Limerick-Galway Passenger Headcount Thread

DWCommuter

foggy_lad wrote: »

i was on the galway to limerick train today and what a ride!two hours is far too long to be stuck in one of those railcars! the noise was deafening and the ride became backbreaking after about an hour.

now to the figures, i counted less than 30 leaving galway between both cars and even less than that getting into limerick! there was nobody getting on or off the first three stops and after that maybe two at each stop one on and one off, quite a few got off at ennis and less got on. the carparks at the stations were all empty apart from about ten cars at ennis station so commuters are not using any park & ride available!

overall i would say a complete waste of money. a lame duck that will sink into the next floods that afflict this route!

There's a mixed reaction on the headcount. I'm prepared to wait a bit longer for a full picture.

Of course the WRC will be getting its 22Ks because Irish Rail have no funds to run them where they were meant (and more needed) to be run, so that will correct the back breaking ride issue.;)

foggy_lad

of the people on the train for the whole journey at least 4 plus myself were making notes recording times or generally trainspotting:) and four of the people that got off at ennis were english trainspotters of the variety mentioned earlier in this thread.

DWCommuter

foggy_lad wrote: »

of the people on the train for the whole journey at least 4 plus myself were making notes recording times or generally trainspotting:) and four of the people that got off at ennis were english trainspotters of the variety mentioned earlier in this thread.

Oh my ****ing god Foggy_lad!

Are you seriously claiming and standing over the fact that English Trainspotters were on the WRC train?:D

They may be the first wave of photographers and video dudes from the mainland! Thus far youtube has been starved of WRC footage.:D

foggy_lad

they had no video cameras that i could see but they might have been filming in secret? they were talking about railways both here in ireland and in the uk and elsewhere for most of their journey so i would consider they trainspotters and they all had british/english accents

does going on this train today mean i am now officially a trainspotter?

DWCommuter

foggy_lad wrote: »

they had no video cameras that i could see but they might have been filming in secret? they were talking about railways both here in ireland and in the uk and elsewhere for most of their journey so i would consider they trainspotters and they all had british/english accents

does going on this train today mean i am now officially a trainspotter?

In fairness, there's nothing wrong with trainspotting. Some of us just find it irritating when nostalgia ridden trainspotters start discussing how the network should be developed.

Im heading on it soon with all sorts of cameras and two crates of beer. Can't wait!:D

Transportuser09

DWCommuter wrote: »

In fairness, there's nothing wrong with trainspotting. Some of us just find it irritating when nostalgia ridden trainspotters start discussing how the network should be developed.

Im heading on it soon with all sorts of cameras and two crates of beer. Can't wait!:D

Well in fairness I don't think trainspotters have ever had much of an influence in how the network should be developed. If they had we'd still be stuck in the loco hauled age with semaphore signalling and what not. Thankfully instead Irish Railways are run a business, with an emphasis on efficency (well, maybe not on the Rosslare-Waterford!) and modern rolling stock.

DWCommuter

Transportuser09 wrote: »

Well in fairness I don't think trainspotters have ever had much of an influence in how the network should be developed. If they had we'd still be stuck in the loco hauled age with semaphore signalling and what not. Thankfully instead Irish Railways are run a business, with an emphasis on efficency (well, maybe not on the Rosslare-Waterford!) and modern rolling stock.

Im going to spoil you tonight so Transportuser09. (after your accusation of me just trying to plug a book.)

For two examples of enthusiasts influencing the development of rail transport in Ireland, look towards the WRC and the current set up on the Nenagh - Limerick route. (now make sure to do your homework)

What you forget is that enthusiasts aren't just interested in the techie side of it. They are often interested in the routes and have an nostalgic fascination with them.

Transportuser09

DWCommuter wrote: »

Im going to spoil you tonight so Transportuser09. (after your accusation of me just trying to plug a book.)

For two examples of enthusiasts influencing the development of rail transport in Ireland, look towards the WRC and the current set up on the Nenagh - Limerick route. (now make sure to do your homework)

What you forget is that enthusiasts aren't just interested in the techie side of it. They are often interested in the routes and have an nostalgic fascination with them.

Much of the WRC pressure came from West on Track, which was not an enthusiast group but a pressure group, similar to P11/Railusers.

And to be honest I don't see the problem with running a commuter service to Nenagh - it seemed more like an attempt to get a user friendly service into Limerick - if Irish Rail got there act together on the speed limits maybe the uptake would be better. Yes granted there was an enthusiast involved in this (with a local group mind) but its an example of how enthusiasts can still have an interest in improving a service for the commuter. The timetable prior to that was totally unsuited to getting commuters into Limerick for work, even the Rosslare-Waterford train was better in that respect, and thats saying something!

Transportuser09

DWCommuter wrote: »

Im going to spoil you tonight so Transportuser09. (after your accusation of me just trying to plug a book.)

That was tongue in cheek, in the context I meant that you should give examples of your accusations made on this site rather than redirect people to a book that has yet to come out. But I apologise if I caused any offence.

dowlingm

Transportuser09 wrote: »

Well in fairness I don't think trainspotters have ever had much of an influence in how the network should be developed. If they had we'd still be stuck in the loco hauled age with semaphore signalling and what not.

The bemoaning on IRN every time a cabin is closed (followed by a recitation of how many are left) and semaphores get ripped out and thrown by the side of the alignment is a sign of how true the above statement is.

Calina

I've decided to close this thread. It's not going anywhere and instead of having some sort of a constructive discussion, the thread is descending into turfwar and puerile handbag swinging.

It is a frequent outcome of rail related threads. It would appear that you as a subcommunity of posters are incredibly capable of derailing and causing trouble in your own threads on a scale unequalled by any including the taxi threads. I am sick of it. We have been down the road on closing western rail related threads on several occasions now.

This is my decision: this thread is closed. Anything WRC operation related - including headcount and utilisation - goes into the stickied thread from here on out.