[11-11-2007] 17:05 Dublin Sligo

[MidlandDeltic]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Again not our problem thats Irish Rail's problem, rescue came from Dublin anyway

Basic fact is Irish Rail did not deal with the breakdown in an efficient manner

Rescue may have come from Dublin, but loco ended up in Sligo - and had to work the train the next morning back to Dublin. There are all sorts of issues over route and traction knowledge, and it is impractical to expect all drivers to know all routes and traction. Even if Sligo drivers were trained on the 201s at some point, that knowledge expires if not used. As Sligo drivers never come into contact with the class, the money spent training would in all likelyhood be wasted. If you were the driver of the rescue loco, would you like to be told at zero notice that you were staying the night 130 miles from home - and by the way, you'll get there after midnight?

I agree with earlier comments however, that all trains can fail - old or new. In nearly 200,000 miles of rail travel over the last 20 years or so, I have failed completely maybe five times. Only one of these was in Ireland - with a brand new 2600 in June 1994. Other failures have been with both new and old trains in my former home in the UK - and in one case, depsite much closer availability of a rescue loco, it took nearly three hours to get on the move. As was said, this is only the second failure of the old stock in several months of continuous use.

The response is what counts. IE did not do well, but this is due to a number of factors - stock incompatibilities being one. The cost of provding a spare, manned locomotive at, say Mullingar for one train a day would be unsustainable, and given the generally reliable operation since the spring would be difficult to justify. The food issue is unfortunate, but I don't feel Rail Gourmet are at fault on this - whoever is operating a refreshment service cannot be expected to carry significant "spare" stock just in case, as the wastage would be horrendous. Similarly, water will always be limited - I have travelled on trains with full restaurant cars which have managed to run out in the course of a normal journey. Interestingly, IE were balmed for this in the original report.

So yes, unfortunate, and perhaps could have been handdled better. Hoever, if there hadn't been a radio presenter on board, would it have made national TV news?

Sean