Trains not working sorry heres a bus instead

bongotime

droppped my fiancee off at the train this morning.

and to my surprise I thought it was a joke. they are repairing all the tracks.

so instead heres a bus instead ?

so she got the bus.

I went over to the machine to check the prices. same prices

sorry I didnt see reporters there nothing it was as if no one cared at all

they didnt lower the prices sorry but you are paying full price for a train to
galway limerick kerry.

oh but heres a bus instead sorry about that. am I the only person in ireland that finds this ricdiclus.

no one cared at all that they were paying 50euro for a bus to anywhere in ireland.

mikemac

Which station out of interest? Which line under repair?

bongotime

all of the trains heauton station. there was no trains at all

wasnt even in the paper or on the news

anyone goin to anyplace in ireland has to get a bus. its a scandal.

but yet we let them treat us like this oh heres 50euro how about I get a train.

I stood there and watched and people just didnt seem to care that they were paying 50euro for a bus.

am I goin crazy or have people in ireland lost it.

can you imagine if you went to the airport and they said sorry no planes today heres a bus. and you payed the same price.

Thoie

http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/news.asp?action=view&news_id=333

cast_iron

bongotime wrote: »

wasnt even in the paper or on the news

I read it in yesterday's paper.

anyone goin to anyplace in ireland has to get a bus. its a scandal.

No they don't. Heuston station is not the centre of Irish travel. How can repairing the tracks make it a scandal anyway? You hardly expect them to be able to repair the tracks with trains going by every few mins.

but yet we let them treat us like this oh heres 50euro how about I get a train.

I stood there and watched and people just didnt seem to care that they were paying 50euro for a bus.

Well yes, I agree a discount would probably make it easier for commuters to accept.

am I goin crazy or have people in ireland lost it.

They probably have worries much greater than a bus transfer to the next county over.

can you imagine if you went to the airport and they said sorry no planes today heres a bus. and you payed the same price.

I'm not sure I'd get on the bus at the airport either.

Mr E

bongotime wrote: »

can you imagine if you went to the airport and they said sorry no planes today heres a bus. and you payed the same price.

Buses can't fly.

bongotime

its the fact that not one said anything no one kicked up fuss. and they payed the same price to galway you name it full price and was told to get on a bus.

they wouldnt settle for it in england.

brianomc

It's not like you have to get the bus the whole way from Heuston to say Galway though. You get a bus transfer part of the way, probably an hour max, and then get on the train after where they are working on the lines.

I haven't been affected by this disruption but back when they were upgrading between Cork and Kerry I used to have to get on the bus between Mallow and Tralee. They always gave out money-off vouchers too.

Mr E

brianomc wrote: »

It's not like you have to get the bus the whole way from Heuston to say Galway though. You get a bus transfer part of the way, probably an hour max, and then get on the train after where they are working on the lines.

I haven't been affected by this disruption but back when they were upgrading between Cork and Kerry I used to have to get on the bus between Mallow and Tralee. They always gave out money-off vouchers too.

Listen to this guy... he's talking sense. Sometimes the train between Limerick Junction and Limerick or Limerick Junction and Ennis is not available (especially when they were doing track upgrades in Colbert Station). You had to get the bus from LJ to Limerick. It was only for one leg of the journey. Pain in the ass and takes a bit longer, sure, but its comfortable and its not the whole journey from Dublin - just the last leg.

I think you'll find that your girlfriend hopped on the train in Kildare or Newbridge.

darc

bongotime wrote: »

they wouldnt settle for it in england.

What's the basis for this comment?

FACT is there are track repairs in the UK on a constant basis and the services are replaced by busses - same happens in the USA & france and probably every other country in the world.

And talking abbout England - have you ever paid their £132 fare from London to Birmingham???

Give me Irish Rail service & price any day.

madmik

darc wrote: »

What's the basis for this comment?

FACT is there are track repairs in the UK on a constant basis and the services are replaced by busses - same happens in the USA & france and probably every other country in the world.

And talking abbout England - have you ever paid their £132 fare from London to Birmingham???

Give me Irish Rail service & price any day.

london to bermingham costs £7 pounds with virgin rail
,if you dont believe me check their website : http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/default.aspx

why would you defend our rip off trains?

they are a complete rip off
and much cheaper in the uk

Motion Man

bongotime wrote: »

they wouldnt settle for it in england.

Yeah, they would. They'd have no choice - same as here. Take it or leave it.

darc wrote:

And talking abbout England - have you ever paid their £132 fare from London to Birmingham???

I call your bluff. No such fare.

thebman

darc wrote: »

What's the basis for this comment?

FACT is there are track repairs in the UK on a constant basis and the services are replaced by busses - same happens in the USA & france and probably every other country in the world.

And talking abbout England - have you ever paid their £132 fare from London to Birmingham???

Give me Irish Rail service & price any day.

lol now why would you say that in an otherwise factual post?

Do you work for Irish Rail or something?

therecklessone

thebman wrote: »

lol now why would you say that in an otherwise factual post?

The Anytime fare London-Birmingham is £66 one way, you are welcome to check here:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/#

Advance and Off-Peak fares are not always valid or available.

snubbleste

therecklessone wrote: »

The Anytime fare London-Birmingham is £66 one way,
Advance and Off-Peak fares are not always valid or available.

Which is £132 return

penexpers

madmik wrote: »

london to bermingham costs £7 pounds with virgin rail
,if you dont believe me check their website

That's for a train at a specific time at a specific day booked at least two months in advance and only available in very limited quantities. Not really the same thing.

rameire

bongotime wrote: »

they wouldnt settle for it in england.

i have found that every bank holiday weekend in england that i am there they always have track works, now that is stupid having repairs and upgrades on bank holliers when its going to be busy.

also i read it in loads of papers that there was disruption,

also get a car.

JohnC.

rameire wrote: »

i have found that every bank holiday weekend in england that i am there they always have track works, now that is stupid having repairs and upgrades on bank holliers when its going to be busy.

It's quite the opposite economically, as it disrupts business less having disruptions during weekends and bank holidays. Which is why they do it then.

madmik

at least the english have the balls to complain when getting sh!t service

in ireland people will accept any level of service and pay any price to get it

calex71

what really annoys me about trains here (and im sure other places) is the overcrowding on them , you get to pay the same price to stand in concert like conditions on the train the people pack on so tight :eek: thats why ill never take a train during peak hours, last time mi was on the 5pm to drogheda from connelly it was like a mosh pit with out the music

Seems theres stricter rules for transporting cattle , than there is for people

A Dub in Glasgo

rameire wrote: »

now that is stupid having repairs and upgrades on bank holliers when its going to be busy.

Actually, normal week days are much busier than Bank Holidays as there are far more commuters travelling so not stupid at all.

tallaghtoutlaws

OP just so you know engineer works happen alot in the UK. Here is a link to just one of the train services in the UK showing tons of work due.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/2009/06/21/__/engineeringworks.html

And thats just today.

Also Prices in the UK vary due to some lines having 2 or 3 operators on them. Irish Rail dont have competitors so its easy for them to get away with cost. People need to go places and will pay it. If a train doesnt happen the same people have to get to their destination. Most people will still pay the funds if it means getting there even if it is part of the way by bus.

Not that I work for Irish rail as I myself dont like trains but they do update their website as someone posted with planned work a week before it happens. If emergency work they update as soon as possible. The whole family but me use them and check the site regularly for updates.

brettmirl

Mr E wrote: »

Buses can't fly.

Did anyone tell Mick O'Leary this fact yet?

Cabaal

madmik wrote: »

in ireland people will accept any level of service and pay any price to get it

Well your options in this situation is take the bus and pay or don't,

dudara

Unless the OP tells us how he went about resolving this consumer issue, I will move this thread to commuting & transport.

OP, as someone else said, I think that your girlfriend will have transferred to a train at Newbridge or Kildare. The in-laws came from Waterford to Dublin this weekend and they had a bus for the final leg of the journey.

eth0_

bongotime wrote: »

they wouldnt settle for it in england.

Oh....we settle for it here in Scotland :-(
ATM they're upgrading the east coast rail network for high speed trains and for weekend travel to London there's a bus between Edinburgh and Newcastle.

Bear in mind a return Edinburgh>London costs at least £100.

The coach companies the rail companies are using charge a fortune i'm sure.

jkmanc1974

bongotime wrote: »

droppped my fiancee off at the train this morning.

and to my surprise I thought it was a joke. they are repairing all the tracks.

so instead heres a bus instead ?

so she got the bus.

I went over to the machine to check the prices. same prices

sorry I didnt see reporters there nothing it was as if no one cared at all

they didnt lower the prices sorry but you are paying full price for a train to
galway limerick kerry.

oh but heres a bus instead sorry about that. am I the only person in ireland that finds this ricdiclus.

no one cared at all that they were paying 50euro for a bus to anywhere in ireland.

Bus transfers were only as far as Portarlington on the West lines(Galway/Westport), prob Kildare for the others I would think....also this was well publicised in the press for a couple of weeks before...this engineering work happens once a month I think at weekends from Heuston and has been doing for some time...

At least here you have a choice with Bus Eireann providing good services as well, unlike National Express in the UK which is a disaster!

Brgds
Johnny

darc

Motion Man wrote: »

I call your bluff. No such fare.

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/pj/pd?index=3&parent=/en/pj/fa0

£132 (€156) = Standard return fare London to Birmingham Monday to Friday.

Irish rail - Dublin to Galway. Standard return fare €48

- That's 69% cheaper EVERYDAY than UK service for same distance on similar quality trains.

foggy_lad

darc wrote: »

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/pj/pd?index=3&parent=/en/pj/fa0

£132 (€156) = Standard return fare London to Birmingham Monday to Friday.

Irish rail - Dublin to Galway. Standard return fare €48

- That's 69% cheaper EVERYDAY than UK service for same distance on similar quality trains.

i was able to book a rail flight from london euston station to birmingham yester evening for the sum of £5, travelling today on the evening train and there appeared to be several similar fares for that journey all ranging from £5 to £30 but all on the less popular trains.

dudara

Moved to Commuting & Transport.

dudara

MOH

darc wrote: »

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/pj/pd?index=3&parent=/en/pj/fa0

£132 (€156) = Standard return fare London to Birmingham Monday to Friday.

Irish rail - Dublin to Galway. Standard return fare €48

- That's 69% cheaper EVERYDAY than UK service for same distance on similar quality trains.

I just checked London-Birmingham for tomorrow morning.

Anytime return fare: £60
Off-peak return fare: £15/£22
Trains run hourly.


Dublin-Galway.
Web fare: €34.50
Trains every two hours - all bar the first at times considered off-peak on the Lon-Bir route.

So in most cases Birmingham works out cheaper, and there's more flexibility.

darc

MOH wrote: »

I just checked London-Birmingham for tomorrow morning.

Anytime return fare: £60
Off-peak return fare: £15/£22
Trains run hourly.


Dublin-Galway.
Web fare: €34.50
Trains every two hours - all bar the first at times considered off-peak on the Lon-Bir route.

So in most cases Birmingham works out cheaper, and there's more flexibility.

Can't see where this price is

On Virgin trains the cheapest outward price for tomorrow off peak is £17.40, the cheapest return journey price is £20.40. (Might be a cheaper price if you take the slow train that stops at every village en route)
Total £37.40 (€45.63)
If you are returning at peak hour (5pm ish) the fare is £50.50 for the return journey alone. (brings cost to €82)


Irish Rail web fare to galway - €30 off peak, €34.50 peak.

Cheaper & much simpler fare system

KC61

bongotime wrote: »

droppped my fiancee off at the train this morning.

and to my surprise I thought it was a joke. they are repairing all the tracks.

so instead heres a bus instead ?

so she got the bus.

I went over to the machine to check the prices. same prices

sorry I didnt see reporters there nothing it was as if no one cared at all

they didnt lower the prices sorry but you are paying full price for a train to
galway limerick kerry.

oh but heres a bus instead sorry about that. am I the only person in ireland that finds this ricdiclus.

no one cared at all that they were paying 50euro for a bus to anywhere in ireland.

There were major engineering works ongoing at Sallins at the weekend which required that the engineers had full possession of both tracks from Friday evening until Sunday lunchtime. This meant bus transfers from Dublin to either Newbridge, Kildare, or Portaoise and then rail transport onwards.

These were advertised on the Irish Rail website at least three weeks ago and there were large advertisements on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in all the national newspapers highlighting the disruption. Indeed Aer Arann jumped onto the bandwagon with some very clever advertising!

How you can claim there was no notice is beyond me.

Unfortunately these things have to happen from time to time and it incidentally happens virtually every weekend somewhere in Britain. I've never known the fares to be adjusted - the impact of this was roughly 20 minutes onto each trip.

alpha2zulu

Mr E wrote: »

Buses can't fly.

Airbus do a great line in flying buses.:D

IanCurtis

It's typical in Ireland that the OP complains about something which is disgraceful and a load of ...... reply trying to make out he's in the wrong.

You're right OP, they wouldn't stand for it here in England. Irish people haven't a clue.

IanCurtis

madmik wrote: »

at least the english have the balls to complain when getting sh!t service

in ireland people will accept any level of service and pay any price to get it

Dead right. The clown above you replies "get a car". He's paying tax towards the bloody trains and he doesn't even realise it!

Absolute idiocy

rameire

IanCurtis wrote: »

Dead right. The clown above you replies "get a car". He's paying tax towards the bloody trains and he doesn't even realise it!

Absolute idiocy

firstly im not a clown.
secondly i do realise where my tax is going.
thirdly, i realise that service and upgrades are part of the norm, and that people will be affected. thus alternatives should and were provided for.

KC61

IanCurtis wrote: »

It's typical in Ireland that the OP complains about something which is disgraceful and a load of ...... reply trying to make out he's in the wrong.

You're right OP, they wouldn't stand for it here in England. Irish people haven't a clue.

Only a small portion of the trips were by bus.

Obviously you're very unfamiliar with the weeks and weeks of weekend engineering works on the West Coast mainline in Britain that caused bus transfers virtually every weekend?

I don't recall any price changes then either?

I understand that what was involved was the renewal and relocation of a crossover from one track to another at Sallins. That would require both tracks to be closed - perhaps you have another way of doing it?????

monument

IanCurtis is right saying the OP is right!

It was a scandal!

Nobody reads those newspapers Irish Rail advertises in, nor their website. And nobody could possibly be expected to go to a bus stop or station after turning up and finding out about the bus transfers. This country is one big sham.

Anyway Irish Rail should not be allowed to force passengers to pay the same price for bus transfers at gun point. Did anybody think of calling the local Garda station? The ERU could have been there before the trains... I mean, buses left.

Victor

foggy_lad wrote: »

i was able to book a rail flight

o_O

therecklessone

IanCurtis wrote: »

It's typical in Ireland that the OP complains about something which is disgraceful and a load of ...... reply trying to make out he's in the wrong.

You're right OP, they wouldn't stand for it here in England. Irish people haven't a clue.

People stand for it regularly in the UK:

[url=]https://www.stanstedexpress.com/engineeringwork.asp?SID={EE884BDE-992E-43AA-837B-3608ECAC662D}[/url]

Date Description
Sunday 12 July 2009 Bus replacement service in operation until 1300

Sunday 02 August 2009 Bus replacement service in operation until 1300

Sunday 09 August 2009 Bus replacement service in operation until 1330

Sunday 30 August 2009 Bus replacement service in operation until 1300

You can have a look at the next 6 months of Tube closures here if you want:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/livetravelnews/realtime/tube/track-closures.pdf

Whole lines closed at weekends to facilitate engineering works.

Cool Mo D

Britain is a totally different world rail wise - they have a lots of frequent, dense intercity rail routes, as it's such an urban country. For example, Birmingham to London has 5 service per hour - which is nothing but a crazy dream for an Irish Intercity route.
Their services are also a lot faster than Irish ones - London to Manchester takes 2 hours compared to 2hours 45 minutes Dublin to Cork - about the same distance.
However, their train fares mean that buying a ticket the day you travel is impossible for a normal person. The flexibility of an open return will cost you dear - an anytime return London - Manchester is £247, and a business class return £404! These fares are for expense accounts only.
Intercity travel in Britain has become like plane travel - if you want to get a good fare, you must book in advance, and take the train you're booked on. Here, you can buy a return, and take whatever train you want. That flexibility is dead across the water.
They also have plenty of bus substitution issues - way more than we do, due to years of running down the railways. They are now investing again, but deferred maintenance has taken its toll.

Run_to_da_hills

Cool Mo D wrote: »

Britain is a totally different world rail wise - they have a lots of frequent, dense intercity rail routes, as it's such an urban country. For example, Birmingham to London has 5 service per hour - which is nothing but a crazy dream for an Irish Intercity route.
Their services are also a lot faster than Irish ones - London to Manchester takes 2 hours compared to 2hours 45 minutes Dublin to Cork - about the same distance.
However, their train fares mean that buying a ticket the day you travel is impossible for a normal person. The flexibility of an open return will cost you dear - an anytime return London - Manchester is £247, and a business class return £404! These fares are for expense accounts only.
Intercity travel in Britain has become like plane travel - if you want to get a good fare, you must book in advance, and take the train you're booked on. Here, you can buy a return, and take whatever train you want. That flexibility is dead across the water.
They also have plenty of bus substitution issues - way more than we do, due to years of running down the railways. They are now investing again, but deferred maintenance has taken its toll.

Weekends in the UK are a nightmare for engineering works, it took me 7 hours to get from Holyhead to Euston recently, via Bham. You can still purchase open non reserved monthly Sea /rail tickets and take any route desired to our destination.

fh041205

monument wrote: »

IanCurtis is right saying the OP is right!

It was a scandal!

Nobody reads those newspapers Irish Rail advertises in, nor their website. And nobody could possibly be expected to go to a bus stop or station after turning up and finding out about the bus transfers. This country is one big sham.

Anyway Irish Rail should not be allowed to force passengers to pay the same price for bus transfers at gun point. Did anybody think of calling the local Garda station? The ERU could have been there before the trains... I mean, buses left.

You're surely not serious. Gunpoint? Thats utterly laughable. Can you suggest a better way than bus transfers? The line was closed for essential works, what else are they supposed to do?

monument

fh041205 wrote: »

You're surely not serious. Gunpoint? Thats utterly laughable. Can you suggest a better way than bus transfers? The line was closed for essential works, what else are they supposed to do?

I was not serious at all.

fh041205

monument wrote: »

I was not serious at all.

Thank Christ. There IS still sanity in the world.;)

MOH

darc wrote: »

Can't see where this price is

It was through the link I posted
I'm not going through it again

(Might be a cheaper price if you take the slow train that stops at every village en route)

It was taking 2:20 or so, about the same time as Dublin-Galway,

foggy_lad

i often find the bus is faster than the train especially from waterford-dublin! and is usually more comfortable even with the new 2nd hand trains

Judgement Day

foggy_lad wrote: »

i often find the bus is faster than the train especially from waterford-dublin! and is usually more comfortable even with the new 2nd hand trains

What are these new 2nd hand trains and please can we have some of them for the Soggy South East?

I don't know what bus service you're using but trains do Waterford/Dublin on average in two and half hours and buses average timings are three and a quarter to three and a half hours!

KC61

foggy_lad wrote: »

i often find the bus is faster than the train especially from waterford-dublin! and is usually more comfortable even with the new 2nd hand trains

The trains aren't secondhand - they're brand new!

Terrontress

foggy_lad wrote: »

i often find the bus is faster than the train especially from waterford-dublin! and is usually more comfortable even with the new 2nd hand trains

I think there is now a major issue with the bus to Belfast being as quick as the Enterprise, or not far off it if you get the one which has Dublin airport as its only stop.

The train is expensive because it costs so much to run it.

In a country the size of Ireland, is it worth maintaining a rail network if it cannot compete with the new roads?