[12/11/2012] Incident at Bray

[Mark Gleeson]

No service Dalkey and Greystones

Some form of incident on Shankill side Bray

Usual poor communication from Irish Rail, passengers on train told nothing

* full details below

[Colm Moore]

Emergency services attending incident at Woodbrook.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...reaking50.html

Southbound Dart services disrupted

Commuters in Dublin face disruption this evening with southbound Dart services currently suspended between Dalkey and Greystones.

The suspension follows an incident on the line near Bray.

Dublin Bus are accepting all valid rail tickets.

[Jamie2k9]

Somebody hit by a train. Have no further details.

[Mark Gleeson]

Platform display at Pearse is still advertising trains to Greystones which is unhelpful

Bus suggestions

From city
145 to Bray

From Blackrock
84 to Newcastle and Greystones

From Dun Laoghaire (exit station turn left then right)
59 to Killiney and part of Dalkey
45a to Bray

Note bus diversions in Dub Laoghaire are no longer in place

[dowlingm]

http://www.irishrail.ie/cat_news.jsp?i=4715&p=116&n=237

Rosslare Intercity Services are operating as a bus transfer between Wexford and Connolly

[Mark Gleeson]

17:00 Malahide Greystones train, near Woodbrook

Services are now resuming

Dublin Bus did to their credit actually run an extra bus from Dun Laoghaire to Bray

[Colm Moore]

Website still says.

http://www.irishrail.ie/cat_news.jsp?i=4715&p=116&n=237

Services are currently suspended between Dalkey and Greystones due to an incident at Woodbrook
12 November 2012
Update: 20:45hrs

Services are currently suspended between Dalkey and Greystones due to an incident at Woodbrook

Dublin Bus are honouring rail tickets for DART customers

Iarnród Éireann apologises for any inconvenience caused

[Colm Moore]

http://www.wicklownews.net/Post/2012...ath-of-youth--

[Inniskeen]

Line re-opened just after 2230

[Eddie]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Platform display at Pearse is still advertising trains to Greystones which is unhelpful

Also trains had Bray / Greystones as their destination even though they were terminating at Dalkey.

Second person in a week hit by a train in South County Dublin.

Wexford train behind the Greystones train involved seemed to eventually return back to Dublin having only made it as far as Shankill. Presume the Rosslare train behind it was cancelled.

[Mark Gleeson]

Despite many claiming it was not possible the train I was on actually managed to display Dalkey and get the PA to work correctly and proper advice was given to change at the correct stops for onward travel. Pity the platforms said 'Greystones'.

17:36 Connolly Wexford was right on the tail of the incident train and through good fortune was stopped before it past Shankill. 18:36 service was cancelled, as was the evening up service.

[Eddie]

The driver of the incident train must have relayed a message directly or indirecty to the Wexford train as the Wexford train stopped at Shankilll at about 6.10pm, despite having a green light there.

[whatchutalkinboutWillis]

Usual poor communication from Irish Rail, passengers on train told nothing

U do understand wha happened???

Do u really ??????? expect the driver to be able to make a announcement after such a thing...I'd be p*ssed if I was i stuck on tha train too, but I'd quickly understand wha happened when emergency services start arriving!

I think that's a bit insensitive of you to put something up on a forum like than! After what happened I wouldn't expected a driver to be worrying about us in the back! A Call for help and let others take over when they arrive at the scene!

[Colm Moore]

Hi, welcome to the board. New users need to have their first post approved, to control spam.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by whatchutalkinboutWillis

Usual poor communication from Irish Rail, passengers on train told nothing

U do understand wha happened???

Within the information available, yes.

Do u really ??????? expect the driver to be able to make a announcement after such a thing...I'd be p*ssed if I was i stuck on tha train too, but I'd quickly understand wha happened when emergency services start arriving!

I don't think anyone expected the driver to do anything other than to make the train safe and to call central control. The incident could very easily be traumatic to any person. While some people can take charge of an incident, it is very difficult to predict who will or won't and it is to be assumed, from the point of view of the railway company, that any individual driver or other staff member may be traumatised by such an incident. Our sympathy is with those that were directly involved in tonight's incident.

I think that's a bit insensitive of you to put something up on a forum like than! After what happened I wouldn't expected a driver to be worrying about us in the back! A Call for help and let others take over when they arrive at the scene!

What is expected is that after CTC received the call and following the notification of relevant incident teams, that CTC would make the announcement - we understand there is this capability. If this capability was not available, then, following their safety duties, that rail staff present* or a member of the Garda would advise passengers that there had been a serious incident, that the emergency services were present, the situation was under control, that they didn't know exactly when the train could be moved, but that they would try to keep them informed as best as possible and that they hoped for their understanding. They should also enquire if any passengers need or will need assistance.

* The Woodbrook bridges, if this is where the incident occurred, are 500-1500m from Bray station.

This does a number of things:

• It removes the temptation of people to take the situation into their own hands and attempt to get off the train in an uncontrolled and unsafe manner on a live railway, as happens from time to time.
• This also removes a burden from the emergency services, in that the won't have to try to control a crowd.
• It reduces anxiety and reassures the passengers that the situation is under control and reduces the scope for wild speculation.
• It empowers passengers to make decisions - "I need someone else to collect the kids from crèche", "I won't make that meeting", "I need to let someone know that I need to be home to take my medication" and so on.
• It prevents the railway being brought further into disrepute.

Away from the train, aside from the immediate response to the incident, we expect someone to be pro-actively managing the flow of information to passengers on other parts of the system. On the one hand, twitter was providing a series of responsive messages from someone in Irish Rail, but the website said nothing and platform and other displays were providing mixed messages. Bad or conflicting information is typically worse than no information.

As trains were terminating at Dalkey, passengers for Killiney could get the number 59 bus from the other end of the village. Passengers for Shankill and points south would need to change from train to bus at Dún Laoghaire or possibly some point north of that. A limited number of passengers could transfer to route 7 at Dún Laoghaire or Sandycove.

It shouldn't be up to Mark (in this instance) or I (recent casualty on Upper Leeson Street, which led to 4-hour bus curtailments) (a) to have to determine what has happened and (b) to be, at times, the sole source of meaningful information. There is an entire organisation of nearly 5,000 people and surely, between them, they can come up with an incident recovery plan and implement it.

Again, out sympathies to those involved last night and out condolences to the family of the deceased.

[Colm Moore]

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...y-3291731.html

[Inniskeen]

Agree fully with Colm's post.

Passengers must be informed, at least to the extent that they can expect a substantial delay and assured that they are in no danger.

Once the emergency services have dealt with casualties and any residual danger to life, I am not sure that it is acceptable to imprison passengers for hours while the various authorities get out their cameras and measuring tapes.

How long were passengers kept on the train involved in the incident ?

As always our thoughts should be with the primary victims of this incident, the fatality and the unfortunate driver concerned.

[HRidge]

I was on the train that hit the victim last night, in the first carriage where we felt the full force of the thud that ended someone's life and the drag underneath the carriage. The train Was moderately busy, all seats were taken and maybe about 8 people standing. We stopped pretty quickly and after 5 minutes the driver got out and walked down with his torch, the poor man. He then announced that we had hit something and there would be a delay. We saw him get out and walk up and down the carriages again. After another 15 minutes or so he repeated due to a subject on the line there would be significant delays.
After 15 or 20 minutes a dart pulled along side us and a small army of paramedics, fire fighters and gardai got off and walked up the track...the realisation for us was horrific. No one complained or made loud sighs, there's a time and place for that stuff and it wasn't then. We didn't need anyone to tell us what happened, it was obvious.
About 20 or 30 minutes later An Irish rail member then came through the carriages and said that unfortunately there had been a fatality on the line and the emergency services were working. Irish rail were now under the advice of the gardai. He answered any questions we had, but no one complained to him. That man repeated that message in our carriage 3 times alone, and then he went on to the next.
Shortly after the train that brought the paramedics down to the scene came back with them all on it. We couldn't see anythin but an empty stretcher and 3 fire men surrounded the doors so we couldn't see into the carriage.
About 20 minutes later a garda came through the dart askin if any one had information, thanked us for our co operation and that we would be deboarding shortly.
Another 15 or 25 minutes later a dart pulled alongside us, 2 Irish rail staff in our carriage and 3 in the other. They put a wheelchair ramp between the two trains and two more staff members got onto the track either side of the ramp. They then closed the doors on the ramp to secure it and we moved onto the train.
Overall we were on the train 2 and a half to 3 hours. The worst thing.was that it was a newer train that had no windows to open..but then again we were probably better off not hearing anything. At no point were we wondering.what was going on. All staff we so lovely and professional, even reassuring us about crossing the ramp. Irish rail were also very active on Twitter while we were stuck, replying to everyone that tweeted to them!
I was very upset after, feeling that thud over and over and thinking it was a person. I can't imagine how the driver is. My thoughts are with him and the family of the victim.

[shweeney]

I got on a 45A in DL to continue a lengthy journey back to Greystones, then noticed @irishrail tweeting that the line would reopen shortly so got off again and took the DART to Dalkey. (Greystones is awkward to get to by bus these days)

That was at 21:15 and the line didn't actually open until after 22:30. Obviously not much IE can do about these incidents, but quality of information was as usual pretty poor.

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by shweeney

I got on a 45A in DL to continue a lengthy journey back to Greystones, then noticed @irishrail tweeting that the line would reopen shortly so got off again and took the DART to Dalkey. (Greystones is awkward to get to by bus these days)

That was at 21:15 and the line didn't actually open until after 22:30. Obviously not much IE can do about these incidents, but quality of information was as usual pretty poor.

Thats exactly where our main complaint lies. Inconsistent and inaccurate information

Dublin Bus put on an extra bus in the 45a, was there anyone in Dun Laoghaire on point duty to direct passengers, of course not. The 45a bus stop is impossible to find as its not at the train station, its hidden round a corner.

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by HRidge

I was very upset after, feeling that thud over and over and thinking it was a person. I can't imagine how the driver is. My thoughts are with him and the family of the victim.

Thank you for your post.