Tuesday December 8th
Herald Am
Rail Users Unhappy With Timetable Change
Monday December 7th
Irish Independent
Rail Users Unhappy With Timetable Change - Aideen Sheehan
Sunday November 29th
Rail Users Ireland Press Release
2010 Rail Timetable Leads To Anger Among Commuters
Full text online
Tuesday November 24th
Business and Finance
Transport: Next stop 21st century? - Fearghal O'Connor
Sunday November 15th
Rail Users Ireland Press Release
Reopening of Malahide Viaduct
Full text online
- 98FM News Sunday November 15th
- Irish Times Online Sunday November 15th link
- RTE Radio 1, Drivetime, Monday 16th
Thursday September 24th
Business and Finance
Is Transport 21 on hold - Fearghal O'Connor
Available online online
Sunday September 6th
Rail Users Ireland Press Release
Cross Border Rail Service Reductions Condemned
Full text online
Sunday Tribune
Irish Rail in dispute with users over punctuality of its suburban trains - John Downes
Full story available online
Saturday August 22nd
Rail Users Ireland Press Release
Collapse of Malahide Viaduct
Full text online
- Hearld AM Monday 24th & Tuesday 25th
- Today FM News, August 22nd
- Today FM Lunchtime News Interview, Monday 24th
- Irish Times editorial Tuesday 25th.
- Newstalk, 2FM, FM104, Saturday 22nd
- Radio Ulster, Monday 24th
- Newstalk Breakfast Show, Monday 24th
- Sunday Times, Sunday 23rd
Wednesday August 19th
Irish Times
Irish Rail has been offering some bargain online fares, but the seat-reservation system has disgruntled some passengers - Connor Pope
Full story available online
Tuesday August 11th
Irish Examiner
Ride Quality Issues With €117m Carriages - Eoin English
Full story available online
Tipperary Today - Tipp FM
Mark Gleeson of Rail Users Ireland interviewed by Seamus Martin concerning the Mk4 ride problems and other matters including the problems with online tickets and turnstiles
Cork's Red FM
Mark Gleeson of Rail Users Ireland, providing further comment on the Mk4 ride problem
Sunday August 9th
Sunday Tribune
Irish Rail 'vomit comets' making passengers sick, say train-users - Mark Hilliard
Full story available online
Thursday July 30th
Irish Times.com
Cork-Midleton rail line opens
CIARA O'BRIEN
A commuter rail service linking Midleton and Cork has officially opened today.
Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey travelled on the first passenger train on the line from Kent Station in Cork to Midleton at 12.15pm to open new stations at Carrigtwohill and Midleton. Members of the public can travel on the new service free of charge for the day.
The service represents an investment of €75 million in infrastructure under the Government’s Transport 21 Strategy, and is the result of a 35-year campaign to bring services back to the town. It last carried passenger services 46 years ago.
Cork Chamber president Ger O’Mahoney said the line would have a "significant impact" on public transport infrastructure in the Cork region, and would bring major economic benefits and facilitate the development of areas identified for growth in the Cork Area Strategic Plan (CASP).
However, a spokesman for campaign group Rail Users Ireland said there was still a long way to go before residents of Midleton and Carrigtwohill got a "21st century rail service", with new signalling yet to be installed, and bus substitutions included on the timetable.
"Despite a four-week closure of the Cork-Cobh line in 2008 in part to facilitate the building of the Midleton line, the new Midleton line is not complete and will open with temporary signalling arrangements," said spokesman Mark Gleeson.
"As a result the Midleton line, together with the Cobh line will require at least one to two days' closure whilst the new points and signalling are installed and commissioned later this year. All of this disruption could have been avoided easily by Irish Rail if the work had been carried out in 2008."
Two trains each way will be substituted for bus services at night, according to the timetable.
© 2009 Irish Times
Rail Users Ireland Press Release
Opening of Cork-Midleton commuter rail service - with buses!
Full text online
Thursday July 23rd
Rail Users Ireland Press Release
Not such a 'Beautiful Day' for DART passengers
Full text online
Sunday June 7th
The Business - RTE Radio One
Mark Gleeson of Rail Users Ireland interviewed as part of a panel concerning the Western Rail Corridor
Available as an mp3 for download here
Sunday May 3rd
Sunday Tribune
Irish Rail not cutting line repairs
Ken Griffin
Iarnród Éireann has insisted that it isn't cutting back on maintenance work in the face of mounting losses after it emerged that speed restrictions have been placed on more than 25 miles of the Dublin-to-Cork railway line due to safety concerns.
The affected stretch, which runs between Newbridge and Portlaoise, is the busiest intercity line in the country and is used by all services to Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Tralee. Although most services on these routes are still arriving on time, this is because the timetables haven't been redrafted to take advantage of the new intercity trains currently being introduced. The new 75mph speed limit, which is up to 25% slower than the previous speeds, means that passengers will not experience the full benefit of the trains, which were bought at a cost of more than €500m to the taxpayer. A spokesman for campaign group Rail Users Ireland said it was concerned the speed restrictions reflected cutbacks in maintenance work. "Track repairs have to be done at night and the issue this raises is whether they have cut the overtime budget to cover night work," he said. "The speed restriction seems to be permanent for the foreseeable future. They have even removed the old higher speed limit signs."
An Iarnród Éireann spokesman said the company hadn't cut its maintenance budgets and that any suggestions to the contrary were "ridiculous sensationalism". He said the speed restriction on the Cork line had been introduced due to drainage problems on the line caused by record rainfall in recent years.
"We are about to undertake a programme of maintenance and renewal in relation to this but regrettably we have no control over record rainfall."
He added the speed restrictions didn't undermine the benefits of its new intercity train fleet because they were long-term investments, which would last for another 30 years.
"Furthermore, the improved performance being delivered by the intercity rail fleet ensures that speed restrictions will not impact negatively on journey times."
© 2009 Sunday Tribune
Sunday March 29th
Sunday Times
New online fee angers train passengers
State's railway operator brought in credit card charge for those buying tickets on the internet two weeks ago
Jan Battles
Irish Rail is following in the tracks of Ryanair and Aer Lingus by introducing a credit-card transaction fee on ticket purchases. Customers who book journeys on its website are now being charged a €2 levy on top of fare prices if they pay by credit card.
The state-owned railway operator brought in the additional fee without notice a fortnight ago, arguing it is necessary to pay for charges levied by its own bank.
Train users have described the move as "cheeky". Mark Gleeson of Rail Users Ireland said: "I don’t like it at all. They never told us this was coming. It was an absolute shock."
"They had been very public [in saying] that they wanted to keep it a simple system, with no complexity, that there was one price and that’s what you pay. Now we find this situation where they’ve jacked this €2 charge on."
The credit-card charge was added to the online system on March 13. Tickets can still be booked with Laser cards at no additional cost. The €2 fee applies per transaction, not per journey leg as is the case with Ryanair and Aer Lingus.
Cinema tickets and concert admissions also usually involve a card-charge per item.
"We've had an increase in credit-card charges from the credit-card company," said Barry Kenny of Irish Rail. "Because of the impact on our revenue, we introduced the €2 transaction fee. That means even if you are buying 10 tickets, you’re still just paying €2 as opposed to some ticketing and airline websites where the levy tends to be per journey.
"The Laser card fees have gone up for us as well but they are significantly lower than credit-card fees. We are absorbing this charge."
Kenny said unless the fees charged by its bank for processing Laser transactions increased, it would remain free to use. He would not reveal how much their credit-card fees had increased, citing commercial reasons.
Gleeson said Laser cards had proved unreliable for some commuters in the past and they may be reluctant to risk facing a long queue at the booking office on a Friday evening if anything goes wrong.
"Laser cards may be free but a lot of people in the past tried them and the system didn’t allow it, either rejecting them on the website or when they went to collect at the ticket machine. I’m assured that the problem’s been rectified but anyone who tried in the past is probably not willing to try again."
Gleeson said the reservation system still does not operate properly. People regularly reserve seats only to find there is nothing to confirm this when they board, and they may find someone else sitting in their seat.
"You could have four people ending up in four different carriages," he said. "Since we’re now paying a charge, we'd expect the reservations to work."
© 2009 Sunday Times
Tuesday February 3th
Radio Kerry - Kerry Today
Numerous complaints from Kerry have come in concerning the poor heating on trains. Irish Rail's response to the problems focused on doors on the Mk4 fleet of trains, which have never even visited Kerry! Mark Gleeson of Rail Users Ireland, Users Ireland, John Greene is the presenter always in the chair.