Weather watch

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by ThomasJ

mad given its the end of april!

You sure?

[Thomas J Stamp]

march comes in like a lamb and leave like a lion

and, also, the first eleven days of april can also be usually horrible.

as i type there are several inches of snow on the bottom of the window, it has been snowing non stop since around eight and it was blizzard stuff at times.

[ThomasJ]

Originally Posted by Thomas J Stamp

march comes in like a lamb and leave like a lion

and, also, the first eleven days of april can also be usually horrible.

as i type there are several inches of snow on the bottom of the window, it has been snowing non stop since around eight and it was blizzard stuff at times.

astonishing stuff! especially given the time of year.

Lights have been flickering at home all night.

amazing way for winter to end!

[ThomasJ]

Originally Posted by Colm Moore

You sure?

Oops I just realised I was 2 days early in posting that!

[ThomasJ]

clouds of ash from an icelandic volcano heading south is causing major disruption to flights in the uk and ireland with a number of enlish and scottish airports closed and disruption at dublin, and shannon airports. Belfast airport is currently closed

Those of you who watch "air crash investigation" would be aware of threats to the engines. In 1982 a british airways plane landed safely in indonesia after all 4 engines stopped due to ash getting trapped in the engines. After numerous restarts the humas broke off and the engines restarted.

This disruption could last for days depending on how long it takes the system to disappear. Irish ferries are also saying there are available spaces on their sailings today.

[Mark Gleeson]

3. SailRail to the UK

SailRail is an alliance of Iarnród Éireann, UK Train operating companies and Ferry companies operating on the Irish Sea. The group offers through fares from Ireland to the UK as an attractive alternative to budget airline travel - offering guaranteed low cost fares and reduced end-to-end journey times. The same fare applies no matter what time of year you wish to travel or how far in advance you book and there are no hidden taxes, the price you see is the price you pay!!

For example
Portlaoise to London via Dublin €52 each way
Dublin to Manchester €37 each way
Cork to Cardiff via Rosslare €50 each way

For further information or to purchase your ticket, please contact our sales team on (01) 703 1884 (outside Ireland 00353 1 703 1884 Monday to Friday only 09.00-17.00) or email europeanrail@irishrail.ie

Looks like the only way to the UK as of about 11am today

[ThomasJ]

yep eastern irish including dublin and belfast and british aerospace closed as of noon. When they reopen prepare for chaos

[Thomas Ralph]

The only flights operating out of Dublin for the rest of the day are domestics, long-haul, and CityJet.

[ThomasJ]

there will be a decision at around 1pm on whether or not to extend to the rest of the country

[ThomasJ]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Looks like the only way to the UK as of about 11am today

from breaking news http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/a...ed-453998.html

But the disruption to flights has sparked a demand for sea travel, with Irish Ferries reporting an increase in bookings and a surge in visits to its website for services today and tomorrow from both foot passengers and motorists.

Declan Mescall, head of passenger sales, said the mid-afternoon Dublin Swift sailing to Holyhead was almost full.

“The phones are absolutely hopping off the desk,” he said.

“It’s mainly foot passengers because people haven’t had time to go out and get their car.

“Its just been a phenomenal increase in last minute bookings, it’s just exceptional, anything like this level of activity within an hour of opening.”

[Mark Gleeson]

For reference Stena have a fast craft departure at 13:15 ish off Dun Laoghaire

They have another salling due out at 19:25 ish which runs as required

Could we see the HSS back, who knows if this continues there won't be much choice but to, it can take up 1500 passengers

The 17:20 Waterford - Rosslare service makes connections for both Irish Ferries and Stena, the morning Rosslare Waterford service also connects

[comcor]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

The 17:20 Waterford - Rosslare service makes connections for both Irish Ferries and Stena, the morning Rosslare Waterford service also connects

And foot passenger traffic is supposed to be dead...

[Mark Gleeson]

It is for save for very rare events such as today. I don't think we can convince IE to hold it open just in case a volcano goes up

[ThomasJ]

daa have been told of ash smoke over northern europe including ireland tomorrow

no flights until 6am tomorrow at earliest

[ThomasJ]

so how are the ferries fairing?....
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0415/travel.html

Passengers turn to ferries

Meanwhile, ferry companies have seen a huge surge in demand for their services today.

Irish Ferries say they have busiest day of sales in their 30-year history.

Their 2.30pm sailing from Dublin Port was full to capacity with 800 people on board.

Half of whom booked early this morning after their flights were cancelled.

Bus Eireann has additional coaches for its 7.30pm Eurolines Busaras to London service this evening to cater for people wishing to travel to the UK who have been disrupted by the volcanic ash.

The service uses the ferry and arrives in London city centre (Victoria Coach Station) at 8.30am tomorrow. There is also a service at 19.15 this evening from Busaras to Liverpool-Manchester-Leeds.

Tonights 19:15hrs dun laoghaire holyhead sailing is cancelled, technical issues was cancelled last night as well. bad time for this to happen to stena line.

[ThomasJ]

just noticed that sail and rail tickets at connolly are not being sold. Apparently the late night sailing out of dublin is booked out.

People are being advise to head straight down the port

[ThomasJ]

a dta spokesperson has told rte that they dont expect any activity over irish airspace tomorrow

[dowlingm]

The question is this, for me - will Irish Rail take the opportunity to add service Rosslare-Limerick and to request IF and Stena allow them to sell tickets on board their ferries for the extra services to pickup passengers who got to the ferry other than a sailrail or who didn't realise you could book through from Fishguard, or will they be so afraid that possible volcano activity will bar them from shutting the line that they will let the sister company mop up the business?

Not only will many of the ferry passengers be off LON-SNN flights, but some people might choose to try and get to DUB and SNN if those airports stay open more than UK/European ones for transatlantic. Enterprise could also see a bump in traffic depending on whether GLA and PIK can stay open for flights to Dublin or people divert to the Stranraer-Larne ferry.

[comcor]

It's actually not possible to get from Rosslare to Limerick via Waterford. All services shown in the online timetable force you through Dublin and with the trip from Connolly to Heuston thrown in.

So, what should be a straightforward point-to-point journey involves 3 changes instead.

No wonder nobody is using that line.

The same applies to Rosslare to Cork or Kerry. All services are via Dublin.

[chris]

Originally Posted by dowlingm

The question is this, for me - will Irish Rail take the opportunity to add service Rosslare-Limerick and to request IF and Stena allow them to sell tickets on board their ferries for the extra services to pickup passengers who got to the ferry other than a sailrail or who didn't realise you could book through from Fishguard, or will they be so afraid that possible volcano activity will bar them from shutting the line that they will let the sister company mop up the business?

Couldn't agree more. It's simply not on that the transport system has closed. There should be a National Emergency Plan for situations like this. It should involve extra trains to the ports, every available ferry, and trains at the other side. If either IR or the British operators can't cope, then hire buses.

I don't buy the helplessness.