thomas Ralph]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

It might be useful to have staff present on a Monday morning to sell weekly/monthly tickets only.

They wouldn't be able to accept cards which kind of defeats the purpose.

Crouzet machines are painfully slow anyway, upwards of a minute per transaction.

[Emertoff]

It was another poor week for the 7:45 am service. One 10 minute delay and on two more occasions the train only arrived at 7:45. At times it is so slow you would be sorely tempted to get out and walk.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Emertoff

It was another poor week for the 7:45 am service. One 10 minute delay and on two more occasions the train only arrived at 7:45. At times it is so slow you would be sorely tempted to get out and walk.

Really slow trains are Irish Rail's specialty subject. Travelled on a DART from Malahide to Connolly yesterday, journey time 28 minutes for the 9 miles. The maximum speed attained momentarily was 38 mph, less than the Luas Green line cruising speed !