16:40 Connolly-Gorey 12/Nov/09

[DangerM]

Just boarded this (late) train home and it's a mess! Papers, empty packets, drinks etc on most of the tables and the floor. People are clearing the place themselves to make room. What's worse is that lately this train is normally very warm anyway but today it's so stuffy and smelly it's making me feel ill, what I wouldn't give for a window to open!

It's unfair that we pay a lot of money for such a poor standard of service in return, this train is regularly late and not once is there any kind of announcement apologising or explaining why, least we can expect is to be comfortable as we're delayed?

[Mark Gleeson]

Photos?

[fergn]

I was on this train this evening. When I boarded I couldn't believe how messy it was.The reason for the delay was the incoming Sligo train that usually arrives into Platform 1 and sits before heading to Platform 5 was badly delayed and instead went directly to Platform 5 at 16:42 so the Sligo passengers got off and the Gorey passengers got on and the train left so there was no time to give it a clean. On a side note I found it quite funny that the platform display had "1, Gorey..... 2, Terminates..." Irishrail seem to think its feasible for the Gorey train to leave before the train to run it had arrived.

[DangerM]

Sorry Mark, no pics, next time!

[Mark Gleeson]

Hard evidence is the only weapon that works on Irish Rail

The Sligo train was 41 minutes late into Dublin, that said its amazing how quick a guy with a black bag can shift the most obvious rubbish.

[chris]

I wouldn't be too harsh on IR on this one.

The people who left the rubbish all over the train in the first place are the ones to blame.

No matter how late the train was, leaving rubbish all over the place isn't going to hurt IR, just the next lot of passengers.

[Mark Gleeson]

But customer charter says every intercity service will be cleaned before each journey

Cleanliness

We will make sure that all trains are thoroughly cleaned every day before they are used. Where possible during the day we will make sure that trains are cleaned for the start of each new journey. The exteriors of all trains are scheduled to be washed at least three times a week.

[ThomasJ]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Hard evidence is the only weapon that works on Irish Rail

The Sligo train was 41 minutes late into Dublin, that said its amazing how quick a guy with a black bag can shift the most obvious rubbish.

What is going on with the Sligo line at the moment?

There are quiet often noticable delays to this service, especially inbound.

Quiet often if I get a maynooth train on sunday, if theres a sligo train ahead of it, its late, if theres not its on time!

[Mark Gleeson]

No idea but yesterday was appalling, of the 6 trains we know about, all where more than 10 minutes late the worst be 41 minutes, two more of 20 minutes

Things much much better today

[chris]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

But customer charter says every intercity service will be cleaned before each journey

Mark, that's not what your quote appears to say. It says they will be cleaned at the start of each day, then during the day where possible. If it was 41 minutes delayed, there's a good chance there wasn't enough time to clean it.

The Charter also says:

Please Help us to Help You

In order to make your rail journey as safe and as pleasant as possible for you and your fellow passengers please:
...
leave toilets as clean as you find them
use litterbins provided
avoid leaving litter on the floors of trains or in the stations
do not put your feet on the seats

There is a serious problem of passengers thinking they are in the cinema.

Can we not just focus on the punctuality. Because it is really crap.

[Mark Gleeson]

They could have done a very quick clean at Connolly, staff on site to do this. Its not as if the train was starting from an unstaffed station.

There is exteremly limited rubbish bins on the train, if Irish Rail want to operate a trolley service they better be able deal with the waste that appears

You won't see rubbish on the Cork line or Belfast, even with exteremly tight turnaround after delays

In reality a spare train should have been brought in to operate the 16:40 in the first place

[Thomas Ralph]

Cork and Belfast lines have in fact onboard cleaners...

[DangerM]

The bins were already full so there was nowhere to put the rubbish, worst case I can't see why staff couldn't have got on, cleaned as the train headed on, hopped off at pearse and then headed back. It was only 3 carriages.

[wobbles]

The same train worked the 0600 from Gorey this morning and the rubbish was still not cleaned. I complained to the conductor who told me the train stayed over night in Gorey but could not tell me why it was not cleaned. After departing Arklow the conductor walked through the train with a black bag cleaning the table tops.

[dowlingm]

IE could do like the airlines do - get the trolley staff to do a sweep through the train with a black bag before terminal stop.

[Thomas Ralph]

No trolley on Gorey services...

[fergn]

(19-11-09) Left Connolly almost 20 minutes late this evening due to the extremely late arrival of the incoming Sligo train. Of course at first we were told 10 minutes late due 'Operational Problems' but then after 10 minutes they changed their mind to 15 minutes and due to 'Late arrival of an incoming train'. To add to the fun just after the usual delay announcement the train vanished off the displays and departure screens.