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IRISH RAIL WAS lambasted by commuters over a new service that suggested they take the Dart outside of rush-hour services because of overcrowding on peak time trains.
Records obtained under Freedom of Information reveal how angry passengers asked if Irish Rail wanted them to lose their jobs.
Minister of State Finian McGrath also weighed in forwarding correspondence from a furious constituent and asking what was being done about the “serious health and safety” issue of overcrowded trains.
The PeakTime website was launched in September to try and encourage commuters to be flexible about which train they catch in a bid to avoid crowds.
However, it met with a fierce reaction from customers with one describing it as “frankly an insult and very condescending”.
“It is the lack of departures and carriages that cause this overcrowding problem and [it] is an unacceptable level of service,” wrote the passenger.
Minister Finian McGrath forwarded another angry letter, which said the new PeakTime service was an “insult to the intelligence of commuters”.
It said:
Nobody would travel on those overcrowded Darts at those times if they didn’t have to and I’m sure that people who work flexi hours have figured out themselves the less hazardous journey times.
McGrath in his letter said he had “several anxious constituents” who were long time service users that had to “battle” for a place on rush hour trains.
In a personal letter back to the minister, Irish Rail chief executive Jim Meade said there were plans to add 41 carriages to the commuter and intercity fleet in early 2022.
A further 300 carriages would be added as part of the ambitious Dart expansion plan with the first carriages likely to enter service in 2024.
Meade said these “significant investments … were in motion to address the capacity constraints on our services”.
Much of the ire of Irish Rail passengers came to the company via email and Facebook with a number complaining the PeakTime.ie service was not even working on their phones.
“What an absolutely shambolic service,” wrote one user. “Actually cannot believe the neck of [them].”
Another said:
Of course I will just tell my boss to expect me when they see me. Change my roster to suit Irish Rail!
One furious passenger wrote: “Are you actually for real … please be late for work so we can fit more people on the train.”
Another lamented that an ambitious plan for Dart underground had not been implemented when it was planned during the 2000s.
“This is what happens when your politicians are morons who get carted around in limos,” they said.
Others were a little more constructive, with some suggesting Irish Rail should be talking to business owners about staggering work times. “It’s hardly [our] decision to travel at their horrible times,” they said.
Users also criticised crime on Dart services and the frequent breakdown of accessible lifts.
“What time are there less muggers?” said a passenger while another wrote: “Maybe try fixing the lifts so people with reduced mobility can actually use the Dart.”
The vast majority of the dozens of responses were sharply critical of the initiative, saying if their job was more flexible, they would already be taking less crowded services.
“Overcrowding is not the fault of commuters,” wrote one.
A spokesman for Irish Rail said the intention of the peaktime.ie was to equip commuters who have flexibility to decide their travel time.
He said: “Iarnród Éireann fully recognises that a significant number of commuters have fixed travel patterns due to work, education or home life requirements, and for whom changes in time will not be possible.
“However, it has also engaged with business groups and the National Transport Authority on this issue, to highlight the benefits which can accrue to employers and employees from providing more flexible working options.”
He said one in six weekday Dart journeys were made between 8 and 9 in the morning, which was “particularly concentrated”. “[This] information may enable some commuters to travel at a time when there is greater capacity,” he added.
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New year’s resolution from IE, if everyone loses a few pounds we can fit more people on the trains
@Mark Dooley: It is a massive health and safety issue on the trains. I have regularly seen people faint on the trains. I informed Irish rail several times however once I got a response to advise the person who fainted did not inform them! Like after fainting, the priority of the person is to inform Irish Rail. They have the extra carriages so USE THEM!
@Whoswho: They dont have the stock thats the whole problem
@Mark Dooley: Chop a few inches off our feet and we can sit across from people in some the carriages.
Easily the most disorganized company in Ireland
@Rebecca De Stanleigh: Clearly you’ve never dealt with Eir mobile so
@Rebecca De Stanleigh: Try Luas out in that case! It is often exactly the same. I manage to get a lesser crowded morning tram but evenings are a disaster.
@Rebecca De Stanleigh: try Eir
@Ashling Fenton: Same issue with the luas, overcrowded and full to capacity when needed. only runs a part time schedule so can’t actually be used for some work days and only caters for a very limited area.
Dear DART employees,
Whilst I can appreciate that obligations to your local Mensa chapter will limit the time at your disposal to consider alternatives to millions of people altering the hours they work in order to facilitate your incompetence, perhaps you might look into the following;
The DART line does not function if it is relied upon to bring every train from around the country into the city center during peak rush hour times. This is the city center bottleneck. How about having intercity trains stop at the outer DART stations and have….wait for it… people change trains onto an actual rapid transit that runs at 4 minute intervals at peak times, non-stop, up and down, press stop and press go, and without the need to facilitate intercity trains, you have a system fit for purpose.
@Sean Fahey: here here! A few hubs outside the city with a proper integrated system. You have trains going under the park tunnel that don’t stop at Heuston. So if you get an Athlone or Portlaoise train you are forced into the Luas. It’s like a company from the 1970’s. Get a couple of analysts into the company and sack the gate joggers picking their noses
@Sean Fahey:
Where would the trains wait while other trains are coming behind?
Where would the trains go for maintenance?
Are those stations big enough to deal with that capacity of passengers?
What will work is the signalling upgrade that will nearly double the capacity on these lines.
We need more investment not reduction in service quality
@Tim Pot: Now now Tim, I’d be making it a little too easy for you if all the infrastructure was in place, but put down your sun newspaper and think about it, there are about 14 tracks at Connolly station, there are several lines cutting through Howth junction, there’s space for a big terminal out in Bray. Had I of passed the DART entrance exams all those years ago I might have come up with something by now, but sadly rocket science is above my pay grade.
@Sean Fahey: Witchcraft and spookery! back to the woods you devil!
@Sean Fahey: Where’s the space for a big terminal in Bray?
@Dave Connolly:
Park tunnel was a cheap stop gap. The dart underground which has been proposed since 1972 is what is required but no-one will commit to funding it.
Do you not see that getting long distance commuter trains to stop outside dublin and then boarding high frequency darts will actually be slower as the dart stops in all stations along the way, while the long distance trains skip most of them.
@Sean Fahey: Dear Sean do you have a few Billion euro for this plan.
Often at Pearse during evening peak times a train terminates at Pearse. The station hand slowly walks down checking that each carriage is empty and then finally gets to drivers window and they have a good ole chin wag, they could as well be down the pub having a pint together.
Throngs of people waiting on the platform to get home and many more joining by the minute. The next Dart cant come through until he moves his fecking train, but he and station hand seem oblivious to that, or they just don’t care.
Next Dart arrives and due to the 5 minutes of tardiness from the driver and station hand there are multitudes of people now waiting at all stations on routes and train becomes seriously over crowded.
So this is a heath and safety issue, then stop the trains if people are in danger!!!! How poorly run is our public transport. They want us to all use it bit the capacity and efficiency is not there.
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: Leo when he came to office said he will look after the early risers of the country! Clearly not looking after 90% of public transport commuters in Dublin!
The daily house of cards shambles
Obvioulsy they need to upgrade the capacity on the line (which they are) but I personally think it’s quite a useful little service and one that should be available regardless of any capacity issues. Would have been bloody useful when I worked in London for example where the queues were out the door for the tube.
I suggest people just have a quick look at what the website offers.
@Tim Pot: I take the train every day. A couple of months ago, I made a hames of applying for my taxsaver ticket and was on the buseireann for a month. Buseireann do their best but the traffic is awful. I have a new appreciation for Irish rail even though their trains are overcrowded and normally run 10 mins late. Its not profit making. It never will be. Lack of central funding and under resourced since its inception. What do people expect. On a separate note, the tickets are half what you’d expect to pay in Britan.
@Andrew Dillon:
Yes I fully agree. We have spent something like 30billion over the last 30 years developing our motorway network whilst in comparison we have built one new rail line that ends along the m3 in a car park. Quite simply we get what we pay for.
@Tim Pot: With no public transport links
@Tim Pot: The first thing the TFI did when they took over Irish Rail was to reduce the frequency and increase the price! Now they are asking people to be late for work so the trains won’t be overcrowded? Only in Ireland can this be a serious answer from a company and the brain dead media accept this as a reasonable response
@Whoswho:
No one is asking anyone to be late for their job. Not all jobs start at the same time and not all jobs have definite start times.
Jeez its just a website that shows you when the busiest trains are and that a train 15 minutes earlier or later could be be much less busy.
@Andrew Dillon: What’s Britain got to do with this – they are far more expensive than in Europe
They have old carriages lying unused around the country and say it would not be financially viable to get them repaired but surely you could get some repaired and in service quicker than the procurement process and long delivery times of new carriages !
@Sean taoiseach: Did you ever think for a minute they are telling the truth. That the carriages are beyond refurbishment
@Sean taoiseach: And if one of those old carriages had any incident, the resulting litigation would probably bankrupt iarnrod eireann with luas, bus eireann and aer Lingus into the bargain
This issue lies directly with Shane Ross and FG for their lack of investment in public transport, where is Metro North, where are the rest of the Luas Lines, the Dart Underground, the rail link to the airport.
All of these were planned by both FF and FG and none have even broken ground yet
@Adam J: On the contrary. The issue lies directly FF for mismanaging, and breaking our country to the tune of over 200Bn in 2008, which we will be paying back for generations. I’m not a SR or FG lover, but I remember the truth and don’t peddle misinformation.
Any tax the government get is paying this gut wrenching debt back, before our trains, hospitals, schools etc get a penny. Some people have very short memories.
@Philip Hennessy: FG have been in power for coming up on 10 years, the days of blaming FF for all the trouble are well and truly gone, you are braindead if you think FG didn’t have a part to play in the bailout/debt that we are paying back, it was FG who made the debt into Soverign Debt.
I did mention FF in my original comment which you obviously didn’t read fully, but my point regarding lack of investment on infrastructure applies to both parties as capital expenditure is a joke in this country.
The rush hour(s) overcrowding problem on all forms of public transport is unacceptable. Yet, the commuter belt surrounding Dublin continues to expand year on year. In suburbia, new housing developments are located within a few miles of train stations and motorways. Shane Ross and the government now suggest a vehicle congestion charge will help address the the gridlock problem in Dublin. It probably will but at what cost to the workers and employers who keep our economy going? It’s bad enough that the only affordable housing is nowhere near where the jobs are. If you can’t get to work safely and on time during regular working hours the system will breakdown. Radical public transport reform and investment is required not just piecemeal city centre interventions.
The entire incompetent rail management team should be all sacked.
@Jimmy Brandon: Only if they drove to work!
Put school and college start times back to 10:30 am
What a joke…a crowd of wasters at the Top
Moved from Dublin years ago, but remember gettin the dart in the evening when it was packed to the rafters and you were fighting to get on, and low and behold 4 empty carriages few hundred yards down the track!!! We all said then why don’t they just put them extra carriages on? That was the early 90’s!!!!!
Expand the service so that you can get from Newbridge to Connolly in 20 minutes using a single train journey …
Government should encourage work from home scheme in a similar way as bike to work. People should be able to spread cost of pc and other related equipment throughout salary deduction and companies should actively promote working from home at least once or twice a week – where possible. Less commuters=less overcrowded trains.
…well Irish Rail have the solution to the early morning commute run from Athenry – Galway: there is no service.
I don’t know what planet IR on think people are ok rolling into work after 9….
@John Moylan: it’s a joke. Service needs serious investment.
First train to belfast arrives 9:45
Wonderful to see so many experts in the field of Public transport and rail planning here. THe one thing nobody mentioned is the bottleneck between Tara Street and Connolly. Only 2 tracks cross the Liffey.
Yet its everyone in Irish Rails fault that there was no investment in our Public Transport Services for over a decade.
Its the managements fault that it takes 4 years to get new stock. 2nd hand stock is difficult because of the railway gauge we use here. Wiki it
@Gary Kearney: How much would it cost to change the gauge to match a more popular rail system? Why not contact the Minister for Transport and ask if anyone has the power to change it for the better? No point in whining away about whose fault it isn’t.
Yes I take the dart quite frequently, but not daily, you think the Dart gets overcrowded, you want to be on the Luas Red Line when it’s overcrowded !, I try if I can to take the Mainline train, for the comfort more than anything else, less stops etc, but they are only every couple of hours or so, unfortunately they have to restrict their speed because of the Dart further down the line stopping at every station, I agree with the comment, That Trains coming from the likes of Wexford Rosslare, should terminate at Bray, or even Greystones and People change, to the Dart, or northside maybe similar( same could be said for buses too; many travelling along the same Main route).We don’t have any space or land to widen, the lines to put in extra tracks where maybe an express service could be put in. we also don’t have the platforms long enough, to facilitate, longer trains, and our tracks are so curvy, with bends all over the place, Is it not possible to where a serious number of passengers, board at a particular station or two, and all heading into the City, where one or two Darts could be run express ?, The Merrion Gates is the big hold-up on the south side’
I have a major gripe with Dun Laoighaire Station, of which is regarded as a Town and a main stop. A : It has NO PUBLIC TOILETS, B: The dart northbound for whatever reason stops half way up the platform, hundreds of feet from the actual station, needing people to walk/run, a serious distance, to actual get on it. WHY ? Mind you the drivers have a fair old walk themselves,from one end to the other on those long ones, when switching ends.
@Peter Dunwoody:
Mon-fri there is a grand total of three trains running during the rush hour period from rosslare. I fail to see how terminating three trains early will suddenly free up the network.
Rosslare to dublin is already about 3.5 hours (motorway is about 2 hours). Asking commuters to disembark at greystones and take a dart to Connolly will make their journey even longer. That is not the correct approach. The resignalling project will nearly double capacity from 12 to 20 trains per hour on these routes. This is where the focus quite thankfully is going.
Commuter trains already stop at minimal stations once they get into dublin. Perhaps there is scope to reduce that further however.
Agree with you on the luas. Can you believe the naysayers at the time thought it would be a white elephant and none would use it.
@Tim Pot: There is hardly a difference of five minutes, getting the commuter, or Dart to Dun Laoighaire, It has to travel slow because there’s a Dart in front of it, stopping at all stations, So the best solution there is to take that Dart out of the loop, and have the commuter train stop at all stops, it is rarely full to capacity anyway.
In Melbourne if your train is scheduled to arrive before 7.15am it’s free.
Really works well as the 3/4pm trains are fairly full with people finishing early.
@Robert Mc Manus:
That is a good idea. With a 3 or 4 year wait for extra carriages something like that will be needed.
We’re hilarious bad at implementing systems for ourselves. Constantly checking the wallet, saving for the lowest evil we are well heeled peasants slipping our way around this oily sod.
Theres always a moaner…
@Richard Griffin: it’s a fact the system is a joke you must work for them.
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