Railway Lines

23rd July 2012 

Peter Smyth, Chief Mechanical Engineer, Iarnród Éireann 

Today’s protest by visually impaired rail customers has highlighted the problems we have experienced with our Passenger Information Systems (PIS) on board our trains.

While our Intercity fleet PIS operates extremely well, there have been very significant reliability problems with the systems operating on our DART and Commuter fleets, which have been a source of frustration for our customers and indeed for us for a number of years. Through our Accessibility Users Group, we have liaised with representative groups on the problems we have faced with DART and Commuter fleets.

Why did these problems arise? The reasons are complex, but are best summarised as follows.

When investment in the expansion of the DART fleet took place, there were a number of orders of small numbers of carriages, each one under a separate tender process.

This meant that differing trains with differing Passenger Information Systems were purchased, and these systems had compatibility problems in connecting with each other.

Add to this the fact that the PIS technology quickly became outdated across DART and Commuter, and that suppliers went out of business or ceased to provide support, and the problems grew. Anyone who travels by DART regularly will, regretfully, have come across this problem. While it is a nuisance and source of bemusement for some, it obviously is a very real source of anxiety for visually impaired customers in particular, and also affects tourists.

The challenge for us is to solve the problem. This is something we have been addressing in stages.

The original DART fleet (dating from 1984) of 76 carriages never had a PIS system on board. When these were refurbished between 2007 and 2009, we were in a position to ensure they were equipped with a high quality system, and this PIS system is working extremely well.

For the remainder of DART carriages however, PIS reliability remains far below what is acceptable to us or our customers.

An initial investment of €120,000 is being undertaken to upgrade some of the more obsolete systems on the remainder of the DART trains and this work is almost complete.

However, a new modern replacement system is ultimately needed for the remaining DART trains. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has indicated its support for this project. We have tendered for a new modern replacement system for the remaining DART trains and subject to the necessary funding being available this will proceed. It is important that any system chosen meets all of the performance criteria expected and this will take time to implement.

While the Commuter fleet has a higher reliability rate for PIS, it is still not at levels we are satisfied with, and the Commuter fleet will also benefit from this DTTAS-supported project. Some of our older regional Commuter fleets have no system fitted and it is hoped that the project will eventually extend to allow a system be fitted to these older trains.

We look forward to confirming timescales for completing this work, and to delivering a fully functioning and reliable PIS system for all our customers. Today’s protest is a sign of real frustration with a problem which we agree has continued for far too long, and we apologise for this.