What Irish Rail are up against

[Colm Moore]

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showp...1&postcount=26

Originally Posted by arch_stanton

I used to sell tickets for Irish Rail. The variety of fake, out-of-date, picture changed student cards was amazing, not to mention the people trying to use their dead granny's OAP free travel

Time for a transport police to 'deal' with people?

[NB1]

Who cares what Irish Rail are up against ? What about rubbish sub standard service all commuters are up against ! This is a problem encountered by public & private transport all over the world......but most of them still seem to manage to run a half decent service !!!

[MrX]

No offence, but that is a load of nonsense.

Irish Rail and CIE companies in general have a major problem with understanding the concept that they exist to serve passengers, not to run trains and busses. That kind of 'what we have to put up with' attitude just typifies the general attitude that exists within IE and CIE generally towards the travelling public.

Yes, in any business you'll get chancers trying to get something for nothing, however, it's not like Ireland has a particularly high level of fare evasion or anything like that. Look at the Luas, which operates an open door 'trust' based ticketing system. Their levels of fare evasion don't seem to be a big deal.

Irish rail on the other hand, seem fixated on constantly checking tickets over and over, often multiple times on a single journey. You, as a passenger, start to feel that you're not trusted, seen as some kind of a annoyance etc.

It also leads to passengers having to queue and generally be herded around like cattle.

IE don't have much to put up with. If they've particular security issues at particular stations, roll out security guards.

I mean, Tesco, Dunnes, Aer Lingus, Ryanair, etc all have 'a lot to put up with'. If you're dealing with the public, you'll always have issues, it's a fact of life anywhere. IE are a public service company, so that kind of moaning is just unacceptable.

[comcor]

Originally Posted by Victor

Time for a transport police to 'deal' with people?

Would the cost of employing the transport police be higher than the value of dodged fares?

[Thomas J Stamp]

Well, its there in our election demands and the programme for Government mentions it.... someone must be listening to us.

It is needed. If you are stuck on train at night with a gang of thugs its a lot better to have police who can train hop to get to you as opposed to lots of local stations on the line not bothering their arses.

[Mark Gleeson]

It pays for itself

So IE start issuing fines, they get through as many in 4 months as in the previous 12, but fare revenue increased by 15% for the same period

Northside on the DART you are likely to meet security after dark, that said they aren't much use bar standing there. Southside I've seen security walk away from situations, they just don't care. Last Friday evening Bray board the train usual obvious groups of youths likely to be trouble, doors close, a fine selection of beer appears

Yes the transport companies will have to contribute, that said the reduction in fare evasion, vandalism and the increase in use as a result of public confidence will more than cancel it out, bare in mind most of the problems are society based not the fault of CIE or Veolia so they won't get the full bill

The most expensive single vandalism incident cost Irish Rail something like £200,000.

Its in the program for government as a direct result of Platform 11

[Colm Donoghue]

two guys got 4 years today for the dart window job at HJ.

One guy got his suspended cos
"He only had 4 minor previous"

[Rashers]

Was there not a newly refurbished mark 3 coach burnt out in Inchicore one night a few years ago - they cost around EUR1m, at least each.....?
That's expensive vandalism.....

[Mark Gleeson]

Indeed the whole shed burnt down in the late 1980's, reason who knows, wrote off the Mk3 assembly jigs and 1 Mk2a coach (which IE got for free)

There was a burnt out Mk3, it was stripped down and parts fitted to a UK purchased Mk3intl (again got on the super cheap), reason who knows

DART 8331 had a fire lit by vandals at its inner end which wrecked the interior, but it was fixed in Derby at considerable expense

Then there was the 4.2 million pounds declared loss when 4 DART coaches melted in the Fairview Fire, again no one knows why

Yes it is a problem but the resulting cost is tiny compared to the massive amount of cash coming in currently from the NDP/T21

Every incident could have been prevented or reduced by security on site

[KSW]

Originally Posted by Rashers

Was there not a newly refurbished mark 3 coach burnt out in Inchicore one night a few years ago - they cost around EUR1m, at least each.....?
That's expensive vandalism.....

What gives the right for i'm guessing youngters to do this. The amount of damage caused. I agree security measures are needed to keep the trains safe. Those MK3's Coaches are expensive I didnt know just how much! Lets hope the Portlaoise Depot does'nt reach this.