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#1 |
Regular Poster
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 42
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![]() How much of a problem is this at this time each year to IE.
The early train was delayed by about 30 mins this morning due to this. On arrival in Heuston they were not as direct and blamed 'locomotive slipping'!! |
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#2 |
Really Regular Poster
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Celbridge
Posts: 259
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![]() 'Leaves on the track' is a misnomer, how do they manage in New England? Are trains late at this time of year also !!!
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#3 |
Technical Officer
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Coach C, Seat 33
Posts: 12,669
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![]() First thing to note is the excuses IE make up are rarely true, when I was on a train which had snapped a bolt in its suspension the engineer limited it to 60mph before departure, the pa on arrival Dublin 'due to speed restrictions en route' not quite the same as 'due to a mechnical problem'
Leaves are no joke trust me once you have experienced 60mph with the brakes in full emergency and the train not showing any signs of slowing you will believe. Its a Europe wide issue What happens is the leaves are crushed under the wheels and that forms a teflon style anti stick coating add a bit of rain and it turns into the rail equivelent of black ice, all kinds of tricks have been tried the most widely used is a combination of sand and aluminum fillings with a glue known as Sandite, if you have the cash and the power the laser blaster solution is still at prototype stage but its way more effective than anything else tried IE have a total of 1 sandite machine based in Kildare which covers only the Dublin suburban routes everywhere else is left to fend for itself The DART fleet suffers to the point that at times 30+ coaches have square wheels from repeated slides, I've experienced a DART cutting out, light flicking as the coating on the rails is also a insulator Should be noted the 201 class locomotive is designed to drag thousands of tons even on a poor rail but evidence suggests that leaves have the power to strand a train so much so that a rescue locomotive is sent out IE are negligent by not taking measures to combat the problem by sending out a Sandite unit on the Dublin Cork line, they will claim the delay is not within there reasonable control bull it is if they bothered |
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#4 |
Chairman/Publicity
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Home of Hurling
Posts: 2,708
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![]() Read the first line of Marks post a few times. This train has been exactly the same time late almost since the day it went over to the Mk4 trains. There were no leaves on the track then. There are leaves on it now. Is it any later? No.
There is as much leafall on other tracks. Was this a common widespread problem today on all routes? No. Read Marks first line again. |
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#5 |
Technical Officer
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Coach C, Seat 33
Posts: 12,669
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![]() You can account for 10 to 15 minutes due to locomotive problems, another 5 for Adamstown but the other 10-15 minutes is limbo and the delays have got worse day by day since September its only in the last month or so that its got real bad, could be the leaves but the primary cause is the locomotive coupled with the 40+ extra tons of weight in the new train
Short of having the stop and start times at all stations its impossible to know but statistics consistently show a big drop in on time arrivals this time of year across several routes Leaves are a problem, it sounds like a joke but its a real problem, it is Europe wide but at least they kit themselves out to fight it, there is no equipment dedicated to the Munster region thus first train out will have serious problems Dublin Cork is the only route where the first train is disk braked, the older trains have weaker thread brakes but a side effect is the brake pad cleans the wheel rim of leaf residue thus reducing the effect of the leaves. Dublin Belfast north of Dundalk suffers badly as well, Sligo line used to be bad but with the advent of railcars you don't get stuck anymore Last edited by Mark Gleeson : 01-11-2006 at 23:57. |
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#6 |
Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Portarlington
Posts: 397
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![]() The frustrating thing about this particular service is that on occasion, even reaching Port between 10 & 20 mins late, it makes up time (somewhere) and we're nearer the scheduled 8.30 arrival time. There was a really slow approach into Heuston this morning.
Do we have the wind behind us those days?
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#7 |
Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Dublin
Posts: 608
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![]() Apparently because we had a mild september and october and not much in th way of wind. There are not too many leaves fallen yet, so just wait until they do fall....
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