[Article] Irish Rail to meet new standards

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/irelandcom/topstories/1414290?view=Eircomnet

Irish Rail to meet new standards
From:ireland.com
Monday, 8th September, 2003

The train service will have to meet a range of tough new targets under a detailed agreement reached between the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, and Irish Rail.

Described as the first ever agreement linking funding to performance, the "memorandum of understanding" was signed in recent weeks by the parties and runs until July 13th next year.

In it Irish Rail commits itself to meeting a long list of targets, covering punctuality, passenger rights, complaints and quantity of service. The agreement even covers how many times trains should be cleaned each day.

While it is not legally binding on either party, the agreement outlines a set of standards for Irish Rail to meet and if the company fails, the level of subvention it receives from the Government could be reduced by Mr Brennan.

He recently made it clear that while future investment in the railways was guaranteed, Irish Rail also needed to be accountable.

A spokesman for the company said it was confident it could meet the standards and it had written to the Department of Transport in recent days welcoming the initiative.

"We have been waiting for something like this for seven years. It clarifies the relationship between ourselves and Government. It should be good for us," said a spokesman. Similar agreements with Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann are also being put in place by Mr Brennan.

While the commitments are extensive, Irish Rail in the memorandum points out its performance will still be affected by major investment projects planned for the remainder of this year. These include enhancements to the Dart and upgrading of Heuston Station.

In the memorandum Irish Rail makes it clear that it "requires financial certainty from the Department of Transport to allow the company plan into the future, in particular in relation to subvention, capital investment and fares". The agreement includes detailed commitments from the train company to be punctual "except where delays are caused in circumstances beyond the control of Iarnród Éireann".

However, it commits the company to ensuring that 90 per cent of all Intercity trains on the Dublin/Cork, Dublin/Limerick and Dublin/Belfast lines arrive at their final destination "within 10 minutes of the published time".

The company is given slightly more leeway on other Intercity lines, where trains must arrive at their final destination "within 15 minutes of the published time".

In relation to the DART, 90 per cent of all trains must arrive in the city centre within 10 minutes of their scheduled time during morning peak. In relation to evening peak 90 per cent of Darts must arrive at final destination within 10 minutes of scheduled time.

In the memorandum Irish Rail commits itself to making its passenger charter available at all stations and on its website. The company also points out that it is working on a project to make the existing reservations system available online. Premium seats will be bookable online before the end of 2003 and the facility will be progressively extended if funding can be secured.

loyatemu

these targets are exactly the same ones that are already in their passenger charter

In relation to the DART , arriving at the destination less than 10 minutes late is not exactly a tough target when the the overall journey is less than an hour.

While the trains in the morning rush are usually on time, by the evening rush hour they are usually running 5-10 minutes late, which is fairly annoying when the service is so damn slow to start with!

Cameraman

The standards and charter are pretty useless :

(1) No details are provided of how the measurements are taken

So...
(a) If a train/DART is cancelled, how is that counted ?
(b) What/when are the measurements taken - every day, sample days, weekdays only, peak/off-peak ?


(2) There are no real sanctions if the targets are missed. Refunds on season tickets would be an encouraging start.

Victor

http://home.eircom.net/content/unison/national/1664888?view=Eircomnet

Irish Rail faces loss of €153m if trains run late
From:The Irish Independent
Tuesday, 14th October, 2003
Treacy Hogan Environment Correspondent

THE Government may withhold Iarnrod Eireann's €153m annual subvention and fare rises if rail passengers are more than 10 minutes late on mainline inter-city rail or Dart services.

A radical first ever cash-for-service performance deal threatens the company with penalties if Dart trains are more than 10 minutes late during the peak morning and evening rush hours.

The firm also risks penalties if customers are left waiting more than seven minutes to buy a ticket - outside peak periods this is reduced to three minutes.

And all inter-city trains will have to be cleaned at least three times a day and toilets cleaned regularly.

The deal, between the Department of Transport and Iarnrod Eireann, Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus links the performance of each of the companies and their ability to deliver to the annual CIE subvention and fares increases.

Where wheelchair passengers are unable to access trains, Iarnrod Eireann must provide and pay for taxis if their is no alternative trains service.

Under the Service Levels and Targets Agreements with Iarnrod Eireann the company must:

* Ensure 90pc of all inter-city trains on the Dublin/Cork, Dublin/Limerick and Dublin/Belfast lines arrive at their destinations within 10 minutes of published times.

* Ensure 90pc of all inter-city trains on the other mainline routes, such as Galway and Waterford, arrive at their destinations within 15 minutes of the timetable time.

* For Dart passengers 90pc of all trains must arrive within 10 minutes of the scheduled time in the morning and evening peak times.

* Deliver 98pc of the scheduled inter-city, Dart and commuter timetable services every month.

* Provide an average of 33,000 seats per day from Tuesday to Thursdays on inter-city routes.

* Provide for 30,000 passengers on the Dart travelling to and from the city centre during the morning and evening peak hours.

* All trains must be "thoroughly cleaned before entering service each day".

* Callers to the Iarnrod Eireann information bureaux will have to be answered in 60 seconds. The company will report the number of passenger complaints to the department on a quarterly basis.

Iarnrod Eireann says the investment programme currently underway will cause "some temporary disruptions to services".

As part of the deal the performance of Iarnrod Eireann and the other firms will be monitored and sent to the department every three months. The deal covers the period from July 2003 to July 2004.

sceptre

Originally posted by Cameraman
(a) If a train/DART is cancelled, how is that counted?

It's quite important that this is addressed. I realise I'm being rather cynical here but I wouldn't put it past IE to cancel trains rather than miss their target if there were any actual penalties.

(a few operators have pulled this stunt in the UK)