Confusion over split Galway/Westport train in Heuston

Victor

dowlingm wrote: »

trouble with the Athlone-Westport shuttle might be fitting it around the freights and slots for the odd training run,

Typically, there is only one passenger train on the Westport branch (not including Ballina) at any given time.

bringing the Ballina set up/down for Limerick Depot etc.

I get the impression that these are often tagged onto the rear of another train, out of service.

The single track lines are great for economy but once you max them out then where do you go?

You use the occasional passing loop.

LXFlyer

Not quite right there Victor - the Ballina sets switch every Friday. The new set operates out of service Limerick Junction/Ballina, while the old set goes out of service Ballina-Athlone before operating the 1705 Athlone-Galway, 1830 Galway-Ennis and return, before returning to Limerick next morning as part of the 0940 Galway-Limerick on Saturdays.

Plenty of scope for additional trains on the route capacity wise.

foggy_lad

n97 mini wrote: »

There's the excellent Citylink service, which is quicker and cheaper than any CIE group service.

Unfortunately I missed the last Citylink express by about ten minutes, Otherwise i would have been back home at 11.30pm instead of 1.25am.

tangowhiskey wrote: »

Or they could do what they do in London Victoria and say that the front three coaches furthest from the ticket barrier are for X and the rear three closest to the barrier is for Y.

Simple stuff really.

That would work well, in fact that is what is on the printed timetable but it does not stop some ticket checker giving people the wrong information and putting them on the wrong trains.

popebenny16

so sum up:

one IE lad at ticket barrier mixes up which half is going where.

other IE lads spot it and sort it out.

i am starting to think that foggy_lad is one of those glass half empty kind of guys.

popebenny16

January wrote: »

Do you just randomly hang around train stations looking for faults?

you actually dont have to, every single day I am in Heuston there is some balls up, usually in terms of PA. Last week the tannoy system with robodude was turned of on Monday and Thursday afternoon approaching 5 pm because when a train fails to leave on time he stops making sense. (I recall one evening standing at a platform with no train and robodude telling us all that it was there and boarding) The trouble being that the big board was telling people what platform their train was awaiting and nobody was believing it because robodue was turned off. Cue last moment panic rushes to 7 for the tralee train....

speaking of which, on board robodude on thursday was having some sort of breakdown, telling us that the snack bar was at the rear and the front of the train.....

goingnowhere

popebenny16 wrote: »

speaking of which, on board robodude on thursday was having some sort of breakdown, telling us that the snack bar was at the rear and the front of the train.....

Thats actually a human goofing up, as the message is not automatic. You have to select it from a touch screen

popebenny16

goingnowhere wrote: »

Thats actually a human goofing up, as the message is not automatic. You have to select it from a touch screen

interesting. it happened on more than one occasion. i suppose you can do the selection in a batch. obviously, this being boards.ie, i will call for him to be sacked. thats the standard reaction, i belive.

Losty Dublin

popebenny16 wrote: »

interesting. it happened on more than one occasion. i suppose you can do the selection in a batch. obviously, this being boards.ie, i will call for him to be sacked. thats the standard reaction, i belive.

And privatise the sacking procedure as well?

bazza1

All sackings are outsourced!

Victor

Surely robodude needs re-training, not sacking?

Paddy De Plasterer

this bit of Irish on train every so often, and then english translation annoys me and does nothing for the language.

LXFlyer

It is a legal requirement.

bk

lxflyer wrote: »

It is a legal requirement.

It is a stupid law that needs changing.

dowlingm

bk - that may well be the case but blaming IE for something they have no control over is a bit previous.

What might be more interesting is boarding a BE bus in the Gaeltacht and attempting to buy/pay for a ticket in Irish.

Jamie2k9

Lots of problems yesterday with many passengers not known which train to baord and having to move.

IR claim to be working to rectify the issue.

end of the road

well they would want to rectify it fast