Seatless through the Midlands
IRISH RAIL WARNING ON LINE INVESTMENT MAY BE OMINOUSIf you're elderly, infirm or disabled, the 6.1O p.m. Friday train from Heuston Station to Westport is DEFINITELY not for you. Young mothers with toddlers or babies would also be well advised to make alternative travelling arrangements. For many it's standing room only. Unless you're queuing on Platform 5 up to an hour before departure, your chances of a seat are minimal. The alternative to sitting in a carriage is standing on a doorway. Many were doing just that on the four hour evening run to Westport last Friday. Others sat on their rucksacks or on the floor, their heads stuck in books or perhaps dozing. Twenty two was probably the average passenger age on Friday last. It's just as well. Getting a seat requires fitness and energy, as well as a fair amount of tactics. TACTIC I: Be Early. To be sure of a seat, one needs to be in the Platform 5 "corral" by 5 p.m., over an hour before departure. Last Friday, this "holding pen" as it is sometimes unkindly called, was already half full by the time the in-bound afternoon train from Westport had disgorged the hurrying hordes who had weekend arrangements in the Metropolis. At 5.35 p.m., all the carriages had been cleaned and made ready for the outbound journey. When the gates swung open, there was a mass rush forward with the prize for the fleetest of a seat. This corral is certainly not O.K. for anybody who is elderly or has a physical ailment. As the train eased out of the station at 6.13 p.m. (only a few minutes late), I made a point of walking most of the length of the train. At the joining of each carriage, there were seatless ones, patiently resigned to spending most or all of the journey on their feet with their luggage around them. SEATSStudents Sinead Kelly, Gillian Morris and Emily Bracken from Westport were well forward in the queue and got seats on this occasion. All had previous experience of having to pay £16.5O (student rate) for journeys where they ended up either standing or slumped in a corner. Emily Bracken, who is doing a P.L.C. course in Dublin, is used to going seatless on 16O mile odd journey home. On one occasion, she parked herself and her books at the end of a carriage with the result that other passengers constantly trod on her ankles as she tried to use the Cardphone overhead. "There was a toilet nearby and it was tempting to shoot into it, lock the door and try to make myself comfortable", Emily explained. One of Emily's friends, Gillian Morris from Rosbeg, Westport, a student nurse at St. Vincent's Hospital, said the price of the ticket was very expensive given the quality of service provided. "This train is nearly always packed", Gillian volunteered. "Once I had to stand all the way to Athlone". Gillian and her friends have long realised that if they want a seat they are going to have to be in the station early, even if it means taking a taxi. Gillian's colleague in trainee nursing, Sinead Kelly from Ballinlough, Westport, highlighted the problems for students arriving late in Dublin on Sundays when buses and the DART have finished for the night. BUSES"There are dangers involved for passengers when the trains arrive late but Irish Rail don't seem to want to know much about it", Sinead stated. "We're never offered taxis or other transport if the train arrives in after the buses have stopped for the night". Passengers sometimes complain to the conductors about the overcrowding but often the best they get in return is a shrug of the shoulders. Says Gillian Morris: "I frequently hear passengers complaining but the conductors say there isn't anything they can do about it. The conductors aren't nasty or anything. I'd say sometimes they are as frustrated as the passengers". Another student, Tom Mulchrone from Burrishoole has been luckier than most. He travelled the Dublin-Westport route five times recently and always got a seat. Tom says it's very frustrating, though, being on a train which has to crawl at 2O miles per hour along sections of the line while trains on other routes have no speed restrictions. Frequent Friday evening passengers on the Westport route say they can't understand why Iarnród Eireann don't put on more carriages given that inevitably there are more passengers on Fridays especially when the Colleges are open and students are on the move. The Westport line is probably unique in the Republic in that- for safety reasons- trains go exceedingly slow on some stretches. There's also a regular phenomenon between Athlone and Clara where the train sits dead on the line for up to twenty minutes to allow a Dublin bound train pass. Cattle on the line are also not uncommon and frequently cause delays. For those hoping to appease rumbling stomachs with an ample meal, the Friday evening train west to Mayo from Heuston through Portarlington, Tullamore, Clara, Athlone, Roscommon, Castlerea, Claremorris, Manulla Junction and Castlebar to the terminus in Westport, can be a disappointment. Around Tullamore on Friday evening, a travelling friend, having seen the appealing printed invite on his ticket for passengers to avail of the dining car cuisine, asked a conductor for directions to said restaurant carriage. "I doubt if you'll find a space", replied the conductor with the practised air of a man who has delivered this message to countless west-bound Friday evening passengers before. Lots of improvement then is required if the rail service to the west is to reach the standard achieved in other areas. But that's hardly a priority for Iarnród Éireann at the moment who are faced with a battle in even maintaining lines in certain areas, particularly west of Athlone. Train services may be halted on some routes unless there
is urgent investment, the Chief Executive of Iarnród
Eireann, Joe Meagher admitted last week. For communities and
industries in Mayo, that statement could yet turn out to be
very ominous.
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