Groundhog Day!
 

Another year and after two weeks' respite from dodgy trains, nothing much has changed. This morning's 06:15 from Longford left Edgeworthstown at 07:20 which is 53 minutes late.

The driver's excuse at Edgeworthstown is due to extreme cold the train took longer to thaw out than usual but by Mullingar it became a technical fault on the train.

Guess what I did this morning. Due to extreme cold I got up 15 minutes earlier and left myself some extra time to thaw the car out and to take extra time to get to station. Then I didn't have to bother making up two different stories to explain why I was late.

No heat
 

James, did u also notice that the extremely cold weather also meant the driver left the heat off on the train this morning.

One of the coldest mornings on record and it's as cold outside as it is on the train

Oh, I had little to be complaining about at 07:43 this morning. What a bunch of complete total rank amateurs who wouldn't know contingency planning if it hit them in the face with a baseball bat.

Train terminated at Maynooth with message along the lines of "No trains, find the bus stop yourself, tough luck". Thanks to brilliant Dublin Bus driver who was courteous but insistant and showed initiative to inform (not ask) his controller that he was talking the motorway and abandoning his route, we made it from Maynooth into town in less time than an express train is scheduled for. This guy knew a thousand times more about customer service than Barry Kenny and all the other goons at Irish rail put together.

Why is it impossible for Irish trains to use an opposite line in the event of a train failure? Why does it take them 90 minutes to move a failed train that is less than 5 miles from one of the biggest stations in the country? Why is impossible to send somebody up from a station to manage the queue at the nearest bus stop? Why is impossible to have a member of staff on the platform to help elderly people with holiday baggage, etc? Idiots!

On the subject of heat, from long experience with the 29K, it is rare that the heat is broken on every car on the train. As a matter of habit, I always feel the radiator before sitting down and move on to the next car if it is cold. If a car is suspiciously empty, it is likely that it is broken in that car and working in the others.

Wrong line working is not available on the Maynooth line (its part of the electrification upgrade package between Clonsilla and Connolly). Only if a Dublin bound train broke down in the platform at Clonsilla can it be overtaken.

For the record

5:45 Longford Pearse arrived Connolly 9:15, 100 minutes late
7:15 Maynooth Connnolly arrived Connolly 9:18 85 minutes late

7:58 Pearse Maynooth was cancelled as its the return leg of the 5:45 service

Do you mean the 7:58 mark because that train pulled into clonsilla just before nine and clonsilla announced it was out of service

Apologies the 7:15 Maynooth Connolly which arrives at 7:53

Ended up on the 09.35 clonsilla to connolly which operated normally.
Was a 22k operated service.
The next ex maynooth train was 15 minutes back in leixlip apparently.
Had a nice 40 minutes wait in the cold for two buses that never turned up either.