Midleton Line Opening - with Buses

[namloc]

8:15 service Midleton-Cork. I got on in Carrigtwohill with about 4 or 5 other passengers. There was about 30 on it from Midleton. Grand total of 3 cars using the car park in Carrig!

[finnyus]

The 08:15 to Midleton was delayed this morning. 5-6 cars in the north car park at Midleton station.

[finnyus]

My brother is on the 11:45 to Cork, he said it is very busy.

[comcor]

Is there a reason why Cork-Glounthaune and Glounthaune-Cork takes longer on Midleton services than on Cobh ones?

And for that matter, is there a reason why Cork-Glounthaune is faster than Glounthaune-Cork regardless of which service you're on?

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by comcor

And for that matter, is there a reason why Cork-Glounthaune is faster than Glounthaune-Cork regardless of which service you're on?

Padding is added at the end of the journey.

[finnyus]

Andrew Roche from Irish Rail (Cork) was at Midleton station this morning. He was telling my mother that she could have bought her ticket from Midleton to Limerick online. Just checked there, it still says €0 when you click on "Check price".

I got the 06:45 to work this morning. about 20 passengers in total into Cork. About 12 boarded at Midleton, 1 at Carrigtwohill the rest at Glounthaune & Little Island.

TVM on platform 2 was operating this morning. TVM on platform 1 has something like a screensaver on it?

The PIS was telling everyone "The next train on platform 1 is the 06:38 to Midleton", displaying: 06:45 Midleton CallingAt: Littleisland, Glounthane ,, Carrigtwohill" <-exactly as I wrote it.

Train 2 was the 06:45 to Cork, but no mention of it.

Are these programmed @ Midleton station or from Mallow?

The "next train on platform 1 is the 06:38 to Midleton" arrived at platform 2!

The feeder bus (number 5) connects beautifully from the Cobh/Mallow/Dublin trains. During the day, there is a xx:20 departure which connects from the Midleton train. In the morning, there are 07:10, 07:40, 08:10 departures of the bus from Kent. Not great for Midleton customers, when the Midleton train arrives in at 07:08, 07:38 & 08:08! For the past few mornings my train has arrived in at 07:10 = bus gone. Next bus is at 07:30.

I am writing to BE Cork to see if anything can be done about this as I cannot imagine there are many passengers on the services I mentioned above (07:10, 07:40, 08:10) from Kent to City Center / Patrick's Street. It would be better to defer them by at least 5 mins for the possibility of passengers, especially when the colleges start!

Another thing that I will include in the letter is the question as to whether the Monthly City Bus/Suburban Bus/Cobh Rail will also include the Midleton line. The TVM at Midleton includes the weeky tickets for Cork City Buses, Cork City/Suburban Bus & the City Bus/Suburban Bus/Cobh Rail.

FYI: 6.50 return from Midleton to Cobh.

[Mark Gleeson]

You can't book to Midleton currently, Irish Rail seem to think you can but you can't, yes the seat reservation people are aware of this now.

Even when it works you won't be able to start from Midleton until the TDM/TVM integration software thingy is finished as you can't collect a ticket in Midleton yet

The TVM's appear to run some class of windows, but really its becoming a bit of a running joke the machines should work all the time, both of them.

Forget the platform displays until the signaling system is completed they won't work

All departures in Midleton should be off platform 1, it allows a faster arrival and departure

There is certainly a combined bus and rail ticket which includes Midleton

[finnyus]

Hi Mark,

do you what that ticket is? I'll ask about it at Kent this evening.

Finbarr.

[Mark Gleeson]

No idea, there is certainly a Mallow - Cork weekly bus/rail ticket which is code 120

Staff in Cork have been briefed with the new codes for Midleton (station = 068) so I'd assume they will know

[finnyus]

Cool, will ask them about it this evening! I know about the Mallow one as I used to get that from time to time, BUT as usual, NO FRICKEN ADVERTISING!!!!!!! to tell us about it!!

[finnyus]

All trains will be departing from platform 2 until further notice due to the TVM on platform 1 being out of action.

PIS now informs passengers of this.

Booking office was not staffed yesterday evening when I got there, so will ask about the combi-ticket when I am there next.

Finbarr.

[dave wilson]

Hi Guys,
pardon my innocent question but what do you mean when codes are mentioned, like 120 and 68?

Dave.

[Colm Moore]

Every station has a station number, so instead of typing "Midleton" into the ticket machine, the ticket clerk can just type "068".

I presume a similar thing happens with the ticket type - single, return, child, student, etc.

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by dave wilson

Hi Guys,
pardon my innocent question but what do you mean when codes are mentioned, like 120 and 68?

Dave.

Given the lack of training in Irish Rail from time to time passengers encounter booking office staff who cannot issue the ticket you want since they lack the various codes.

Knowing the code yourself while a pain in the neck can be helpful. Its rather sad when passengers have to tell the clerk how to issue tickets!

[Mark Gleeson]

Someone really needs to save Irish Rail from themselves

So in Cork, no Midleton on the TVM


All stations with M
Malahide
Mallow
Manulla Junction
Maynooth
Midleton
Millstreet
Monasterevin
Monkstown
Muine Bheag
Mullingar


Thanks to one of our team in Cork for this gem

[train_traveller]

z

[Mark Gleeson]

The Cork actually will make an operating profit so it can't be criticized on the funding basis

[train_traveller]

z

[Colm Moore]

Midleton and Carrigtwohill have been added here:

http://www.irishrail.ie/home/maps/in...=620&width=540

http://www.irishrail.ie/home/maps/co...490&field=from

[comcor]

I finally got to use the service on Saturday.

Kent Station was insanely packed because of people trying to get to Dublin for the All-Ireland football semi. But as those kind of things are a one-off, it can probably be forgiven.

Some observations

• Still no non-Cork stations on the TVM in Midleton (i.e. You can't walk up to the machine and buy a through ticket to Dublin, Killarney etc.)
• Almost no cars in the car park in Midleton, but loads parked in the surrounding housing estates (this will gradually become an issue)
• While restored, the station building in Midleton seems to be being used for nothing. Surely there was an opportunity to get a retail unit in there.
• Almost nobody using the service in Carrigtwohill (on the way, one person got off, none got on; on the way back, one got on, none got off).
• A surprising number of people were making journeys from Glounethaune/Little Island to Midleton and back.
• Are there any TVMs in Little Island and Carrigtwohill? As you can't buy a ticket on board or at the station and there are no barriers, the service may as well be free.
• Overall there was about 40-50 on both trains. Not bad as it was a Saturday and the trains I used were against the general flow of passengers.

For the record, the trains I used were the 11:15am Cork-Midleton and the 2:45pm Midleton-Cork.

As an aside, when upgrades are done to the TVMs, is it possible to push the software on remotely or does someone need to go to the machine and do it? Obviously, they must be connected to the internet or some EDI system if they can handle card payments, so the connectivity is there.