Last week - Ireland

[whole diary]

[grahame]

A course to present in Limerick last week ... and I took the opportunity to sandwich the course between the two end of a "Five out of Fifteen" Irish Explorer ticket - the equivalent on an All Line Rover.  And it was experience overload.  I travelled main lines and suburban, busy and quiet - taking care to visit all four of the lines who's future was under consideration a year or two back.

What impressed?
The way that services connect at junctions.
The bus station which is almost inevitably alongside the railway station, and buses waiting as the train arrives.
The pretty modern trains
Punctuality for the most part, with the connection waiting in the one case of a 20 minute delay
The numbers of young mums travelling with children
A "rover" ticket that actually worked the barriers
A card on the tables listing what products the buffet trolley was selling when it came around

What did not impress?
The infrequency of services
The difficulty of buying the right ticket
The lack of (bus) maps and timetables
The automaton (almost resigned) staff operation of the line most under threat
The lack of freight trains anywhere
Few electronic departure boards
Being kept waiting to go onto the platform until the last minute (Paddington Style!)
A station with only platform 5 remaining

What was otherwise notable
The number of old footbridges gated out of use, with modern bridges and lift in use instead
Working electronic seat reservations, with the name of the person who had reserved being displayed
Dromod!
Everyone using the "only for the disable" gate at Howth ... not the proper entrance
"Please do not put your feet on the seats" announcement as often as we have "See it, Say it, Sorted"

I travelled a long way in the week ... visited a lot of places. Here is one of them