Irish Rail Staff Smoking on the Job

Transport21 Fan

I did a railway circle of the country last week (without the Western Rail Corridor) and first I would have to say that Irish Rail "functioned" (please do not confuse this with "good service") about 75% of the time. Which is nothing to write home about as the train service frequecy on most of the IE network is so low that it cannot be considered an accomplishment by any real modern standards.

But still, I have to say that there are some noticeable improvements in IE and the new Mr4 trains are lovely - way better than I expected. There is still too much of a tendency to confuse spending money on infrastructure with service - as if one is somehow a replacement for the other.

Anyways, one thing I noticed from one end of the rail network to the other - from communter lines to inter-city to rural branch lines was IRISH RAIL STAFF OPENLY SMOKING ON PLATFORMS, or WHILE DRIVING TRAINS and all happening either under 'No Smoking' signs or during "No Smoking" audio announcements were being made. They did this is a very blase and non-chalant manner knowing well there would be absolutely no reprecussion for breaking the law.

subway

i dont think ive ever seen an irish rail staffer smoking on a platform,
let alone a driver while driving.
thats my experience, anyway.

what gave you the impresision of functional service?
trains only running on time?
ticket offices only selling tickets?
im not being smart, i just wonder what the difference between a serivce that works and a good service is.
in my experience a service that is functional is preferable to a service of fake smiles that is non-functional.

D'Peoples Voice

subway wrote:

i dont think ive ever seen an irish rail staffer smoking on a platform,
let alone a driver while driving.
thats my experience, anyway.

what gave you the impresision of functional service?
trains only running on time?
ticket offices only selling tickets?
im not being smart, i just wonder what the difference between a serivce that works and a good service is.
in my experience a service that is functional is preferable to a service of fake smiles that is non-functional.

In the year 2006, planning to take a trip to Westport for the bank holiday weekend.
Was told that I could NOT book ahead, but that I have to turn up on the platform in Heuston, and if the train is full, well that's my luck.
Even the French SNCF are more advanced that the Irish public servants in Irish Rail! Just how the hell do they think someone can book their weekend away if they don't know if they can get a train on the bank holiday weekend.
Thankfully I didn't ruin my weekend trying so I just took the car.

Alun

How about getting to Bray station on Bank Holiday Monday about 15 minutes before the scheduled (checked on website before departure) 14.00 DART to Malahide. Look up at the electronic display, and it says "Malahide 53 mins" or something like that. Ask the guy at the gate and he tells me that the signs are displaying the schedule for a normal, i.e. non-Bank Holiday, Monday !!!??? Why? Because it isn't worth their while "changing the computers for just one day"? WTF?

And add to that that despite the fact that he knows which DART I'm getting, he neglects to tell me that it's actually leaving from Platform 2 instead of the one where me and about 50 other people are waiting, who when the announcement is made AFTER the train has got in all proceed to stampede over the bridge as it is due to leave at any moment, only to have it the leave 5 minutes late.

Is that functional?

Transport21 Fan

subway wrote:

what gave you the impresision of functional service?
trains only running on time?
ticket offices only selling tickets?
im not being smart, i just wonder what the difference between a serivce that works and a good service is.
in my experience a service that is functional is preferable to a service of fake smiles that is non-functional.

Sure, it was things like half the air conditioning on the Mrk 3 coaches not working and being roasted alive. I can understand the odd coach now and again having a problem, but on one train I took from Westport to Athlone all the air conditioning was broken except for one coach.

Another thing is catering. On all the trains there seems to be a psychosis among the catering staff that coffee, tea and snacks should be only severed for a very short part of the journey and you get the impression they are reluctant to even open the service and cannot wait to close the shutters. That's of course assuming that they bother open in the first places. Coffee and snacks should be avalible throughtout the ENTIRE course of the train journey. Also the prices were astronomical. Although the coffee on all trains was actually quite good.

The Hueston roof is coming along nicely - why was it left till last causing chaos in the station? The scaffolding and tarps everywhere is a mess and is just stupid. It seems like the Hueston redevelopment project is going for years and years now.

In the official timetable (printed) it stated that the Dublin to Westport trains leaves Hueston at 6.05. This was also confirmed to me by the station person at Ballina when I called on the day of the journey. Guess what - the train leaves Hueston at 5.50 a full fifteen minutes eariler that the official printed timetable and more importantly what a IE staff confirmed to me. This is totally unacceptable.

There were a few other things, but in generally things are getting better - but in a realistic 21 first century sense comparing the Irish Rail system in terms of customer useability and service relaiability I would rate it a 3 out of a possible 10.

More a case of "a bit done, but a huge fecking ammount still to do" - but again, in the time honoured CIE tradition the assumption to confuse engineering with service is still a major problem. The gap in service is filled by massive amounts of marketing, posters and PR. This is not what rail passengers want.

and yes, IE staff smoking on the job was epidemic.

subway

been a long time since i used iarnrod eireann,
seems nothing has changed

i wouldnt call a lot of those instances "functional",
they are all sub-par basic issues with the service.

id question the other poster about the electronic display boards,
i was under the impression they worked on the fly with the control centre?
i would think that your disply showed the incorrect time becasue you were on the wrong platform, no?

jlang

15 minutes early - that's ridiculous. I've no problem with a Ryanair flight leaving early once all the checked in pax are boarded and accounted for or even a bus on a route with 10 journeys per hour to regularise the gaps between busses down the line, but for an in frequent train to leave early is just nuts. Especially when run by a company that considers 15 minutes late to be on time. Unless possibly the train was full alrready and couldn't have accepted any more passengers?

enterprise

Transport21 Fan wrote:

In the official timetable (printed) it stated that the Dublin to Westport trains leaves Hueston at 6.05. This was also confirmed to me by the station person at Ballina when I called on the day of the journey. Guess what - the train leaves Hueston at 5.50 a full fifteen minutes eariler that the official printed timetable and more importantly what a IE staff confirmed to me. This is totally unacceptable.

What a surprise! More of the same usual ****e off T21F. If Mr. Sherdian cared to read the "official" timetable he would find the 18.05 Heuston - Westport operates on Sundays only.

The 17.50 Heuston - Westport operates on Monday to Saturdays.

READ THE TIMETABLE PROPERLY!

jjbrien

I have seen the driver of the sligo train boothing the train down the line to mullingar arrving 10 mins early in order to have a faq at the end of the station platform. What IE should do is what NSB in Norway do. They should building somking breaks into the journeys. So passengers and staff who smoke can have a faq.

Andrew Duffy

enterprise wrote:

More of the same usual ****e off T21F

How about asking him what day he travelled on before exploding? Since last weekend was a bank holiday it's quite likely he was travelling on the sunday or Monday and the train did in fact leave early.

Quello Serio

jjbrien wrote:

I have seen the driver of the sligo train boothing the train down the line to mullingar arrving 10 mins early in order to have a faq at the end of the station platform. What IE should do is what NSB in Norway do. They should building somking breaks into the journeys. So passengers and staff who smoke can have a faq.

While the rest of us just sit and watch?

enterprise

Well I don't have much faith in the postings of T21F.

A weekday Intercity service with some early morning long distance commuter cancellations and additional specials operates on BH Monday's.

jjbrien

Quello Serio wrote:

While the rest of us just sit and watch?

I am not a smoker myself. I simply dont like having a skanger sitting in the seat behind me lighting up a faq like what happened comming back from Enniscorthy last Wednesday.

Transport21 Fan

enterprise wrote:

What a surprise! More of the same usual ****e off T21F. If Mr. Sherdian cared to read the "official" timetable he would find the 18.05 Heuston - Westport operates on Sundays only.

The 17.50 Heuston - Westport operates on Monday to Saturdays.

READ THE TIMETABLE PROPERLY!

Oh I am really frightened - HE PERSONALLY NAMED ME...:rolleyes:

Not quiet dear in-house IRN mole who hides behind the name Enterprise, I made a bollox of what I posted as I was runing out the frount door out and in a hurry.

Anyways, what I meant to post was...the IE staff I called quoted to me the SUNDAY return times from Dublin for a weekday train. That's what I meant to say, but I am a busy man who needs to read his posts before he presses the button.

Congraduataltion for knowing my real name and spewing your personal hatred towards me while pretending to be an objective moderator - I am so impressed.

Does anybody else here think that the moderators of these boards should make their real life identies known? Especially like this arsewit they make personal named attacks on posters?

There really is a whole subsection of this group which offers nothing to the board except having a go at me now and again and ignoring everything else I post or passing it off as ****e. Now this bizzare little cult of vindictive cowards has spread to one ofthe moderators. I suspect a lot of them blame me personally for taking their beloved Western Rail Corridor away form them. They just can't seem to grasp that this makes me an Irish hero. Seriously it does. Get used to it.

I am nice person, I am not used to being hated. It hurts me. I bring a lot to this group and I am very popular. Ironcially I bet more people on this group like me and my posts even the ****e ones more than anything the Enterprise IRN mole/moderator brings to this forum. I want to Enterprises' freind, but it'll never happen and it breaks my heart. It really does.

I need to have a cry now. *SNIFF*

John R

Transport21 Fan wrote:

Oh I am really frightened...:rolleyes:

Not quiet dear in-house IRN mole called Enterprise, I made a bollox of what I posted as I was runing out the frount door out and in a hurry.

Anyways, what I meant to post was...the IE staff I called quoted to me the SUNDAY return times from Dublin for a weekday train. That's what I meant to say, but I am a busy man who needs to read his posts before he presses the button.

Congraduataltion for knowing my real name and spewing you personal hatred towards me while pretending to be an objective moderator - I am so impressed.

Does anybody else here think that the moderators of these boards should make their real life identies known? Especially like this arsewit they make personal named attacks on posters?

You have made your own personal details widely known on this board and others, that is your choice. It is also your own fault that people you don't like know who you are.

It is none of your business what Enterprise, Victor or anyone elses real identity is mod or not and calling for general opinions on it will make no difference to that fact.

The only one here making personal attacks is you, as usual. Enterprise was critical of your content, "the same sh!te" seems like a succint summation of your usual posts to me.

"arsewit" however IS personal abuse. Well done you for highlighting the need for moderation of personal attacks in the same post with a clear case of that exact infringement.

Transport21 Fan

15 minutes early - that's ridiculous.

Nope that was a mistake in my posting. The information I recived from the IE staff gave me the sunday return time instead of weekday one. I apolgies for this error in posting (to you that is, and the rest of the borad not that unfortunate IRN operative who weaseled his way onto this board as a modrator looking for personal revenge).

If a person who did not check the timetable had of taken the information at face value they would have shown up at Hueston after the train departed.

The woman who gave the information over the phone at Ballina has THREE trains a day to worry about. She should have all the weekday and weekend train times down without any confusion.

Transport21 Fan

John R wrote:

You have made your own personal details widely known on this board and others, that is your choice. It is also your own fault that people you don't like know who you are.

It is none of your business what Enterprise, Victor or anyone elses real identity is mod or not and calling for general opinions on it will make no difference to that fact.

The only one here making personal attacks is you, as usual. Enterprise was critical of your content, "the same sh!te" seems like a succint summation of your usual posts to me.

"arsewit" however IS personal abuse. Well done you for highlighting the need for moderation of personal attacks in the same post with a clear case of that exact infringement.

I know who Victor is having met him a few times and he PMs me in his first name.

Enterprise is an arsewit for what he just posted and he offers nothing of interest to the board at all. He does not have to like me. I really would prefer if he didn't actually. But he is an arsewit for posting nothing to this board, ignoring everything I post and THEN jumps in foaming at the mouth with a personal attack becuase I screwed up what I typed.

That's not a moderator, that's an arsewit.

John R

Transport21 Fan wrote:

I know who Victor is having met him a few times and he PMs me in his first name.

That is neither here or there, if any poster chooses to make their real name known then that is their right.

I have not met anyone from boards or given my name to any posters except for a few people I have bought/sold stuff to. I have no interest in making my identity public knowledge because there is no need for it and also particularly for this board it would restrict my ability to post certain facts that would turn general anonymous observations into accusations against identifiable individuals.

The point is that you have no right to demand or expect that information from anyone.

Transport21 Fan wrote:

Enterprise is an arsewit for what he just posted and he offers nothing of interest to the board at all. He does not have to like me. I really would prefer if he didn't actually. But he is an arsewit for posting nothing to this board, ignoring everything I post and THEN jumps in foaming at the mouth with a personal attack becuase I screwed up what I typed.

That's not a moderator, that's an arsewit.

It is really not up to you to decide who is "of interest" to the board or not.

Believe it or not the vast majority of his posts on boards.ie have not been about you in any way.

There was a great deal of interesting discussions on this board before you turned up, in fact IMO the quality has dipped recently although maye I'm just getting tired of the same things cropping up again and again.

enterprise

Well I come back from my dinner and I see I have started a very interesting debate in the few hours since I last posted.

I take it from the top:

The original subject of this post was about staff smoking on the job or more importantly in the presence of customers, i.e. the travelling public. T21F - nothing annoys me more than this and I have often wondered why the persons concerned aren't pulled up over it. It’s a widespread problem that doesn't seem to be going away, which is a big shame and one of the failings of IE to present a customer focused image.

In the original quote the impression I got from the post was of an easy pick at IE and I still believe the mistake was of your doing.

Moderation - I have never unfairly used my rights as a moderator, nor will I. I have never edited, deleted your postings or banned you from the commuting / transport section of boards.ie If another mod sees fit to edit any of my posts or yours in this thread then so be it I won't have a problem with it.

I may not agree with everything you write, that doesn't mean I have to say it in every thread you contribute to. Boards.ie is about open debate and I am quite happy to let the discussion flow and ebb between the various parties - sometimes it can get quite heated but message boards are often like that. If I don't agree with it then far as I'm concerned that’s my tough luck and I ain’t going to edit posts just because I don't agree with it.

IRN - do you say that to everybody that doesn't agree with one of your postings? Is it now an offence to look at IRN, occasionally post there and by a mod on boards? I know the history of you and the WRC, I agree with you in some respects. After Atherny it get very hard to justify the reopening of the line in the short - medium term. Beyond Claremorris god knows when it will reopen as there is no case for it at the moment.

Finally I agree with JohnR - The quality of discussion has gone downhill recently - another reason why I contribute less to the board but I still keep an eye on what happens.

Voipjunkie

Transport21 Fan wrote:

I know who Victor is having met him a few times and he PMs me in his first name.

Enterprise is an arsewit for what he just posted and he offers nothing of interest to the board at all. He does not have to like me. I really would prefer if he didn't actually. But he is an arsewit for posting nothing to this board, ignoring everything I post and THEN jumps in foaming at the mouth with a personal attack becuase I screwed up what I typed.

That's not a moderator, that's an arsewit.

He pointed out a mistake you had made it was not a typing error

And if anyone appears to be foaming at the mouth or launching personal attacks here it is certainly not Enterprise.

Victor

All of ye. Loosen belt, drop trousers, lower underwear, untwist underwear. Raise clothing. Relax!

I'm not saying ye have to have a group hug, but apologies for harsh words wouldn't go astray.

---

T21F, do what I did for the last week, bring a camera. Abandoning the bus so the driver can do the Lotto isn't on.

Transport21 Fan

The original subject of this post was about staff smoking on the job or more importantly in the presence of customers, i.e. the travelling public. T21F - nothing annoys me more than this and I have often wondered why the persons concerned aren't pulled up over it. It’s a widespread problem that doesn't seem to be going away, which is a big shame and one of the failings of IE to present a customer focused image.

Then why did you not jump in and asked where and when this happened? You're only contribution was to have a go at me for a typo screw-up. I see IE staff smoking in stations all the time - you are claiming that I am making this up? That I cannot be trusted? Why on earth would I make this out? It's what I and hundreds of other trains users see constantly. You even admit to have seen it yourself and then you claim I am spoofing. So therefore your issue is with me personally and not what I posted. Then why can't you just come out and state this.

In the original quote the impression I got from the post was of an easy pick at IE and I still believe the mistake was of your doing.

I saw people who work for IE smoking and I reported it to this board just like loads of people. What's an easy pick about that? Is everything I say and post a lie? Is this how it works?

Moderation - I have never unfairly used my rights as a moderator, nor will I. I have never edited, deleted your postings or banned you from the commuting / transport section of boards.ie If another mod sees fit to edit any of my posts or yours in this thread then so be it I won't have a problem with it.

I may not agree with everything you write, that doesn't mean I have to say it in every thread you contribute to. Boards.ie is about open debate and I am quite happy to let the discussion flow and ebb between the various parties - sometimes it can get quite heated but message boards are often like that. If I don't agree with it then far as I'm concerned that’s my tough luck and I ain’t going to edit posts just because I don't agree with it.

Well that's fair enough. Just lay off on the personalising of it. If you going to do that then post your real name. Otherwise stick with the T21fan nym.

As for IRN. You do not know the full history of me, P11 and IRN. Honestly you don't. Watching a car crash from the side of the road is not the same thing as being in the car when it crashed.

None of us are happy about what happened except maybe a handful of eejits who are not man enough to admit they picked the losing team.

Remember, it may have resulted in contributing a fair bit to the decline of railfreight because a certain individual wanted IRN to hold on to the railfreight lobbying gig and keep P11 out of it at all costs. Why, I am not sure, but look at what it has led to. A railfreight wasteland. Now compared that to what P11 achieved with passenger lobbying both with and without me. P11 and I wasn't the one who demanding a sectarianisation of rail lobbying in Ireland between passenger and rail. The tragic results of which you can see today - a complete disaster.

Railfreight is dead - the people who claimed they could save it at IRN made a complete and total mess of lobbying for it because polticians and media sniffed their publically funded trainspotting agenda out right away. This is the truth of it.

IRN were also unwilling to come to terms with the CIE union aspects of this and placed all their faith in railfreight tax breaks when the Irish business community was not going to look for a tax breaks for railfreight when they were scared off by the CIE unions from using railfreight in the first place. So they have elevated me and to a lesser extent P11 as the enemy, when really they shot themselves in the foot and can't deal with it.

I also never posted on that board with multiple names for any sinister reason. I am a lazy bastard who forgets passwords and so on - somehow in the minds of these IRN people I was "up to something" or nuts.... some people really need to get a life and realise that IRN is a trainspotters message board and not the CIA's intranet in danger of being wrecked by "the bad guys" as Dubya calls them. I mean, think about how silly that is - like the IRN data purity must not be violated by a subversive uses several log-on names!!!!!...:rolleyes:...as it may have serious implications for society...

I only have one thing to say to this. GET A LIFE lads its only the internet. Even this boards has far more pull these days in terms of media attraction as proven by Miriam Lord's fantastic 'Locosexuals' piece in the Indo a while back.

As for hiding behind names, some of the IRN hypocrite managers post on this board and hide their IDs and have not signed the Conflict of Interests thread like I have. That alone gives an insight into their personalities as they are the ones who claim some kind of high moral ground regarding netiquette.

At the end of the day IRN is a just another message board where a handful of blokes only really care for a pair of locomotives currently working the Ballina branch (nothing wrong with that in itself) hang out and who can't get off their backsides to lobby for anything and yet expect everybody else to do it for them. So they complain, point to hole in the ozone layer and hope nobody notices the steam locomotive enamel badges flashing on their anoraks. This is what IRN is, all it ever was and all it ever could be.

So please do not bring your own IRN aquired preducies on this board in relation to how you view me and what I post. You don't know as much as you think you know.

Railways just attact a lot of stange people who use things like the Western Rail Corridor, railfreight, rural branch lines to compensate for the personal failings in their lives. Many of the people who stalk me on the internet and bad mouth me behind my back tend to be middle aged men who still live with their parents, have failed in every aspect of their social and personal lives and see me as this monster who takes away their rural loco spotting. The only reason I turned on the WRC was when I saw the numbers I was shocked and had to make sure the money was spent on people standing on commuter platforms in Leinster instead.

as for the CIE unions. Well I consider them a collective shower of trouble makers who in some cases are killing public transport regardless of it they smoke or don't. I hardly think I am alone in this.

That's the truth, now please drop the hatred of me and I'll refrain from calling you names. Sorry Victor that's the nearest to an apology I can do for now.

Victor

I think the best thing here is to lock the thread.