Reduced Capacity on Peak service

L1011

What was a 4 car 29k yesterday is a 3 car 22 today. Let's see how rammed this gets...

edit: was standing from Coolmine.

bikeman1

foggy_lad wrote: »

I was in Connolly on Monday on platform 5 trying to get a dart to raheny and two 4 car darts arrived for howth and malahide and both were jam packed with miserable looking commuters. A few brave souls managed to get on these overcrowded darts but the rest of us got the Drogheda commuter just after them.

I thought peak time darts were not being cut? Both these short darts were just after 6pm.

Foggy how did you get the Drogheda Commuter, to Raheny? it doesn't stop there?

The rule on the DART seems if there is noone left behind, then its fine. A lot of passengers you saw were probably just waiting for the Drogheda or Maynooth service.

end of the road

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Once passengers get seats before Maynooth, its fine to have 4 carriages in place.

not if its going to potentially drive away customers

end of the road

MYOB wrote: »

It's not like they're particularly short of rolling stock...

definitely not, so much so that theirs a load of it in storage awaiting the breakers

foggy_lad

bikeman1 wrote: »

Foggy how did you get the Drogheda Commuter, to Raheny? it doesn't stop there?

The rule on the DART seems if there is noone left behind, then its fine. A lot of passengers you saw were probably just waiting for the Drogheda or Maynooth service.

Got the commuter train to Howth Junction then dart back to Raheny.

Hilly Bill

foggy_lad wrote: »

I was in Connolly on Monday on platform 5 trying to get a dart to raheny and two 4 car darts arrived for howth and malahide and both were jam packed with miserable looking commuters. A few brave souls managed to get on these overcrowded darts but the rest of us got the Drogheda commuter just after them.

I thought peak time darts were not being cut? Both these short darts were just after 6pm.

There was no darts jam packed at that time Foggy. There was a mixture of 4 piece and 6 pieces at that time, I was on that platform myself at that time. Didn't see you though .

Hilly Bill

MYOB wrote: »

What was a 4 car 29k yesterday is a 3 car 22 today. Let's see how rammed this gets...

edit: was standing from Coolmine.

Standing from Coolmine is nothing new even if it was an 8 piece at peak times.

L1011

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Standing from Coolmine is nothing new even if it was an 8 piece at peak times.

This was 3 car. I fail to see the relevance here, other than your continual defence of Irish Rail.

foggy_lad

Hilly Bill wrote: »

There was no darts jam packed at that time Foggy. There was a mixture of 4 piece and 6 pieces at that time, I was on that platform myself at that time. Didn't see you though .

I was there but hey with the thousand or so people on platform five you cant have seen everybody.
The two darts I waited for were 4 car trains. One to howth which was packed out and the same wirh the one to malahide. The dart to greystones had plenty of seats and was an 8 car train. Is it a northside thing?

Emme

The Heuston to Waterford peak time trains have also reduced in capacity from 6 cars to 4 or even 3 cars. The 6 cars were nearly always full so I can't see the logic in this. There's barely standing room and the people standing in aisles have to squeeze into already occupied seats to let the guy with the food cart pass.

Heuston also have a habit of leaving the announcement of platforms for the Waterford train till the last minute. There is barely 5 minutes for everyone to board the train. When the platform is announced there is a mad stampede for the train and it doesn't help that half the ticket points aren't working. People push, run and jostle their way to the train and there are queues at entry points to the carriages.

I really feel sorry for the elderly and the disabled who travel on the Waterford line. Elderly and disabled people naturally take longer to get into seats (if they can get a seat!) and this should be taken into account when deciding boarding times. Last week one woman had to stand beside her wheelchair bound child for 4 stops.

Peak time Heuston to Waterford trains were crowded enough with 6 cars, but with 4 cars it isn't suitable for anyone who isn't in the full of their health and fitness. Maybe the people at IE who make the decisions think that everyone who uses the train is fit, healthy, no taller than 5'8 and no heavier than 70kg. Or a hobbit. That is not the case and quite a few people don't fit comfortably into one seat - they may be too tall and they have to sit with their legs in the aisles or they are too fat and their bulk spills into the next seat.

I often see mothers having to put their small children sitting on the table in front of them because they don't have room in their seats to put the child on their knee. The USP of Iarnrod Eireann's latest radio advertisement is that you can work on the train. Some people manage to do this but I challenge anyone to do productive work with a screaming child on the table beside them and its parents munching their way through a pungent snack box.

Soon there will be Christmas shoppers on the train with all their bags - Iarnrod Eireann should take this into account and put a 6 car train back on the Waterford line.

4 cars might be ok on the Waterford train if it doesn't stop before Athy. People who get off at Athy and beyond have no choice but to take the Waterford train. Lately the train is only comfortable after the Athy commuters get off. Commuters who get off before this can take other trains. Indeed since the train size has reduced the number of people who get off at Kildare and before has diminished.

Hilly Bill

Good post Emme, if you havent done so already then i'd suggest you e-mail them that post as is . Its feedback like yours that may lead to the extra carriages being put back on as they are constantly saying that they are monitoring the loadings.

I find it mad that the trolly still tries to make it way through the train. Maybe it would be best to not let it and they might cop on then.

Hilly Bill

MYOB wrote: »

This was 3 car. I fail to see the relevance here, other than your continual defence of Irish Rail.

Not defending anyone but only saying that standing from Coolmine is nothing new. Ive been standing before Coolmine on longer trains for years .

Hilly Bill

foggy_lad wrote: »

I was there but hey with the thousand or so people on platform five you cant have seen everybody.
The two darts I waited for were 4 car trains. One to howth which was packed out and the same wirh the one to malahide. The dart to greystones had plenty of seats and was an 8 car train. Is it a northside thing?

There wasn't a thousand or so on the platform Foggy . What happens is people trying to get on the first carriage that stops at them instead of finding room.
there would have been extra loadings on the delayed trains.

bikeman1

Hilly Bill wrote: »

There wasn't a thousand or so on the platform Foggy . What happens is people trying to get on the first carriage that stops at them instead of finding room.
there would have been extra loadings on the delayed trains.

Also on Monday there was a major fire in a derelict building adjacent to platform 7. Irish Rail had to route all through services via platform 5, meaning everyone was on one platform instead of three.

By all accounts they did a good job at keeping everything going. Also Foggy it doesn't look like anyone was left behind in those photos. There is nothing wrong with having a packed train at rush hour, but there is a problem with leaving people behind. Which I be surprised if it happend.

Also the Dart loses a lot of passengers by Killester and there is plenty of space. But the Commuters can be jammed up to Portmarnock / Malahide, so often it is better to get the Dart instead.

dowlingm

Here's what I'm hearing:

The Longford service is right-sized, but should be made express east of Clonsilla. No point in hauling a >50% empty train from Longford to Maynooth.

The Maynooth and Clonsilla services are fuller over a longer portion of their route, so need more capacity with the same stopping pattern.

foggy_lad

dowlingm wrote: »

Here's what I'm hearing:

The Longford service is right-sized, but should be made express east of Clonsilla. No point in hauling a >50% empty train from Longford to Maynooth.

The Maynooth and Clonsilla services are fuller over a longer portion of their route, so need more capacity with the same stopping pattern.

Also northern commuter trains should be non stop to malahide and then pick up only in malahide. Put more darts on to cater for people going to stops as far as malahide

SeanW

In the last two weeks the service out Longford way has gone to s**t.

Up until then, my morning train was 6 cars ICR and the 18:05 back was also 6 car ICR.

But recently they started messing about with train lengths, so there's no more 6 car train sets anymore :mad: and the morning train yoyo'ed from 4 cars to 7 cars, settling on 4. Not great, but still decent.

Then (been going on for a while) is the DART connection that I need to connect going home - 4 car DARTs at 5:45PM ... seriously? Does IE think we're all in bed asleep at that hour of the evening? Maybe they are! F***ing hell.

But the REAL fun started a couple of days ago, when our usually comfortable 6 car (which had become 2X3 because of the reconfiguration) is now
...
wait for it
...
A 4 car train of 29ks!!! As you can imagine, its absolutely jammers and uncomfortable as hell. And it has the seating equivalent of about 2 ICRs. ****s sake. Seriously thinking about trying to raise money to get a flat in the city because this is ****ing ridiculous. And they're still sending 22ks out on local service to Maynooth and probably Pace-Docklands as well.

Captain Chaos

foggy_lad wrote: »

Also northern commuter trains should be non stop to malahide and then pick up only in malahide. Put more darts on to cater for people going to stops as far as malahide

Put more DARTs on?? They have cut the DART capacity down at peak times as it is as Irish Rail don't seem to understand that peak time starts at 16:00 in the city centre and stops at 19:00.

Combined with reduced capacity at peak times and with the fare hike in the new year it's now cheaper and quicker for me to drive to work. Don't have to wait around for a sardine can that can't stop or start on leaves because IR won't use more sandite on the tracks at night.

end of the road

SeanW wrote: »

A 4 car train of 29ks!!! As you can imagine, its absolutely jammers and uncomfortable as hell. And it has the seating equivalent of about 2 ICRs.

well just be greatful your not on the rosslare line or traveling the full way to sligo or even on the belfast line where one of these things can turn up on a service, ah but shur as long as the hueston lot are okay.

SeanW wrote: »

they're still sending 22ks out on local service to Maynooth and probably Pace-Docklands as well.

ICRS for commuter routes and commuter stock for ICR and long distance routes is the IE way at least on the connolly side, i've given up at this stage as frankly even with the new person incharge nothinn will change

LXFlyer

SeanW wrote: »

In the last two weeks the service out Longford way has gone to s**t.

Up until then, my morning train was 6 cars ICR and the 18:05 back was also 6 car ICR.

But recently they started messing about with train lengths, so there's no more 6 car train sets anymore :mad: and the morning train yoyo'ed from 4 cars to 7 cars, settling on 4. Not great, but still decent.

Then (been going on for a while) is the DART connection that I need to connect going home - 4 car DARTs at 5:45PM ... seriously? Does IE think we're all in bed asleep at that hour of the evening? Maybe they are! F***ing hell.

But the REAL fun started a couple of days ago, when our usually comfortable 6 car (which had become 2X3 because of the reconfiguration) is now
...
wait for it
...
A 4 car train of 29ks!!! As you can imagine, its absolutely jammers and uncomfortable as hell. And it has the seating equivalent of about 2 ICRs. ****s sake. Seriously thinking about trying to raise money to get a flat in the city because this is ****ing ridiculous. And they're still sending 22ks out on local service to Maynooth and probably Pace-Docklands as well.

They are short three trains at a time while the sets are being reconfigured - I'd expect that the commuter services (such as Longford) would revert to a longer train once the process has concluded for the Connolly side.

MDFM

SeanW wrote: »

In the last two weeks the service out Longford way has gone to s**t.

Up until then, my morning train was 6 cars ICR and the 18:05 back was also 6 car ICR.

But recently they started messing about with train lengths, so there's no more 6 car train sets anymore :mad: and the morning train yoyo'ed from 4 cars to 7 cars, settling on 4. Not great, but still decent.

Then (been going on for a while) is the DART connection that I need to connect going home - 4 car DARTs at 5:45PM ... seriously? Does IE think we're all in bed asleep at that hour of the evening? Maybe they are! F***ing hell.

But the REAL fun started a couple of days ago, when our usually comfortable 6 car (which had become 2X3 because of the reconfiguration) is now
...
wait for it
...
A 4 car train of 29ks!!! As you can imagine, its absolutely jammers and uncomfortable as hell. And it has the seating equivalent of about 2 ICRs. ****s sake. Seriously thinking about trying to raise money to get a flat in the city because this is ****ing ridiculous. And they're still sending 22ks out on local service to Maynooth and probably Pace-Docklands as well.

This is the point of my post orginally...And while we all accept that standing is ultimately the normal on our trains, the standing has gone to an extreme level..to the extent, the standing room is just no available (on the early Longford train that is). People are squashed nose to nose, i'd imagine breathing is nearly next to impossible! Tues morning's service (5.40am) was just ridiculous and to have people left behind on the platform simply cos they couldnt fit onto the train is simply unacceptable in this day and age. These are people who get this same service every day, whom like me, are prob aiming to be in work before 8am.. But service alterations have now left them having to try to squeeze onto the next train, if even that's possible. What will it take for the service to return to normal - Irish Rail have also created a huge health and safety risk here too with massively overcrowded trains, are they allowed to do this?

donspeekinglesh

foggy_lad wrote: »

Also northern commuter trains should be non stop to malahide and then pick up only in malahide. Put more darts on to cater for people going to stops as far as malahide

Plenty of people working around Howth Junction that live north of Malahide and use the Northern Commuter.

L1011

lxflyer wrote: »

They are short three trains at a time while the sets are being reconfigured - I'd expect that the commuter services (such as Longford) would revert to a longer train once the process has concluded for the Connolly side.

There's at least 2x3 car 22ks running up and down to Pace. And a 29k going to Sligo every morning too!

LXFlyer

MYOB wrote: »

There's at least 2x3 car 22ks running up and down to Pace. And a 29k going to Sligo every morning too!

There are not 29k sets to Sligo every morning. There are 29k sets to Sligo only on the 13:05 on Fridays and the 0905 on Sundays. That's purely down to the usual 22k being used to strengthen other trains.

foggy_lad

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

Plenty of people working around Howth Junction that live north of Malahide and use the Northern Commuter.

Cant they get a dart to malahide then hop on a shorter commuter(without people that should be using the dart) to dundalk or balbriggan laytown etc.

L1011

lxflyer wrote: »

There are not 29k sets to Sligo every morning. There are 29k sets to Sligo only on the 13:05 on Fridays and the 0905 on Sundays. That's purely down to the usual 22k being used to strengthen other trains.

You might want to tell the driver of the ones that passed me at speed on Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursday mornings with Sligo on the front then... would have been the 8am.

LXFlyer

MYOB wrote: »

You might want to tell the driver of the ones that passed me at speed on Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursday mornings with Sligo on the front then... would have been the 8am.

OK - sorry I was talking about in normal circumstances.

That has to be down to the three sets being out of service due to the reformations currently underway.

Bear in mind that the sets all have to rotate around so that they get the required maintenance attention in Drogheda. The same sets don't work the same trains every day. They start and finish in different locations every day. With sets out of service being reformed, this is why the sets are all jumbled up at the moment, with different train types working each train on different days.

While there may be a 22k on Maynooth in the morning, it could be then going to Drogheda for required maintenance during the day, and may be needed for another trip that evening, which would not be possible if it went to Sligo on that 08:00 trip.

Hopefully once Connolly gets its full complement of re-sized sets this can settle back to something approaching normality.

end of the road

lxflyer wrote: »

There are not 29k sets to Sligo every morning. There are 29k sets to Sligo only on the 13:05 on Fridays and the 0905 on Sundays. That's purely down to the usual 22k being used to strengthen other trains.

jesus, the amount of the bluddy things they bought and they end up having to put a 29 on some sligo services because the rest are gone to bolster other trains, shambles, theirs just no excuse for a 29 running long distance services any more, they have enough 22s to do all the long distance services including bolstering trains to demand, they were able to do it in the days of the loco hauled services with less carriges so theirs just no excuse, commuter stock should never have been running long distance services and if they had looked after the mark 2s better they would have lasted at least another 5 years (many did) infact even 10 years they could have lasted meaning all the 22s would have been ready to go straight away when the old stock was retired, i'm sick of irish rails excuses, they never worked and never will work with me

L1011

8 car on at 9pm - do the staff that adjust consists go home early?

n97 mini

MYOB wrote: »

8 car on at 9pm - do the staff that adjust consists go home early?

I too have noticed a lot of evening trains are 8 cars.

Jamie2k9

MYOB wrote: »

8 car on at 9pm - do the staff that adjust consists go home early?

Extra weekend capacity for the match tomorrow, I expect. If they were shortened and not restored tomorrow, you would be giving out about it as well.

L1011

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Extra weekend capacity for the match tomorrow, I expect. If they were shortened and not restored tomorrow, you would be giving out about it as well.

If they have people to adjust sizes at one time and not another, they have a rostering issue. If its so critical to have shorter sets to save money, they could easily chop after rush hour and reconnect in the morning.

Currently it appears they're doing it half-assedly and with negative impacts.

Jamie2k9

MYOB wrote: »

If they have people to adjust sizes at one time and not another, they have a rostering issue. If its so critical to have shorter sets to save money, they could easily chop after rush hour and reconnect in the morning.

Currently it appears they're doing it half-assedly and with negative impacts.

Still costs involved moving the stock and staffing with it, after rushhour on a Friday evening at most 2 runs would of being done. Possibly high demand for the last service out of town on a Friday could be another reason.

Expect demand on Friday evenings over the next few weeks will be up coming up to Christmas.

LXFlyer

MYOB wrote: »

If they have people to adjust sizes at one time and not another, they have a rostering issue. If its so critical to have shorter sets to save money, they could easily chop after rush hour and reconnect in the morning.

Currently it appears they're doing it half-assedly and with negative impacts.

It's not as straightforward however as the DART, given that maintenance is in Drogheda.

Sets are doing different trips all day - they don't all terminate at Pearse or Connolly all day, some will go to Maynooth and then on the northern line, others will have some trips to/from Parkway. Splitting early in the evening may not make sense if they both have to go to Drogheda for maintenance later.

foggy_lad

4 car 22000 on the last train to Sligo this evening and it was packed out! People sitting at all the doorways blocking the emergency exits luggage strewn all over as people had no seats to stow their bags above. Why not run a 6car set on what they should know will be very busy services like last trains to Sligo on friday evenings.

SeanW

I was on that train too. It was pathetic.

Hilly Bill

foggy_lad wrote: »

4 car 22000 on the last train to Sligo this evening and it was packed out! People sitting at all the doorways blocking the emergency exits luggage strewn all over as people had no seats to stow their bags above. Why not run a 6car set on what they should know will be very busy services like last trains to Sligo on friday evenings.

Maybe because it wasnt that busy last Friday and they decided to see what it would be like this week. Unfortunately they got it wrong same as the 15:05 which apparently left around 30 people behind because it was too full.
Hopefully it will change.

There was one seat vacant in your carriage Foggy , im suprised that you stood at the door letting people in past you instead of standing by the empty seat in the hope the person that reserved it didnt show .
How far were you going? If it was just to Maynooth then the 19:10 had plenty of seats free and i was suprised that so many was available.

LXFlyer

How far were people standing / sitting at the vestibules to?

Hilly Bill

lxflyer wrote: »

How far were people standing / sitting at the vestibules to?

Chances are that they could be standing up to Enfield maybe further.

LXFlyer

I'm not looking for guesses - I'm asking the people who were on the train.

foggy_lad

lxflyer wrote: »

How far were people standing / sitting at the vestibules to?

Vestibules? It wasn't a church. They were sitting and standing at all the doors and blocking the passegways between cars. The train was packed. It was a disgrace and to hear that these clowns left people behind on an earlier serviice because of their incompetence is no surprise. They should not be experimenting with the train sets like little boys, there should be no capacity issues.

Some people got off in maynooth but even more got on but obviously irish rail don't count what hapens at intermediate stations. People were standing past enfield.

LXFlyer

The area around the doors is known as a vestibule.

I'm not asking for your opinions - I'm aware of them from your previous post. I'm only asking how far people were standing for.

foggy_lad

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Maybe because it wasnt that busy last Friday and they decided to see what it would be like this week. Unfortunately they got it wrong same as the 15:05 which apparently left around 30 people behind because it was too full.
Hopefully it will change.

There was one seat vacant in your carriage Foggy , im suprised that you stood at the door letting people in past you instead of standing by the empty seat in the hope the person that reserved it didnt show .
How far were you going? If it was just to Maynooth then the 19:10 had plenty of seats free and i was suprised that so many was available.

What happened to all those people left behind? Were they put on a hired in coach? If so who pays for that? Were they told to wait for tje next train or just ignored by irish rail? Will they reconsider travelling by train in the future?

You say hopefully this sort of thing will change, I say that it must stop and stop immediately if intercity rail travel is to have any future in Ireland.

I wasn't standing at the door. Care to let us know where you get your insider information on where people sit or stand on the trains?

Sorry about the edits, on mobile and hard to post.

Hilly Bill

foggy_lad wrote: »

What happened to all those people left behind? Were they put on a hired in coach? If so who pays for that? Were they told to wait for tje next train or just ignored by irish rail? Will they reconsider travelling by train in the future?

You say hopefully this sort of thing will change, I say that it must stop and stop immediately if intercity rail travel is to have any future in Ireland.

I wasn't standing at the door. Care to let us know where you get your insider information on where people sit or stand on the trains?

Sorry about the edits, on mobile and hard to post.

You were standing at the door at 2 mins past 7 i saw you . I saw you waiting to get your ticket and then i was stood close enough to touch you on the first carriage .

I couldnt tell you what happened to the people left behind but you cant really ignore 30 people standing on a platform now could you.
Who do you think pays for a coach if one get laid on instead of a train?

Hilly Bill

lxflyer wrote: »

The area around the doors is known as a vestibule.

I'm not asking for your opinions - I'm aware of them from your previous post. I'm only asking how far people were standing for.

It doesnt really matter as to how far people were standing for. Some could choose to remain standing when seats are free so it doesnt really mean that there wasnt any seats for the whole time a person was standing.

Hilly Bill

foggy_lad wrote: »

Vestibules? It wasn't a church. They were sitting and standing at all the doors and blocking the passegways between cars. The train was packed. It was a disgrace and to hear that these clowns left people behind on an earlier serviice because of their incompetence is no surprise. They should not be experimenting with the train sets like little boys, there should be no capacity issues.

Some people got off in maynooth but even more got on but obviously irish rail don't count what hapens at intermediate stations. People were standing past enfield.

Should they run trains with empty carriages just for the sake of it then just in case it gets busy?
See what its like next week , that train may well be a 6 piece with loads of room left where a 4 piece like today would have done. It could also by a full 6 piece which would justify it remaining a 6 piece.
It seems to me that apart from it being a shortened train and a heavy loading one of your main gripes was people sitting on the floor blocking the doors when it would have given more room if they stood.

SeanW

lxflyer wrote: »

How far were people standing / sitting at the vestibules to?

At least to Mullingar. One of the most frustrating aspects to it (what would normally be a sign of a healthy, useful viable railway) was that nearly as many people got on as got off at Maynooth and Kilcock. So there was no easing off of the congestion.

foggy_lad

Hilly Bill wrote: »

You were standing at the door at 2 mins past 7 i saw you . I saw you waiting to get your ticket and then i was stood close enough to touch you on the first carriage .

I couldnt tell you what happened to the people left behind but you cant really ignore 30 people standing on a platform now could you.
Who do you think pays for a coach if one get laid on instead of a train?

Regardless of the smiley faces you are either genuinely mistaken or just plain lying, You don't know me and can't say with any degree of certainty where I was sitting on that train.

Hilly Bill wrote: »

It doesnt really matter as to how far people were standing for. Some could choose to remain standing when seats are free so it doesnt really mean that there wasnt any seats for the whole time a person was standing.

Oh so it is not Irish Rails fault now! If they gave people more seats they would not use them!

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Should they run trains with empty carriages just for the sake of it then just in case it gets busy?
See what its like next week , that train may well be a 6 piece with loads of room left where a 4 piece like today would have done. It could also by a full 6 piece which would justify it remaining a 6 piece.
It seems to me that apart from it being a shortened train and a heavy loading one of your main gripes was people sitting on the floor blocking the doors when it would have given more room if they stood.

People should NEVER be standing on any intercity trains which are not designed to carry standing passengers, Intercity trains have no grab rails and no areas where people can stand safely and not be in the way. It makes a journey several times more uncomfortable when you have to worry about being thrown about the train because there is no rail to hold on to!

Commuter stock is designed to carry standing passengers, that is why all the aisle seats have those large bright yellow grab rails attached, that is what all those bright yellow bars and rails around the doors are for, that is why there are large areas around the doors for people to stand.

Regardless of people standing though there is a more serious issue of people being left behind which should never happen if a railway is managed and run correctly, those people were left without a train because some group responsible for providing seats on a train for them decided to do an experiment, They noticed that numbers were low for one or two weeks but probably forgot that the Halloween period can be quiet as there are few students on the Friday trains as many will take a week or a few days off, So they decide to ignore all the other weeks of the year and cut two carriages off the train. It makes no sense at all!

Leo is not giving Irish Rail money to operate trains which have to be followed by a fleet of buses and coaches.

end of the road

foggy_lad wrote: »

People should NEVER be standing on any intercity trains which are not designed to carry standing passengers, Intercity trains have no grab rails and no areas where people can stand safely and not be in the way. It makes a journey several times more uncomfortable when you have to worry about being thrown about the train because there is no rail to hold on to!

Commuter stock is designed to carry standing passengers, that is why all the aisle seats have those large bright yellow grab rails attached, that is what all those bright yellow bars and rails around the doors are for, that is why there are large areas around the doors for people to stand.

Regardless of people standing though there is a more serious issue of people being left behind which should never happen if a railway is managed and run correctly, those people were left without a train because some group responsible for providing seats on a train for them decided to do an experiment, They noticed that numbers were low for one or two weeks but probably forgot that the Halloween period can be quiet as there are few students on the Friday trains as many will take a week or a few days off, So they decide to ignore all the other weeks of the year and cut two carriages off the train. It makes no sense at all!

Leo is not giving Irish Rail money to operate trains which have to be followed by a fleet of buses and coaches.

completely agree, really what needs to happen is that a system is in place that, trains to and from sligo not be advertised to stop in maynooth but actually would, how it would work is, if i wanted to go from dublin to maynooth and i book, the sligo train times won't show up, only maynooth commuters will, if i want to go from maynooth to dublin again only the maynooth commuters will show, if i want to go to maynooth from sligo then the sligo train times will show, if i want to go from maynooth to sligo the sligo train times will show, same should be done for rosslare services when busy, it might allow some capacity to be cut but would still mean seats for those traveling the long distance and those going to maynooth and graystones can use the trains run for them while those traveling from those stations to further a field won't be effected, it would require co-operation with staff and a revamping of the online booking system probably, but something has to give and severely over crowded trains and those who wish to use intercity services as their little express train taking seats from those traveling longer distances is exactly what has to give.

Fred Swanson

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