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Really Regular Poster
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Cork-Dublin, Cork Commuter and occasionally DART and Dublin-Wexford
Posts: 855
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Spot the difference
Two very similar reports in the Times and the Indo today. Then you notice that the same journalist has written both pieces...
From The Irish Times
Quote:
Day of despair for passengers
Olivia Kelleher and Leah McBride
The scene at Kent train station in Cork city yesterday morning, when it was hit by an unofficial strike.
Tourists, students, Polish workers and children on school tours were among the thousands of rail passengers who had their travel plans disrupted due to yesterday's rail strike.
Student Bibal Hussein (17), who completed her final exam at St John's College, Cork, turned up at Kent Station to find she wouldn't be able to get back to her native Ennis, Co Clare, by train, while Cork legal secretary Tracy Harper was due in Dublin at 11am to present vital documentation in a number of deportation cases.
Meanwhile, Helen O'Neill, from Raheny, Dublin, who was in Cork for the weekend, said her trip had been ruined by the prospect of taking a bus home. Nora O'Brien from Navan, Co Meath, also said she dreaded the prospect of taking the bus, as it meant she wouldn't get home until about 6pm.
One man from Cobh in his 50s said he could not get home to get clothes and insurance information for his partner who had fallen the night before and was now in Cork University Hospital.
"I don't know what I am going to do if this goes on all week, as I will have to be in and out to her all the time, " he said
Polish national Christopher Guminski, (25), who works in a shop in Little Island on the outskirts of Cork, was philosophical about yesterday's disruption, saying he understood that "everyone needs more money".
Mr Guminski said he was surprised by the strike, but said industrial action was nothing new to Poland. He added that it didn't matter if he got to work by train or bus as long as he arrived in one piece.
Taxi drivers who sat in the rain at Kent Station awaiting fares that never materialised said they were very aggrieved by the dispute.
Billy Murphy, from Ballyvolane, Cork, said he might as well have stayed in bed yesterday morning as taxi business was down by up to 75 per cent.
"We didn't know this strike was going to happen. It would have been a help if they told us before. Iarnród Éireann say they put the information on their website but we are not acclimatised to websites. The bottom line is that this is a disaster."
Meanwhile, passengers waiting at Heuston Station in Dublin said they were annoyed as they waited for alternate transport. Dr Frances Doyle was in Dublin for a meeting and was told by station officials there was a 90 per cent chance a bus would arrive to take her to Kilkenny an hour and a half after her train had been scheduled to leave.
Dr Doyle said she asked if her train ticket would be refunded if the bus did not show up. "They just said they're 90 per cent sure a bus will come and did not answer the question," she said.
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From The Irish Independent
Quote:
Passengers fret and fume as travel plans for the day are ground to a halt
THOUSANDS of rail passengers had their travel plans thrown into chaos yesterday in Cork.
Among those who suffered were pensioners with medical appointments in Dublin.
American tourists at Kent Station in the city insisted US workers "would be shot" if they went out on strike.
Travel and Tourism student Bibal Hussein (17) was feeling upbeat yesterday morning, having completed her final exam at St John's College in Cork city.
However, her mood quickly went downhill when she found that she wouldn't be able to get back to her native Ennis in Co Clare by train.
Her distress was echoed by Cork legal secretary Tracy Harper, who was due in Dublin at 11am to present vital documentation at a number of deportation cases.
Helen O'Neill from Raheny in Dublin, who was down in Cork on a weekend break, said the trip had been ruined by the prospect of taking a bus home.
"Normally, we would drive when we go away but we decided to take the train. We just arrived here. We didn't know anything about the dispute so we will have to wait and see what happens. We are supposed to be getting the bus. I don't know if I would get the train again."
Nora O'Brien from Navan, Co Meath, also said she dreaded the prospect of taking the bus as it meant she wouldn't get home until the evening.
A man in his 50s from Cobh in Co Cork was panic-stricken as his partner had fallen at home the night before and was taken by ambulance to Cork University Hospital for treatment. The man, who declined to be named, said his partner needed her nightdress, slippers and insurance information. "I don't know what I am going to do if this goes on all week as I will have to be in and out to her all the time. I am getting worried about tonight when the buses stop running."
Polish national Christopher Guminski (25), who works in a Spar store in Little Island on the outskirts of Cork city, was surprised by the strike but said industrial action was nothing new to Poland.
But it was the lines of taxi drivers at the train station awaiting fares that never materialised who felt most aggrieved by the dispute.
Billy Murphy from Ballyvolane in Cork said he might as well have stayed in bed yesterday morning as business was down by up to 75pc.
"We didn't know this strike was going to happen. It would have been a help if they told us before. Iarnrod Eireann say they put the information on their website but we are guys in our 40s and 50s and we are not acclimatised to websites.
"The bottom line is that this is a disaster."
Olivia Kelleher
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16-05-2006, 12:31
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