17/09/2007 - 06:10 Waterford - Heuston

[kevin]

One hour late this morning, due to signalling problems in Waterford.

Spent 5+ mins at inchicore as the catering person and guard were swapped to the 09:30 Dublin - Waterford.

It was 2 mins short of the full hour but might be worth the refund request anyhow.

kevin

[Mark Gleeson]

Go for it, they are asking for it thanks to the change in Inchicore, get the 50%

[kevin]

hmmm. Would Rail Gourmet staff be trained in track safety or is being in the company of the guard enough to satisfy regulations?

Catering guy didn't seem to happy about it when I was talking to him this morning.

[Mark Gleeson]

Rail Gourmet guys barely know how to make coffee, let alone safety procedures. They are not trained in the art of train swapping in Inchicore

[kevin]

http://www.carlow-nationalist.ie/news/story.asp?j=32732

Barry Kenny confirmed a signaling fault resulted in the delay on September 17 but was surprised to learn of the delays on subsequent days

[KSW]

Wow I didnt think that the Waterford line needed attention but after reading the web-link its as bad as the Rosslare/Gorey sevices.........................

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Keith/Gorey

Wow I didnt think that the Waterford line needed attention but after reading the web-link its as bad as the Rosslare/Gorey sevices.........................

I think it's mainly that particular service. It hasn't turned up in carlow at the timetabled time more than a handfull of times in the last few months.

The article may actually help. The last time it drifted off like this it ended up getting written about. Funny how it suddenly got better the next week.

There's enough padding to allow it be ~5 mins behind and make Heuston, but even that hasn't been enough recently.

kevin

[seamus kilcock]

Friday 12th October the 0930 (push pull) ex Heuston arrived Waterford 16 minutes late due mainly to signalling problems between Ballyhale and Waterford; but there were lots of slacks too.
Time allowed for Ballyhale/Waterford section is 22 minutes; it took 32!
We arrived 1218 i.e. 16 mins late. We arrived in Kilkenny on time but departed 5 mins late due to up train arriving late.
Returned on the 1500 (Mk3 loco hauled) ex Waterford which was 3 mins late departing. Took 29 mins to Thomastown compared to the timetable allowance of 18 mins! All due to slack following slack following slack. No signalling problems this time!
The run around in Kilkenny took 14 mins instead of the 10 mins allowed! The knock on effect of arriving late in Kildare was a 10 min late departure of the FO Heuston/Ballina.
Question - why, after all the relatively recent upgrading are there so many slacks between Ballyhale and Waterford?

[kevin]

Delayed again today.

20 mins by the time it got to carlow and finally arrived 25mins late to heuston.

[AndrewMc]

Originally Posted by kevin

Delayed again today.

20 mins by the time it got to carlow and finally arrived 25mins late to heuston.

And today it left Athy 36 minutes late, arriving into Heuston 22 minutes late. No explanation given on either day.

Are the drivers on a rotating shift, one week at a time? We seem to notice a pattern that if the train is particularly late on Monday, it'll be late all week. Likewise if it's reasonably punctual it'll be like that all week, too. Could be our imagination, but I don't think so.

[Rusalka]

Yep - it was 09:07 when the train arrived into Heuston. 2/2 lates this week - outrageous!

No explanation given again - this is UNBEARABLY frustrating when you've been stood on the platform in the piddling rain in Athy for over half an hour.

If they told us it was a mechanical failure or something, I'd think that while unfortunate, it's probably infrequent and something beyond their control on the day, but when they don't say anything, I can't help but think that it's just down to the human element of the process.

Further to this, I totally agree that there seems to be a pattern in the "enthusiam" of the drivers and station staff in getting the train out of the stations on time - some rocket into Athy, nearly screeching to a halt, people get on, the doors are closed (electric doors on the 07:37 from Athy now - WOOOT! ) and we belt onto Kildare.

However, some seem completely apathetic and the train crawls into the station from about 3 miles out, then (already running late!) they will happily sit and wait for every straggler they see running from the carparks! THIS IS REINFORCING THE BEHAVIOUR, FOLKS!!! I know it sounds mean, but if the train actually ran on time for a few days and left them behind, then they would surely learn to leave home in time to make it.

And don't get me started on the new Platform 8 departure of the 18:25 from Heuston....feels like Irish Rail are trying to just hide the chaos that is the ever-more-prevalent queue for this service.....

GAAAAAAAAH!!! I've taken trains in Europe and the US (international, inter-city, and commuter), and I've never experienced such poor punctuality abroad as I have here in Ireland.

Carlow-Athy Rail Users Group, anyone?

[Kilkea]

Yep, I had the pleasure of being on the "7.37" from Athy yesterday & today too. An absolute disgrace and I have just vented my anger in an email to customer services at Heuston and cc'd in the Kildare Nationalist & the Minister for Transport. There seems to be general unrest in rail users throughout the east/southeast of the country, as work colleagues of mine who use the Monasterevin & Naas/Sallins service are going through the same experiences. They have a rail user group set up, and I think it would a great idea for a Carlow/Athy version.
Does anyone know if there is one set up already?

Just to let you know also, there were rumours that this train is going to be just as late all this week (not sure how they know that!)

[StephenM]

Originally Posted by Rusalka

GAAAAAAAAH!!! I've taken trains in Europe and the US (international, inter-city, and commuter), and I've never experienced such poor punctuality abroad as I have here in Ireland.

I've taken a few Chicago Commuter trains on weekends and they always ran late, due to "a lack of horse power" apparently. Atleast in Ireland generally 2 071s replace a 201 so you dont have that issue too often!

[kevin]

Yet again, we get treated to a queue up along the side of heuston as the Galway service cannot seem to make it on time.

It arrived at 18:15 so the waterford train is currently 10 mins late.

Good thing there's all that padding at athy.

kevin

[AndrewMc]

Originally Posted by kevin

Yet again, we get treated to a queue up along the side of heuston as the Galway service cannot seem to make it on time.

It arrived at 18:15 so the waterford train is currently 10 mins late.

Good thing there's all that padding at athy.

kevin

And, despite that padding, it still arrived 14 minutes late.

The rumour mills between passengers are working overdrive at this stage. One common story going around is that the morning trouble is sometimes caused by a level crossing that nobody has the keys to, leading to a delay while they send somebody out with the keys. It sounds ridiculous, and yet strangely plausible...

[kevin]

Originally Posted by AndrewMc

One common story going around is that the morning trouble is sometimes caused by a level crossing that nobody has the keys to, leading to a delay while they send somebody out with the keys. It sounds ridiculous, and yet strangely plausible...

http://forum.platform11.org/showthread.php?t=2898

That was one of the days that sparked the Nationalist article. The story as told to me by the ticket checker (in person, not announced) was that the person who was sent out to open the barrier couldn't unlock it.

Driver, guard and checker all had a go but they had to get someone else to come out with more/other keys.

Personally I'd have been all for breaking it and have the guy who couldn't unlock it mind it for the day until it got repaired.

kevin

[kevin]

We got moved to platform 8 to stop the queue from clogging up the main concourse.

Obviously zero thought went into removing the root cause of the queue. The inability to get that Galway train turned around before 18:00

Now that they have somewhere for us to queue I expect it to be a daily occurence.

[Rusalka]

Originally Posted by StephenM

I've taken a few Chicago Commuter trains on weekends and they always ran late, due to "a lack of horse power" apparently. Atleast in Ireland generally 2 071s replace a 201 so you dont have that issue too often!

Yeah, I don't think horse power is the issue at all on these services, just general apathy and refusal to take responsibility for problems.

Originally Posted by Kilkea

They have a rail user group set up, and I think it would a great idea for a Carlow/Athy version.
Does anyone know if there is one set up already?

Not that I know of - I guess people are just too tired to organise by the time they get home these days - maybe that's their game!

On a serious note - I'm shocked at the number of commuters who have had to revert to using the 06:41 from Athy to Heuston, just to get into work on time. It's truly depressing that these users - many of whom (like myself!) were delighted at the extra hour in bed that the 07:37 service promised, have had to start getting up at the crack of dawn again, solely due to the unreliability of the later service. This is just not fair, and not acceptable in a 21st century, supposedly developed country, which has apparently just come through an economic boom.

[kevin]

Train was 15+ mins late arriving at Carlow.
Kildare at 08:14
Newbridge at 08:22
Heuston at 08:52 (good recovery)

The issues this week seem to be mostly related to door failures in the set running this service.

Today there is one locked out on coach 7128.

btw No catering to be seen when I walked the train just after Athy.

last monday, the train made carlow on time, after that it made it to heuston for 08:32 (a full 13 minutes early)

kevin