[2007-06-12] Pearse to Maynooth 17.37

[davidoc]

I'm sending the following complaint to Iarnród Éireann:

On 12 June I went to the station in time to catch the 17:37 service to Clonsilla. When I arrived there was a notice on the display in the entrance hall saying that this service was delayed until 17:51. I decided to accept the fourteen-minute delay and wait. A number of other services were running behind schedule and there was announcement that apologised for the delay and gave the explanation that there had been "a problem on a train".

As the time approached 17:51 I noticed that the Maynooth train had not appeared on the information boards on the northbound platform although there were trains for Dundalk, Howth and Malahide listed. I made my way from the far end of the platform back towards the Westland Row end and asked an IE employee on the platform when the next train on the Maynooth line would be. He told me the 18:08 to Longford would be the next one. I was not impressed, as this meant the 17.37 had effectively been cancelled without warning. I decided to wait and see a little longer. During this time, the announcement apologising for the delay due to "a problem on a train" was repeated.

Around 18:00 I noticed that the Longford train had not appeared on the platform information boards although there were other trains mentioned that would arrive after 18:08. I waited until 18:08 came and went and at around 18:12 I went downstairs to the entrance hall. A member of staff there was blocking access to the northbound platform, presumably due to overcrowding. He was not able to tell passengers what was going on: his excuse was that he could not read the display in the entrance hall from where he was standing.

I went over to the display and saw that the Longford train was now delayed until 18:24. A member of IE staff was explaining that there had been a problem with a train at Lansdowne Road. I asked what had happened to the Maynooth-line trains and he said that the train in question was the 17:37 to Maynooth. I asked if the Docklands--Clonsilla trains were running and he said yes.

I walked from Pearse to Docklands Station arriving around 18:27 and I caught the 18:45 to Clonsilla, which arrived at Clonsilla around 19:07.

My main complaint is the poor quality of the announcements made at Pearse. As a passenger I am not terribly concerned if a delay is due to "a problem on a train", a problem with the tracks, or late arrival of an earlier train. What I do want to know is which trains are affected (in this case Maynooth-line trains) and what alternatives I have.

For example, I realise now that it might have been possible to catch a northbound train to Connolly and take a Maynooth or Longford train from there. It would have been helpful to announce something like "The 17:37 service to Maynooth has been cancelled. Passengers for Drumcondra, [...], and Maynooth should take the next available service to Connolly where they can join the 18:05 service to Maynooth." It would also have been useful to announce the time of the next available service from Docklands. At the very least, if I had known that the 17:37 service to Maynooth was cancelled I could have made an informed decision to return to work, to take bus, or to make some other arrangements.

From my brief interactions with IE staff at Pearse it seemed that most of them did not have information on what was the cause of the problem or which services were affected. One staff member mentioned that he had only heard that the 17:37 was effectively cancelled from passengers. Others just quoted the time-tabled departure times when asked when the next train was due. Neither staff nor passengers had adequate information.