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Garrett Cummins · 31-08-2006, 07:58

Ah what is it about the changing of the seasons that almost guarantees rails delays!

17.05 Train to Limerick from Heuston went wallop yesterday, however it took nearly an hour before the decision was taken to allow the 17.10 to push the Limerick train into the siding at hazelhatch. The train I was on the 5.55 left at 6.14, as the tanoys on that service are on a long term casulaty list it was up to a the ticket checker to make an announcement - however he knew very little. In fairness to management once they were contacted by NRG they did provide the information as to the cause of the delay and advise when the service was restored. My point in all of this is that management of situations like this does not appear to be improving.

God help us when something like this occurs during contruction of the Kildare Route Project, sorry I meant the Outer Dublin Project or was that the Hazelhatch Project!!!

G

PS I should alose mention that once we left we stop at Inchicore for an hour, so we were over an hour delayed getting home, those on earlier services even more so. Any idea if refunds are available for this type of delay and if so can annual ticket holders avail of this???

Mark Gleeson · 31-08-2006, 08:06

Problem is you shouldn't have to ring IE management to find out, what happened to the text message thingy ?

The loop in Hazelhatch is always a problem since it requires manual intervention someone has to pull a lever, consistently there isn't someone on board trained to pull that lever

These incidents very rarely make it to the Irish Rail website and if they do they disappear extremely quickly so by the time you finally get home log on to see if you can figure out what went wrong the notice is no longer there

KRP would almost certainly worked around this problem

Fill in the form attach photocopy of ticket and they will issue a refund based on a fraction of the value of the ticket

Garrett Cummins · 31-08-2006, 08:34

Thanks Mark,

The funny thing was we met with Irish Rail on Tuesday and discussed among other things the introduction of the text service, agreeing when a text would issue etc. I actually sent a text last night requesting that they issue a text, but that didn't materialise as far as I know - cost me a fortune in credit!!

On the issue of the claim form is a soft copy of that form available for circulation?

Mark Gleeson · 31-08-2006, 08:57

They should have a copy of form in Heuston at the customer services desk

Its without a doubt the worst designed form ever, it comes in tripicalte

We have a scanned copy on the website

50% refund for more than 1 hour

Garrett Cummins · 31-08-2006, 15:44

Hi

Please see response that NRG received today from Irish Rail

From Irish Rail
*

Firstly, I wish to sincerely apologise to you and all other Newbridge passengers for the delays to services yesterday evening. The delays were due to the failure of the 17.05hrs Heuston to Limericknear Hazelhatch.* Delays of between 45 and 90 minutes resulted to services following the failed train. A review of the events has taken place this morning. We have identified a falldown in communication on the evening and certain actions will be taken to correct these shortcomings.
*
As regards compensation, the Passengers Charter allows for Discounts in the Event of Delays.

If you are more than one hour late in arriving at your destination, we will normally offer you discount vouchers for use against future ticket purchases. The value of discount vouchers is based on the length of delay and the fare you have paid for your single journey.

*For delays of one to two hours, we will give you vouchers to the value of 50 % of the fare you have paid for your single journey.

*For delays over two hours, we will give you vouchers to the value of 100% of the fare you have paid for your single journey.

Claims for Discount vouchers should be sent on the Claim Forms to the Customer Relations Manager, Heuston Station. The rail ticket must be submitted with the claim. Holders of Season or Annual Ticket may include a photocopy of their ticket. Forms will be available at Heuston this evening. I am also including a "soft" copy which may be printed off and used.

*
Finally, I am happy to confirm that compensation will apply to all trains affected between 17.10hrs and 19.05hrs irrespective of whether they were a full hour late or not.
*

Again, Please accept my apologies for the disruption caused last night.
*

*

Myles Mc Hugh,

Service Planning Manager.
Southern & Western,
Ceannt Station,
Galway.

* - Passenger Charter.pdf

Mark Gleeson · 31-08-2006, 15:57

Can you post the PDF here or email it through to myself so we can stick it online, it has the address of the new office in Heuston on it

If I read that correctly

Quote:

all trains affected between 17.10hrs and 19.05hrs

So those on the 17:05 don't count ??

Derek Wheeler · 31-08-2006, 19:10

Garret,

The response from Myles McHugh is the result of you guys asking the right questions and putting over 100 people in a room in front of them. Well done.

Regarding the point made about a "fall down in communication"...thats baloney. It happens all the time, right across the network and nothing changes. Only last Sunday, a failure (caused by vandalism) in Portlaoise delayed things by over an hour. One train ended up like the "Calcutta express" such was the forced over crowding. Communication was diabolical. Our publicity officer was on board one of the trains affected. No apology in Heuston and no info on refunds.

Phone me and we'll put together a joint press release for next weeks Leader. It deserves to be exposed in public. Unfortunetly your contact from Myles is not representative of how its usually handled. You guys just scare him, like we do. Lets do something for the everyday passenger. Put it out there and watch them grovel in the press.

sandraoh · 01-09-2006, 09:33

I wouldn't mind having a go at scaring him.

Mark Gleeson · 01-09-2006, 09:57

He is well scared of me already

Mark Gleeson · 02-09-2006, 21:22

There is a new refund form

http://www.platform11.org/passenger_...ty_heuston.pdf

31-08-2006, 07:58	#1
Garrett Cummins New to the board Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 21	Return to Form! Ah what is it about the changing of the seasons that almost guarantees rails delays! 17.05 Train to Limerick from Heuston went wallop yesterday, however it took nearly an hour before the decision was taken to allow the 17.10 to push the Limerick train into the siding at hazelhatch. The train I was on the 5.55 left at 6.14, as the tanoys on that service are on a long term casulaty list it was up to a the ticket checker to make an announcement - however he knew very little. In fairness to management once they were contacted by NRG they did provide the information as to the cause of the delay and advise when the service was restored. My point in all of this is that management of situations like this does not appear to be improving. God help us when something like this occurs during contruction of the Kildare Route Project, sorry I meant the Outer Dublin Project or was that the Hazelhatch Project!!! G PS I should alose mention that once we left we stop at Inchicore for an hour, so we were over an hour delayed getting home, those on earlier services even more so. Any idea if refunds are available for this type of delay and if so can annual ticket holders avail of this??? Last edited by Garrett Cummins : 31-08-2006 at 08:01.

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31-08-2006, 08:06	#2
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	Problem is you shouldn't have to ring IE management to find out, what happened to the text message thingy ? The loop in Hazelhatch is always a problem since it requires manual intervention someone has to pull a lever, consistently there isn't someone on board trained to pull that lever These incidents very rarely make it to the Irish Rail website and if they do they disappear extremely quickly so by the time you finally get home log on to see if you can figure out what went wrong the notice is no longer there KRP would almost certainly worked around this problem Fill in the form attach photocopy of ticket and they will issue a refund based on a fraction of the value of the ticket

31-08-2006, 08:34	#3
Garrett Cummins New to the board Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 21	Thanks Mark, The funny thing was we met with Irish Rail on Tuesday and discussed among other things the introduction of the text service, agreeing when a text would issue etc. I actually sent a text last night requesting that they issue a text, but that didn't materialise as far as I know - cost me a fortune in credit!! On the issue of the claim form is a soft copy of that form available for circulation?

31-08-2006, 08:57	#4
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	They should have a copy of form in Heuston at the customer services desk Its without a doubt the worst designed form ever, it comes in tripicalte We have a scanned copy on the website 50% refund for more than 1 hour

31-08-2006, 15:44	#5
Garrett Cummins New to the board Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 21	Hi Please see response that NRG received today from Irish Rail From Irish Rail * Firstly, I wish to sincerely apologise to you and all other Newbridge passengers for the delays to services yesterday evening. The delays were due to the failure of the 17.05hrs Heuston to Limericknear Hazelhatch.* Delays of between 45 and 90 minutes resulted to services following the failed train. A review of the events has taken place this morning. We have identified a falldown in communication on the evening and certain actions will be taken to correct these shortcomings. * As regards compensation, the Passengers Charter allows for Discounts in the Event of Delays. If you are more than one hour late in arriving at your destination, we will normally offer you discount vouchers for use against future ticket purchases. The value of discount vouchers is based on the length of delay and the fare you have paid for your single journey. For delays of one to two hours, we will give you vouchers to the value of 50 % of the fare you have paid for your single journey. For delays over two hours, we will give you vouchers to the value of 100% of the fare you have paid for your single journey. Claims for Discount vouchers should be sent on the Claim Forms to the Customer Relations Manager, Heuston Station. The rail ticket must be submitted with the claim. Holders of Season or Annual Ticket may include a photocopy of their ticket. Forms will be available at Heuston this evening. I am also including a "soft" copy which may be printed off and used. * Finally, I am happy to confirm that compensation will apply to all trains affected between 17.10hrs and 19.05hrs irrespective of whether they were a full hour late or not. * Again, Please accept my apologies for the disruption caused last night. * * Myles Mc Hugh, Service Planning Manager. Southern & Western, Ceannt Station, Galway. * - Passenger Charter.pdf

31-08-2006, 19:10	#7
Derek Wheeler Registered user Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kildare Posts: 1,555	Garret, The response from Myles McHugh is the result of you guys asking the right questions and putting over 100 people in a room in front of them. Well done. Regarding the point made about a "fall down in communication"...thats baloney. It happens all the time, right across the network and nothing changes. Only last Sunday, a failure (caused by vandalism) in Portlaoise delayed things by over an hour. One train ended up like the "Calcutta express" such was the forced over crowding. Communication was diabolical. Our publicity officer was on board one of the trains affected. No apology in Heuston and no info on refunds. Phone me and we'll put together a joint press release for next weeks Leader. It deserves to be exposed in public. Unfortunetly your contact from Myles is not representative of how its usually handled. You guys just scare him, like we do. Lets do something for the everyday passenger. Put it out there and watch them grovel in the press.

01-09-2006, 09:33	#8
sandraoh Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Portlaoise Posts: 145	I wouldn't mind having a go at scaring him.

01-09-2006, 09:57	#9
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	He is well scared of me already

02-09-2006, 21:22	#10
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	There is a new refund form http://www.platform11.org/passenger_...ty_heuston.pdf