Phoenix park now open
 

It looks well very impressed. Great looking station. Also got a travel mug with the phoenix park logo on it my second after docklands and a cup of tea

Did the 06:58 ex Maynooth stop there, I really got the feeling we didn't though I wasn't paying too much attention.

Certainly if we did the doors didn't open.

It probably did but the doors wouldn't have been opened because noone has used the station upto 7.40am for the 6.58am . I got the priviledge of being the first passenger at the station at 7.40am. Me and another passenger (somehow managed to) board the 7.44am Phoenix Park it was a struggle the extra carriages are needed.

Could anyone post a few photos, i'll two stops down from this station but would like to see what they build.

Photo's should be in the members section, because thats infrastruture.

Get a 39 bus or a train up if you really feel that kind of urge. Its just a station.

Personally, if I see a photo of it here, I'll post real ****.:D

Yeah dude, two platforms, not enough services and massively overcrowded trains.

Just imagine anywhere on the commuter network.

News Talk did a piece this morning on the new Phoenix Park station particularly focusing on whether there's any point opening up a new station when you can barely squeeze on to the existing trains as it is. The reporter was going to get on one of the peak time trains and report on the horrors that awaited him :D
I only heard it up until I left the house at about 8am. Anyone hear it after that?

Incidentally the 8.17 Coolmine-Bray train has almost always left Drumcondra station and then a minute later is stopped up on the tracks for a few mins waiting for a platform to clear. Yesterday morning this did not happen and I thought that it was due to the extra couple of minutes added to the journey now that we're stopping at the Phoenix Park. This morning however it stopped up twice for a total of five mins with no explanation to customers as always.

Fair enough, dumb question from me. :rolleyes:

Sorry Eugene, didn't mean to sound patronising but there isn't much to the place.

The platfroms are way deeper than any other station but other than that it is unremarkable from the other stations on the line.

Its like a bigger Louisa bridge station I guess.

Is Leixlip Louisa Bridge suffering from subsisdance problems or is it the other Leixlip station [sorry for going O/T]

The other Leixlip station, Confey, has been falling into the canal since it was built in 2001.

I have to say Mark that I have fallen in love with the station from the prespective of a passenger and only a passenger. it is very well laid out.

Because of my work location I get a 39A (sort of express bus, escapes Blanchardst'n village and s.c) and traffic was a nightmare 40 minutes to get to the Dual Carrigeway on the Navan Road. Considering the Cabra Road has been hell for the last couple of weeks, I decided to hope off the Bus and head down to get the train. There is a shop part of the petrol station beside it. How many stations outside of the DART network are within touching distance of that facility? Large carpark and free carpark? (i think) Again considering IE's plans is that not a huge benefit?

So I walked into the station, first thing I saw was ticket machines, the way it should be no excuse for not having a ticket. The station is well laid out, spacious, plenty of ticket turnstiles and good signage to point you where to go, and lifts! not many stations on the Maynooth line have this!

Get down to the platform and the information screens on the platforms are actually working! Again outside of Drumcondra where would you see this? There is timetables on each platform and plenty of shelter! what is needed when torrential rain falls.

In all honesty, you could compare the new station to Leixlip Louisa Bridge but the lack of information on the platforms is what makes Phoenix Park stand out over any other station on the Maynooth line (other than Drumcondra and the city centre stations).

What may be this stations downfall is the location. It may have a large carpark but if you are driving from the west you could be in traffic for 40 minutes to get to it. Also the lack of capacity on the trains doesn't help things! I got the 7:44 Phoenix Park Connolly yesterday (one of the services expected to be increased) and it was one of the most uncomfortable journeys (seriously).

But in all honesty I do think the station was designed with the passenger in mind. I like it and I think it could work as a station!

[a question for Navan Junction, should navan bus eireann buses stop at the station? would it benefit passengers?]

All recent stations have been designed to a high standard with fairly generous facilities to meet all current safety and accessibilty standards. There have been quite a lot of disagreements between IE and the developers paying for stations over the specification, IE insisting on a higher specification

Bare in mind the majority of station buildings in use date from the 1850-1860 timeframe, front door, booking office and a side gate was more than enough

There is a question over the platform displays they are probably driven off the Maynooth/Consilla SSI thus will be very accurate inbound though outbound they might be a bit patchy

Can this be done with the other Maynooth line stations Mark?

Every station could be fixed if IE bothered, however it remains to be seen how accurate the displays will be

The inbound one in Drumcondra regularly sits at around 5 minutes until the train actually arrives into Broombridge then it counts down again, it does this since it assumes the train is on time its only when it sees the train does the display show the exact time

The one thing that bugs me is those stations that are closed and have only got a destination outside it.

I arrived at Coolmine station late one night last year. There was a thunderstorm and torrential rain. The station was closed. The only timetable info available is outside the ticket office and thats only useful if everything is ontime.

Waited for 20-30 minutes, nothing happened no announcements etc. so just gave up and went to get a bus. Next day found out a tree has fallen on the line and trains were delayed by upto one hour but I didn't know that. Stations like coolmine need this sort of information more than DART stations that are open at this time

[sorry for getting off topic, just trying to point out if it can work for Phoenix park it can work for the others, who need it]

Theres no chance of that being on podcast is there?

We gave newstalk details of which trains to avoid getting on, eg the ones they wanted eg the wonder of the 7:22 from Maynooth

The Barry Kenny reality distortion field is in full spin today

They have a podcast will be on line sometime tomorrow

so all of them up until around 9 :D