[6/7-6-2007] George Michael Concert RDS

[Mark Gleeson]

If you actually check you will find the trains listed are in the timetable they are not extra

No extra capacity is being provided

General News

DART Services - George Michael in concert, at the RDS on 6th & 7th June. by Service Planning - DART

DART service arrangements

Please note the following DART services will operate after the concert, from Sandymount Station:

Southbound:

22.55hrs Sandymount / Greystones
23.10hrs Sandymount / Bray
23.30hrs Sandymount / Bray
23.39hrs Sandymount / Greystones


Northbound:

22.52hrs Sandymount / Malahide
23.11hrs Sandymount / Howth
23.19hrs Sandymount / Malahide
23.51hrs Sandymount / Connolly

Additional DART capacity will be provided after each concert.


Passengers are requested to purchase return tickets for their journey.

[ThomasJ]

It only affects tonight as tomorrow nights gig has been postponed due to repairs required to one of the tour trucks as a result of a crash last week

[Derek Wheeler]

Gotta hand it to Baz. Its great PR bull****.

[ThomasJ]

This train was deferred by 30 minutes as a result of the late running of the george michael concert to make the connecting train. The train departed pearse at 23.40 and connolly at 23.57. Numbers were good with most seats taken and a few people standing. I think it was a good move although an sure some people were inconvinienced

[Rashers]

I left the concert early to catch this train. However, in the end, IE held both this service and the Maynooth service for 30 mins. Due to the noise from the engines, it was impossible to hear the driver's announcements, so I rang Pearse street after 20 minutes. They advised the concert had went on longer then expected, so all DART/suburban trains were held to meet the demand. Sounds reasonable, even if I was 30 minutes late getting home.

When I was in Lansdowne road waiting on the 22.52 to Malahide, an unscheduled northbound DART to Howth arrived. There were no passengers on board, and this had been sitting at Sandymount for the previous 10 minutes. I reckon this had been due to pick up Northbound DART passengers from the concert, but it left empty from there.This was probably run through so as not to hold up the northbound services stuck behind it.
But I would imagine that the following DARTs were packed, if they had to let earlier ones go before the concert finished. I seen a northbound DART at Connolly at 23.45 that was fairly packed, even after it had discharged all it's Connolly passengers.
Seems to be mis communication between the promoters and IE.

On a similar note, I was getting a Greystones bound DART from Connolly at 18.45 approx. This a 4 carriage service and was packed. It left a significant number of irate concert goers/passengers at Pearse street. The next southbound service was not for 22 minutes, hence I think people felt they would miss some of the concert - they needed of worried. George was late coming on stage (around 20.30), and took a 20 min break @21.30!

[2Funki4Wheelz]

Don't worry Rashers, you didn't miss too much, his second encore was a repeat of Freedom. I was very surprised he continued after 11.

[offtopic] IT WAS A CLASS CONCERT [/offtopic/]

[Mark Gleeson]

I was on the last DART last night coming home and it left Pearse on time the train ahead was also on time when it left Pearse, there was a 9 minute gap. Needless to say we crawled the whole way to Sandymount

The Maynooth train was sitting outside Pearse going nowhere, no PA at the station to explain the reason for the delay

By the time we got to Blackrock the train was 10 minutes late and had only picked up about 20 in Sandymount.

Of course what should have happened goes like this

Two extra 8 coach trains operate departing Sandymount after the concert all stations to Howth and Bray, then 2 4 coach trains in Connolly for Maynooth and Drogheda, quote a time for departure with a note that the services may be held for up to x minutes to account for a late end

Advertise this at least a week in advance and publish notice in Herald, Herald AM and Metro

What actually happened was no extra trains and the notices well they appeared yesterday

[Rashers]

Turns out the promoters told IE concert would be completely finished by 10.30pm, which meant everyone could connect with the DARTs they had layed on, plus the Maynooth + Drogheda services.
But he played till 11 ish, so everything was held so concert goers could make their connections.
I wonder if the promoters had told IE the concert would finish @ 11pm, would IE have changed the departure time of the last 2 suburban services out to 11.45/midnight? In the end, that's near enough when they actually left.