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Unread 21-02-2014, 22:06   #16
James Howard
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Sligo Line
Posts: 1,115
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie2k9 View Post
If the 16.00 was carrying heavy loads during the week it would be operating during this period. There has being no impact on the 17.05 service. As you have said a few times why is the 18.05 to Longford on the timetable when it takes very few past Maynooth. It carries passengers but its combining the best out of a bad situation.
I've never said that the 18:05 is lightly loaded. On the contrary it is the prime commuter service between Maynooth and Longford and I've taken it and the corresponding Intercity before it 4 days a week for 10 years. The 1715 and the old 1817 were completely pointless. The 1600 isn't a hugely useful service, but it does take a lot of student traffic on a Friday.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jamie2k9 View Post
It's a railway, its not as if its a bus that can be changed around. There is very little light serving that can be done on a train when not at a depot, gaining access to areas required wouldn't be possible. It is possible that the sets in question were due a visit to a deport this week and couldn't so that's probably around 4 weeks without a full check and something will cause a fault.
It's not as if anybody who travels the Sligo route regularly hasn't seen this coming. With all of the rain over the last few weeks, it was no surprise to me that this was about to happen. Surely, somebody at Irish Rail could have made the same judgement call and started making plans to put proper bus substitutions in place and perhaps try to avoid rostering sets nearing service in Sligo over the weekend. Failing that, if the set was out of hours, they shouldn't have used it - just dropped entirely to bus substitution. It's a matter of failing to manage risk that culminated in imprisoning passengers for 4 and a half hours.
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