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Was there a freight train failure or the like that caused a sixth of a full day to be lost in delays?
"modern day Irish Rail"? It comes across to me as very regressive.
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One mechanical fault at Heuston of all places, now 20 mins out of the total delay can be put down to freight service but the rest is knock on.
13.15 - Failed in Heuston and (2*3 set) replaced by 5 coach +30-35 minute departure
13.05 - +10 at Athy to cross delayed 13.15 (usually Carlow) +10 at Heuston
14.50 - +30 minutes at Ballyhale, made up 12 or so (10 minute stop at Carlow usually). +20 at Heuston
15.10 - +15 at Carlow normally cross at 16.08 with 14.50). +20 if not bit more at Waterford
16.00 - +19 at Lavistown to cross with delayed 15.10. +15 at Heuston
16.15 - +5 at Cherryville (14.50 caused that), arrived Athy
17.00, departed 17.20, Muine Bheag +9 signal check, Lavistown Loop +4 signal check, few miles further level crossing issue +5, got clearance by the time we reached Ballyhale only because of the level crossing fault would of had +10 signal check if had a clear run, only changed as he was about to stop. +35 at Waterford
The freight run from Muine Bheag on words is responsible for this however we were 13 minutes later through the station than normal (23 if we didn't take account of a standard 10+ to 16.00). If they didn't run it couldn't arrive in Waterford until around 21.30 (+3 hours) so a catch 22 for them as extra hours pay likely for gate keepers etc.
16.40 Delayed 10 minutes at Cherrville (16.00 caused that), delayed around 40-45 minutes at Ballyale (18.25 out of Waterford) +40-45 at Waterford
17.35 Delayed 15 departing (14.50 no driver/engines not even started/boarded in darkness)+20 minutes at Kilkenny (18.25 out of Waterford) +30 at Waterford
18.25 Departed around 40-45 minutes late, had to wait for 16.15 to arrive/depart and shunt another unit into station and board. +40 at Heuston
18.35 Delayed 20 minutes at Muine Bheag awaiting 18.25 +15 at Waterford
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Major issues are:
16.40 holds the 17.00 to Cork/17.05 to Tralee +5/6 yesterday, some weeks they allow 16.15 clear to Carlow and then allow 16.00 up but that requires Cork and/or Tralee loop in Kildare and that adds around 8-9 minute to those so that rarely happens (probally 1 in 4 Fridays). Allowing 16.15 on works well for scheduling however you then have connections from 16.00 and the Cork/Tralee issue.
16.15 scheduled in Waterford 18.10, Freight arrives around 18.25/30, 18.25 departs as soon as freight enters the station.
More less 3 sections of line which require at least 15 minutes to clear (Muine Bheag-Lavistown), (Lavistown-Ballyhale), (Ballyhale-Waterford)
As I said before crossing passenger services in Kilkenny adds around 5 more minutes to all services which cross there while not overly relevant here there is essentially no crossing point between Muine Bheag and Waterford (even station loop gone though not used) which if you are going via Kilkenny you have a block time of around 40 minutes. It was possible to hold freight on the Lavistown loop before the 16.15 which would allow a delay of 90 minutes if things when route (around 20.10 in Waterford) but that's not possible.
Any delay south of Muine Bheag is next to impossible to return any sort of normal schedule, if you look at the records its all services which cross at Kilkenny/Ballyhaule cause major impacts but any services further North recover schedules in a timely manor 13.05/13.15 for example. 10.15/11.00 crossing at Kilkenny has spend easily the majority of the year delaying both services.
14.50/15.10/16.00/16.15/16.40/18.25 are delayed
every single Friday, 5/10 minutes of a delay on any of those services means remainder of the day will see delays.
A new timetable can't do a lot to improve things, IE are unlikely to address any of the problem south of Muine Bheag as cost will be big. If I was a betting person we could see the easy option taken and one of the 16.00/16.15 services removed despite them been heavily used/ or turned in all stopping services which defeats the purpose of them.
There was no TSR's or low rail adhesion so iE can't use them as an excuses, if anything they would of make the problems worse and I really don't want to see the solution that Galway services received and that was 10-20 minutes extra per service to solve the problem or at least it did in IE's minds.
I believe according to IE twitter last Friday the 13.15 had the same delay ex Heuston but they managed to find a replacement 2*3 set, not sure how Waterford-Limerick J operated at 16.25 as there was no trains or if IE made a set available to operate the return 18.45 service. The freight is only a small issue in the grand scheme of things so removing that won't do a lot so why bother.
As for the modern comment it's 100% accurate and I expect if IE could they would remove loops than ever contemplate adding them.
I know it's completely off topic under "Fare Determinations" but I'm sure it will catch IE's eye's at some point so take note
Quiet a day, you would think the line was blocked for a long period of time but it wasn't.