[03/06/2011] - Single Line Working at Portarlington

comcor · 03-06-2011, 16:57

The Irish Rail Twitter feed says the 15:35 to Limerick has broken down. We (on the 17:00 to Cork) have been told a delay of 15-20 mins, but we've already been stationary that long and nothing has come past in the other direction.

comcor · 03-06-2011, 17:21

Communication is shocking.

We were told 15-20 mins at 17:40. Then 15-20 mins at 18:00 and now 15-20 mins again.

If they don't know, say so.

I assume at this point that the single line working was BS as only one train has come the other way in 40 minutes.

Mark Gleeson · 03-06-2011, 17:23

16:00 to Cork appears to have overtaken

15:25 is moving but you have the 16:25 to Limerick ahead of you, it left Portarlington at 18:06

comcor · 03-06-2011, 17:26

But why not send the trains past in succession behind each other rather than one in one direction and one in the other? Pretty much like what they do at roadworks. Would that not clear the backlog faster?

Kilocharlie · 03-06-2011, 17:29

17:10 to Athlone overtook the 17:05 to Tralee at Kildare by using the up platform and was on-time.

Mark Gleeson · 03-06-2011, 17:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by comcor

But why not send the trains past in succession behind each other rather than one in one direction and one in the other? Pretty much like what they do at roadworks. Would that not clear the backlog faster?

Safety rules don't allow for that on the wrong line, its one train at a time between Portlaoise and Portarlington

Jamie2k9 · 03-06-2011, 19:32

Quote:

The Irish Rail Twitter feed says the 15:35 to Limerick has broken down.

I was on the 15:10 to Waterford today which was on platform 8 and the Limerick was on 7. There was a maintenance crew called to the Limerick service but they seems to of fixed whatever was wong within minutes before spending 45 minutes trying to fix the 15:10 which they did but it develped further faults.

Mark:

Recently between Heuston - Celbridge there has being a lot of shaking on the 22000. Today was the worst over the last few weeks. I would expect it if the train was going fast but it was going very slow. It's a lot worse than when the DMU first entered service a few years ago. Is it to do with line maintenance or the train itself? There are a few sections with a 25 mile speed limit.

Also does the Air condition take huge amount of power from the engine on the train?

comcor · 07-06-2011, 20:45

Well, we finally got to Cork at 9:15.

I think the two most frustrating things were the lack of information and the fact we continued to lose time after Port Laoise.

We kept being told that there would be a further delay of 15-20 minutes. And this happened three times. It would have been easier if they had actually told us that there was an unknown delay. Also, it's wrong that the best information was coming from the Twitter feed. The train crew should have had that information to give out and the Irish Rail website should also have been updated.

I don't know why we kept losing time after Port Laoise. We were probably about 65 minutes late there, but then we made unscheduled stops in Thurles and Charleville and came to a halt for nearly 20 minutes in Mallow.

I wondered if the last one had to do with platform space in Cork with only two platforms available (one of which given over to departures) and the 16:00, 17:00 and 18:00 from Dublin, 20:00 from Mallow and 19:15 from Tralee all trying to arrive at roughly the same time.

Colm Moore · 07-06-2011, 22:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by comcor

I wondered if the last one had to do with platform space in Cork with only two platforms available (one of which given over to departures) and the 16:00, 17:00 and 18:00 from Dublin, 20:00 from Mallow and 19:15 from Tralee all trying to arrive at roughly the same time.

Quite possibly.

I wonder if the later delays were partly due to this also.

comcor · 08-06-2011, 16:18

On the refund claim form, is the ticket number the number printed in the bottom right with the time of issue after it or is it the number in the top right which is printed at right angles to all other text on the ticket?

BTW If anyone needs one, they are downloadable

http://www.irishrail.ie/images/pdfs/...unt%20Form.pdf

Mark Gleeson · 08-06-2011, 17:08

On a reservation ticket its the reservation number

On a booking office ticket its the very long number in the middle (first four digits are the time of sale)

On a ticket vending machine its the number bottom right with the time in it

You do have to attach the ticket for a claim anyway...

03-06-2011, 16:57	#1
comcor Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cork-Dublin, Cork Commuter and occasionally DART and Dublin-Wexford Posts: 855	[03/06/2011] - Single Line Working at Portarlington The Irish Rail Twitter feed says the 15:35 to Limerick has broken down. We (on the 17:00 to Cork) have been told a delay of 15-20 mins, but we've already been stationary that long and nothing has come past in the other direction.

03-06-2011, 17:23	#3
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	16:00 to Cork appears to have overtaken 15:25 is moving but you have the 16:25 to Limerick ahead of you, it left Portarlington at 18:06 __________________ Unhappy with new timetable - let us know

08-06-2011, 17:08	#11
Mark Gleeson Technical Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Coach C, Seat 33 Posts: 12,669	On a reservation ticket its the reservation number On a booking office ticket its the very long number in the middle (first four digits are the time of sale) On a ticket vending machine its the number bottom right with the time in it You do have to attach the ticket for a claim anyway... __________________ Unhappy with new timetable - let us know

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03-06-2011, 17:21	#2
comcor Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cork-Dublin, Cork Commuter and occasionally DART and Dublin-Wexford Posts: 855	Communication is shocking. We were told 15-20 mins at 17:40. Then 15-20 mins at 18:00 and now 15-20 mins again. If they don't know, say so. I assume at this point that the single line working was BS as only one train has come the other way in 40 minutes.

03-06-2011, 17:26	#4
comcor Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cork-Dublin, Cork Commuter and occasionally DART and Dublin-Wexford Posts: 855	But why not send the trains past in succession behind each other rather than one in one direction and one in the other? Pretty much like what they do at roadworks. Would that not clear the backlog faster?

03-06-2011, 17:29	#5
Kilocharlie Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 395	17:10 to Athlone overtook the 17:05 to Tralee at Kildare by using the up platform and was on-time.

07-06-2011, 20:45	#8
comcor Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cork-Dublin, Cork Commuter and occasionally DART and Dublin-Wexford Posts: 855	Well, we finally got to Cork at 9:15. I think the two most frustrating things were the lack of information and the fact we continued to lose time after Port Laoise. We kept being told that there would be a further delay of 15-20 minutes. And this happened three times. It would have been easier if they had actually told us that there was an unknown delay. Also, it's wrong that the best information was coming from the Twitter feed. The train crew should have had that information to give out and the Irish Rail website should also have been updated. I don't know why we kept losing time after Port Laoise. We were probably about 65 minutes late there, but then we made unscheduled stops in Thurles and Charleville and came to a halt for nearly 20 minutes in Mallow. I wondered if the last one had to do with platform space in Cork with only two platforms available (one of which given over to departures) and the 16:00, 17:00 and 18:00 from Dublin, 20:00 from Mallow and 19:15 from Tralee all trying to arrive at roughly the same time.

08-06-2011, 16:18	#10
comcor Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cork-Dublin, Cork Commuter and occasionally DART and Dublin-Wexford Posts: 855	On the refund claim form, is the ticket number the number printed in the bottom right with the time of issue after it or is it the number in the top right which is printed at right angles to all other text on the ticket? BTW If anyone needs one, they are downloadable http://www.irishrail.ie/images/pdfs/...unt%20Form.pdf