A Different View with Dave O’Connell

It’s an entirely legitimate aspiration to seek out quiet space – even on a busy inter-city train – but you might be stretching the notion by complaining that the ticket inspector was making too much noise…by asking to see your ticket.

Unless he was bellowing like a man in the good old days selling the Herald or Press at traffic lights, it’s fair enough to assume he or she was just making a gentle inquiry, seeking proof that you’ve paid to be on board.

But the complaints department at Irish Rail – and you’d have to think they’re busy enough dealing with missives from passengers who found themselves sitting on the floor or on the toilet because there were no seats – wasn’t anticipating a demand for the sort of silence you’d be lucky to find among a contemplative order of nuns.

They’d been proactive enough to try and combat rising noise levels on its trains by introducing these ‘quieter’ carriages to combat the rise in people who see a train journey as a chance to make forty very loud phone calls.

It might also have dealt with those passengers who catch up on two hours of TikTok but forget to bring headphones – so you’re treated to the noise of ‘hilarious’ short sketches which all have a soundtrack that sounds like the theme tune that Benny Hill would have used if he was here today.

So there’s a lot to be said for quieter coaches, but the only place to get absolute silence is in an enclosed order or the grave; otherwise you might as well be complaining that the train makes noise going over the tracks.

Part of the problem in Irish Rail is that there’s no actual penalty for not keeping quiet – and given the level of overcrowding at peak times, it’s not always possible to keep the quiet sections for those who live in a world without noise.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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