Mullingar train cancellations, no replacement

[thedailygrudge]

On Friday, the 18.05 Longford service was cancelled yet again and no replacement was offered. Irish Rail informed commuters they could catch the 18.15 completely packed all-stops service instead.

The notice was on the CIE website from about 3pm, if they had such forewarning, are they obliged to provide us with an alternative not just cancelling the train completely. Often we are forced to wait until the 19.00 Sligo service as there is not enough room on the 18.15 all stops service.

The 17.00 Sligo service which many commters caught instead then proceeding to break down due to engine problems and the 19.00 service was delayed for 30 minutes in Mullingar for the police to arrest people on the train, so every single commuter service to Mullingar on Friday 25th was delayed. Becoming a common occurence seemingly on Friday afternoons. Any idea why?

[MOH]

I was on the 19.00 in the carriage next to the one in which the arrestee(s)were. there had been a fair bit of noise out of it, but about 15-20 mins before we reached Mullingar at least a dozen people came rushing out into our carriage, most with their bags but some didn't even bother waiting to get those. There was a fierce amount of yelling and screaming, the main guy involved was a very big chap, at one point he was battering the walls at the end of the carriage (or possibly the toilet door). A number of people called the guards and four were waiting at Mullingar and took him at least off in handcuffs.

During the 20 mins or so that we sat in Mullingar, there was no announcement as to the cause of the delay. It also struck me as significant that whenever tickets are being manually checked at stations, there'll be at least four large security personnel there to intimidate passengers, but there's never any security presence on trains. This is at least the second time in 6 months that people have been arrested at Mullingar.

[Mark Gleeson]

Despite the denials there is a lack of drivers

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are always the worst days, as the drivers have an agreement that one of their 2 days off a week will be a weekend and that where possible they get both days together. This agreement has been in place since 2001 but Irish Rail where never able to guarantee the drivers the agreed quota of days off. 2008 timetable was the last straw and the drivers are seeking the full rest day entitlement

Irish Rail will of course deny all of this which makes life very difficult

If you where delayed by more than 1 hour you are entitled to a 50% refund, http://www.railusers.ie/passenger_in...hp#their_fault

There is no obligation to offer any alternative transport if the train is cancelled

There is no 17:00 to Sligo, its 17:05, the 17:15 to Longford is what most people would have got if they could. Given the 18:18 is fairly quiet beyond Maynooth there was nothing stopping passengers taking the 18:08 to Maynooth and changing there

[thedailygrudge]

Yep, meant the 17.05.
Wouldn't want to be claustrophobic catching that 18.15 that is for sure.

Anyway, the point of the post was that there is always such delays and no matter which train you caught on Friday, all were delayed. If the 17.05 which i was on was delayed by 45-50 mins & then broke down then surely the 17.15/16 was delayed also as they were behind us and the 18.05 was cancelled, the 18.15 delayed and the 19.05 delayed and police activites on that train delayed it by another half hour.

Even if one did catch the 18.08 to Maynooth and then got off and waited for the 18.15/16 to arrive, we still would have been half an hour late to Mullingar. No difference.

[ThomasJ]

I wouldnt recommend taking the 18:08 to maynooth. It is as bad as if not sometimes worse than the 18:18