[24-27/07/2009] Special Trains in connection with the U2 Concert at Croke Park

[ThomasJ]

They are not going to give exact times so best way will probably be

A suggestion:-

With the possability/probability that the concert could run late (boards.ie mentioned that the concert could go on until 11:30pm) would this be the best route for passengers to go about?

- On arriving at local DART station passengers should ask what the position is if the concert runs late

- If definate answer or no definate answer ask for a phone number/phone numbers to contact after the concert to confirm what the status is.

- Passengers will then know if there is any point in travelling back to the station?

Any ideas? Is this the best way to go about it? Who do people contact after the concert to find out the status?

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

They are not going to give exact times so best way will probably be

Bad news is according to the Customer service desk in Connolly there are no extra DART services at all

[ThomasJ]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Bad news is according to the Customer service desk in Connolly there are no extra DART services at all

its contradicting the DART office isnt it. I was told by the DART Office they would be doing their best to everyone gets their train

[Mark Gleeson]

We still haven't found what we are looking for eh?

[ThomasJ]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

We still haven't found what we are looking for eh?

i am in a pub in dame street at the moment and that song is being played at the moment !

Its a shame about the DARTs If what you are saying is true over the last few months public transport has sunk to am all time low.

Having said that i have a train home tonight so am happy have a mate taking the dundalk train so will walk back to connolly

[ThomasJ]

Two quiet packed eight coaches have gone out of drumcondra looks like two more on the way

there are also a fair few numbers on the inbound platform at drumcondra

[Mark Gleeson]

Southbound DARTs tonight where at

00:00
00:15
00:30

Pearse and Tara Stations where closed so the train did not stop. Looked to be extra train north as well

Pretty impressive when you consider we where told no trains at all

[Thomas Ralph]

It would have been more impressive had they actually said in advance "this is when the trains will be". As-is I suspect many passengers just hopped in a taxi under the assumption they had missed the last DART.

[on the move]

Chaos at Connolly Luas stop, with just one lane in operation. An empty tram with it's lights off, instead of filling up with passengers in the other lane. Another tram sitting in the spare lane at Heuston. Busaras stop completely closed, and inevitably angry passengers.

[ThomasJ]

They had notices on the door last night to advise passengers of what time the trains would be at from early on in the day which was good,

drumcondra was absolute chaos the amount of people getting off buses at the station was unreal.

Anyway last night on arrival at drumcondra (on time for the deferred last normal train ) there were quiet large crowds at the ticket office and heard a member of staff say hold them there for a minute.

Anyway up the stairs and the gates leading out to the platform were shut and people were sitting on the stairs. Just then heard a train pull off.

Anyway the gates opened again and people were told to move up to the top of the platform. Noticed quiet a few passengers on the city bound platform. The deferred 23.10 then arrived at 23.40 and stayed until 23.50 the train got packed and then left. I decided to wait on the last one.

The last one was not too bad left at 00.20 and was home in no time.

[ThomasJ]

Am currently on the way in on the 18.53 clonsilla pearse. Very busy. Strange to see the ticket office open but come to think of it alot of passengers got on at clonsilla and coolmine.

On a side note does anyone know if luas is running to connolly. Am meeting someone there.

[Mark Gleeson]

Normal Luas service operating with increased frequency on red line apparently

[Colm Moore]

DART from Connolly -
Malahide 0020
Dundalk 0020
Howth 0035
Bray 0015
Bray 0030

Luas - every 5 minutes

[ThomasJ]

I had a few drinks with a mate in Quinns tonight and went for a train afterwards.

There were 3 Maynooth trains after the concert:
23:15hrs Connolly Maynooth special
23:29hrs Pearse Maynooth [the deferred 23.10hrs]
00:05hrs Connolly Maynooth special

Drumcondra was absolute madness tonight! Its quiet a while since I have seen numbers like that even on all ireland final day, even at connolly at its busiest of times even at pearse at its busiest of times, the numbers just kept on coming it was mental!

The first one got packed so quickly, the crowd control [have to say well done they did a great job] were moving everyone upto the very top of the train where there was space and left crammed. The next one I got it left completly crammed as well at 23:50hrs. Both were 8-carriages long

I have to say well done to crowd control moved everyone up so there was space made sure everyone was behind the yellow line. Announcements made on the loud speaker to ensure everyone was behind the yellow line and also announced it as the trains approached. It took about 10-15 minutes to have everyone on both trains numbers kept coming and there were that many people on the platform when the firsttrain approached people were still standing on the stairs waiting to be able to walk onto the platform.

Something controversial to end with, I was saying that Kildare trains should also be stopping here but after seeing tonight and friday night I don't think they would have coped numbers for both nights for the maynooth line were that big!

[ThomasJ]

I have to say though that even with what was supposedly only normal scheduled DART services the amount advertisement for that was pretty big compared to Commuter Services.

The lack of advertisements of any event associated with extra commuter services is pretty shocking to say the least.

Have to say kudos on the PRs on the lack of scheduled extra DART services over the U2 concert but dont forget that its not all just about DART services a couple of weeks ago the Bruce Springsteen concert at the RDS passengers had to find another way home because the train left, information on commuter services (Maynooth and Northern) leading upto that concert was very poor to say the least!

[Mark Gleeson]

There are serious problems in how Irish Rail deal with these special events. We caught them out, gave them every chance in the world to explain themselves and they still made a mess of it

You can be sure than several thousand more passengers could have been carried if the plans had been published clearly and well in advance.

[ThomasJ]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

There are serious problems in how Irish Rail deal with these special events. We caught them out, gave them every chance in the world to explain themselves and they still made a mess of it

You can be sure than several thousand more passengers could have been carried if the plans had been published clearly and well in advance.

Sorry the kudos is to RUI not Irish rail to clear up!

My point is that obviously DART has the budget to put up the posters for special events and notify passengers Commuter services don't The only notification Maynooth passengers had of extra services [apart from the website] was an A4 page stating extra services on the door of Drumcondra station! There was no mention of extra commuter services to be found anywhere in Connolly station! At least there was advertisements [weather poor or not] for DART services [well scheduled] at DART stations.

[on the move]

Originally Posted by on the move

Good to see that Irish trains can run overnight after all.

I hope they will just as accommodating to Dublin passengers looking to make their way home from Limerick after the football internationals in the coming months.

A service will run to Dublin at 11pm next week. 1 service.

Nothing south of Limerick. Looks like you can't book separate trains either. You have to book a return service out of Heuston in order to use it. There is also no indication of the number of stops on the service returning from Limerick.

€44 for the return trip.

[Mark Gleeson]

The 21:00 hours from Dublin to Cork waits at Limerick junction on the 12th to make a connection from Limerick to Cork