Being brutally honest seems to be part of Iarnrod Eireann's commitment to customer service, enshrined in its new Passenger's Charter mission statement, "to satisfy our customers - always!" and promising 90% of InterCity trains would arrive at their destination within 15 minutes of the published time.

Passengers on Saturday's 2.25 p.m train to Galway found themselves in the 10 per cent bracket of InterCity travel when their train finally pulled out at 3 p.m. and arrived equally late.

The reason? The locomotive driver, they were told, was stuck in a traffic jam on the quays. . .