Line closure - flooding at carrick on Shannon

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

They do have the 22's available for the service, they were able to spare 2"3 piece sets before the fleet changed.

I'm sure a taxi service for one of the drivers to Maynooth would be more efficient than running services such as the 17.15 to Longford.

There is not much point in looking at what the fleet was before the reformation process - it is what the fleet is now that is relevant. And more importantly, the fleet that they can afford to operate.

It's all well and good complaining about the 17:15, but you need to get the train to Longford in place for the early morning service the next day. There will always be some moves on any transport network that, on the face of it, don't make complete sense due to lighter loadings, but that are necessary from a positioning perspective.

[Jamie2k9]

There is not much point in looking at what the fleet was before the reformation process - it is what the fleet is now that is relevant. And more importantly, the fleet that they can afford to operate.

It's all well and good complaining about the 17:15, but you need to get the train to Longford in place for the early morning service the next day. There will always be some moves on any transport network that, on the face of it, don't make complete sense due to lighter loadings, but that are necessary from a positioning perspective.

They still have the same fleet in units, I would say there very little difference between a 22 and 29 operating.

Why how many passengers board the 5.40 daily ex Longford??

Implications of advancing the 06.15 to 06.00 lets say and keep one service?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

They still have the same fleet in units, I would say there very little difference between a 22 and 29 operating.

Why how many passengers board the 5.40 daily ex Longford??

Implications of advancing the 06.15 to 06.00 lets say and keep one service?

But they don't have the same number of trains in service - they're taking Mark 4 sets out of service, so the overall number of trains available is not the same.

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by berneyarms

But they don't have the same number of trains in service - they're taking Mark 4 sets out of service, so the overall number of trains available is not the same.

They are shortening many other services which will more less balance out Cork services. I don't for one second believe they have no 22 available, it's a case of where the set is located.

Is the M3 Parkway shuttle still 22 in the evenings?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

They are shortening many other services which will more less balance out Cork services. I don't for one second believe they have no 22 available, it's a case of where the set is located.

Is the M3 Parkway shuttle still 22 in the evenings?

Yes but you have to take maintenance requirements into account as well - you can't simply say that there has to be one available. Trains have to be serviced as well. That, believe it or not is a requirement.

If you are seriously suggesting that they've sets that are designated as being in service (i.e. excluding the sets put into storage for economic reasons) sitting around in sidings doing nothing then really I think you're taking the proverbial.

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by berneyarms

Yes but you have to take maintenance requirements into account as well - you can't simply say that there has to be one available. Trains have to be serviced as well. That, believe it or not is a requirement.

If you are seriously suggesting that they've sets that are designated as being in service (i.e. excluding the sets put into storage for economic reasons) sitting around in sidings doing nothing then really I think you're taking the proverbial.

They had maintenance requirements before the sets were changed, the whole fleet is in service and the sets that were withdrawn were not as they were spare and probably a unit or two that was spare considering the downturn is to be expected. Media make something or nothing of it.

There "could" have a set available to work this service, no excuses. It's just something needs to be done to make it happen. I fully appreciate that the reduction in 4 piece sets than planned may be a factor however it would be easily overcome. 3 coach would be good for the 18.05 but then there is the morning service. It will probably take a complete new timetable until it will be really sorted out but can IE afford to wait months for this and keep some customers in the process?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by Jamie2k9

They had maintenance requirements before the sets were changed, the whole fleet is in service and the sets that were withdrawn were not as they were spare and probably a unit or two that was spare considering the downturn is to be expected. Media make something or nothing of it.

There "could" have a set available to work this service, no excuses. It's just something needs to be done to make it happen. I fully appreciate that the reduction in 4 piece sets than planned may be a factor however it would be easily overcome. 3 coach would be good for the 18.05 but then there is the morning service. It will probably take a complete new timetable until it will be really sorted out but can IE afford to wait months for this and keep some customers in the process?

A new timetable is what I've said would be required all along - that is the only way that this can be addressed properly, because you would have to address the maintenance schedule and try to balance out the sets and workings.

[ACustomer]

This morning (MArch 3) the Irish Rail home page says that the closure between Carrick on Shannon and Longford is continuing. However the Twitter updates say that the line is now re-opening.

The Homepage information is dated February 28th. The laziness and incompetence in keeping such apparently outdated and misleading material is simply beyond belief

[James Howard]

It's all updated now, although still dated February 28th. I would generally assume that a twitter feed will be more up-to-date than a website, but this should be more in-sync. This has been such a mess. I cannot believe that they had updated the timetable on the journey planner but didn't bother telling anybody.

Edgeworthstown station has managed to do a notice using a handwritten sheet of A4 sellotaped to the door with updates managed using Tippex.

[James Howard]

Well people are staying away in droves today. I'm on the 1705 and I count 12 people in this car after Mullingar. Hopefully it won't take too long to go back to pre-disruption levels.

[Mark Gleeson]

To be fair the line reopened after the morning peak so commuters had already had a plan to get home without the train.

Tomorrow morning will be the acid test