New Irish Rail Logo?

[essoII]

Just after logging on to irishrail.ie and there seems to be a new logo for irishrail? I don't see the basis for justifying a rebrand. Can anyone shed any insight in to this?


*Edit: comparisons of previous logos and new one:

[Destructix]

I preferred the 1994/5 logo (logo 1). Waste of money but there are other projects within IÉ at the moment which are costing us taxpayers/customers a lot more in fares and subsidies for services which carry less than 8 passengers daily. WRC and the Nenagh lines.

[Mark Gleeson]

This looks more like an afternoon with clip art and paint

[Thomas Ralph]

I don't think logo 1 was 94/95; that one had a lowercase I and E.

[Thomas J Stamp]

new logo reminds me of an old NI utility one, and the old crown paints thing.

rubbish.

when the ship is sinking, paint it.

[James Howard]

The deployment of this logo is just galling when we are putting up significant service reductions. It is going to be especially annoying if they start changing livery on trains to suit this as this is when it really starts costing money.

The aesthetic considerations are secondary but I cannot see how anybody can think that it is an improvement over the existing logo which while a bit boring is at least modern and integrates with the rest of their branding in that it uses the corporate font.

Meanwhile they can't even get themselves organised to get timetables distributed for display in my station. They have handouts but the last time I looked (Wednesday morning), they still had last-year's timetable posted on the platform. This is normal - it can take three or four weeks to get the new poster timetable out.

[essoII]

Originally Posted by James Howard

The deployment of this logo is just galling when we are putting up significant service reductions.
The aesthetic considerations are secondary but I cannot see how anybody can think that it is an improvement over the existing logo which while a bit boring is at least modern and integrates with the rest of their branding in that it uses the corporate font.

I think the previous logo was the first time they managed to almost achieve an across the board corporate identity (handouts, train service liveries, staff uniforms etc..) The new logo serves no logical function, is totally unjustified and will need a large financial investment (regardless of what they say) to achieve a swift total rebrand of all company services and paraphernalia.

[Mark Gleeson]

There is no budget for a rebranding exercise

Logo will be used on all new print and new signage as of Jan 2013

Since no EU tender appears to have been issued the cost of the logo was less than 10,000 euro it would appear

[James Howard]

I would love to know where these people studied marketing. As essoII said, this the first time in years that Irish Rail finally managed to get consistent branding on stations, signage, uniforms and the trains. Added to that, they seem to actually managed to get most of the staff to wear the uniform which is a first.

Then some genius buys a new logo out of petty cash and it is back to the the old way of bits and pieces. That is a bigger issue than the cost of the logo.

The indo has an brief note on this which once again mentions the non-existent 36 million which is now 30 million (or was this Irish Rail's portion of the non-existent dig-out).

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...t-3368161.html

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

There is no budget for a rebranding exercise

Logo will be used on all new print and new signage as of Jan 2013

Since no EU tender appears to have been issued the cost of the logo was less than 10,000 euro it would appear

State companies can spend a lot more than €10,000 without going near the EU journal.

[Thomas J Stamp]

i would imagine that as things perish and are replaced they will all have the new logo which will just be another design feature of the item being replaced and as such incoporated within that items cost.

[karlr42]

Noticed they've changed the Twitter username from Irish Rail to Iarnrod Eireann(handle is still @IrishRail). They really need to just pick a language and stick with it consistently.

[padair]

Sir,

In relation to the Official Languages Act, public bodies are permitted to design and use any logo in any area, and an exemption has been granted in relation to the use of Irish and English in such logos in the regulations under sub-section 9(1) of the OLA.

However, the logo is exempt from the regulations only where it does not contain the name of the public body.

As the previous "irishrail.ie" logo contained the name of the public body and was in English only, it was in breach of these regulations.

Regards,
Padder

[Mark Gleeson]

The change in logo has nothing to do with the Irish language issue. It was done for purely marketing reasons

The official letterhead was always the 2005 Iarnrod Eireann logo with the company information in both Irish and English

[Destructix]

IRISH Rail's cross-border staff are concerned that a new corporate logo, which features stylised triangles in the green, white and orange of the national flag, could leave them vulnerable because of tensions in the North.

Siptu has written to the company to outline the fears of workers.

However, Irish Rail has said trains will only be repainted with the new logo as part of the maintenance cycle.

It stressed that the Enterprise train service is a joint operation between North and South and that there were no plans to use the new logo on that service.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-29210977.html

Meanwhile 37 year old locomotives are again undergoing a costly respray to the new livery and branding.

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by Destructix

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news...-29210977.html

Meanwhile 37 year old locomotives are again undergoing a costly respray to the new livery and branding.

The 071's are due an overhaul anyway.

[Mark Gleeson]

Only 1 locomotive and 1 coach currently carry the logo, only ones painted this year

About 650 vehicles in the fleet, need painting approx every 10 years, 60+ a year need a paint so. Logo is a transfer applied after painting or to replace worn

SIPTU really have become a joke in raising an issue about this, its petty and really shows SIPTU hasn't a clue about the major issues within Irish Rail

So for example Aer Lingus operate out of Belfast have never had a problem with a big green plane with a Shamrock and tricolour on the registration.

[Jamie2k9]

Only 1 locomotive and 1 coach currently carry the logo, only ones painted this year

About 650 vehicles in the fleet, need painting approx every 10 years, 60+ a year need a paint so. Logo is a transfer applied after painting or to replace worn

SIPTU really have become a joke in raising an issue about this, its petty and really shows SIPTU hasn't a clue about the major issues within Irish Rail

So for example Aer Lingus operate out of Belfast have never had a problem with a big green plane with a Shamrock and tricolour on the registration.

Wouldn't even count the 071 as having the logo seen as its while and not coloured like the Mark IV DVT. The 6 loco or less for Belfast services won't be painted with it and when the EGV's are sorted out there should be few failues once the 201's get some TLC every so often and they don't wait for a failure.

Your right about SIPTU but the crew for Aer Lingus in Belfast are not allowed operate in the Republic....says it all about the union.

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

So for example Aer Lingus operate out of Belfast have never had a problem with a big green plane with a Shamrock and tricolour on the registration.

The flip side is that Aer Lingus don't have to operate under bridges that people can throw things from.

[Inniskeen]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

The flip side is that Aer Lingus don't have to operate under bridges that people can throw things from.

Until comparatively recent times the IR livery was some variant of Black and Tan.