IF YOU HAPPEN to take the train home in Dublin, you can’t fail to have noticed a series of ongoing signalling problems in the last few weeks.

It happened two evenings in a row at the start of the month….

And again last night…

Story, lads?…

So what’s going on with the rail network in our capital? And what are the chances of us all getting home on time his evening?

Let’s start with some good news first… Irish Rail seem to have got to the bottom of the problem (and they’re very sorry about the whole thing).

“Yes we did undertake a fix overnight, so we’re confident that everything will be fine this evening,” Irish Rail spokesperson Jane Cregan explains.

The issue relates to the main signalling computer at Irish Rail’s Connolly Station control centre. When it goes down, Cregan explains, all trains have to stop where they are as it’s not safe for them to proceed on to the next section of track.

Everything has to stop moving. It takes around 15 minutes to reboot but obviously there are follow on delays so we understand it causes massive inconvenience for people.

It’s understood the problems have been caused by a bug in the system — meaning that when it shuts down, it always happens at exactly the same time as before.

Not happy

Mark Gleeson of customer group Rail Users Ireland is glad the problem appears to have been solved — but says the company needs to be more pro-active in its communications with passengers.

“They do post updates on Twitter — but often that’s only when people tweet them first to ask what’s happening,” Gleeson contends.

“Often you won’t see anything on Twitter either, until things are really going sideways.”

Management should put more detailed updates on the company’s main website, Gleeson contends.

One point to note is that Twitter, in general terms, has a very low buy in.

“They need to tell us which trains are delayed and for how long — which ones will be terminating early, that sort of thing.

“What really frustrates is the lack of communication.”

Gleeson adds…

The good news is though that they seem to have got the bottom of it by now. People shouldn’t be worried tonight… Hopefully.

Read: Another rail melt-down in Dublin: Passengers left in limbo for the second night in a row

Read: There were major rush hour rail problems in Dublin tonight