Complaining to Irish Rail?
 

I had a disastrous experience on the train last night and I feel completely ignored. Can anyone suggest a way to get Irish Rail to pay attention both to my issue and to preventing it happening again?

I was waiting on the 21 05 to Maynooth on platform 7 and there were gangs of lads in causing hassle, they got on the train and split 2 people open. The train stopped in Broombridge with the doors open and I am not making this up, the lads got thrown off but they came back with 20ish mates and started throwing rocks in the open doors. Then they came onto the platform with petrol and matches. The security lads did their best but they werent allowed close the doors and the driver said he wasnt allowed drive on until the police arrived.

So I and all the other passengers were trapped in a hostile and needlessly dangerous situation there and the train was 10 minutes late arriving at connolly and 40 minutes late getting to maynooth. What a disastrous service.

At this stage Ive taken to doing a blog on Irish rails bad service to see if I can get their attention. It cant go on.

http://irishraildisastrous.wordpress.com

You won't get a replay for a few days at least.

The problem here is not Irish Rail, its an element of society that goes nuts once they combine a few cheap beers and sun, short of having the army ranger wing dug in out at Broombridge no amount of staff or private security is going to solve the problem. Closing the station is a cop out, it just punishes the majority and the troublemakers won't care, the train will still get stoned

The train in question was the 21:10 Pearse to Maynooth, there is no 21:05 Connolly Maynooth. So reviewing the data I got from Irish Rail the train arrived Maynooth shortly after 22:17, scheduled 21:56, so about 21 minutes late. It was stopped at Broombridge between 21:24 and 21:47.

Unfortunately the agreed protocol where there is an on train incident to stop at next station, open the doors and await garda assistance and hope the problem will leave. The is the same protocol Luas use and is typically the protocol elsewhere in europe. The train is technically a crime scene.

Irish Rail did have security staff onboard, they did intervene, the gardai arrived in a reasonable time and the train was back moving in less than 25 minutes. Clearly the protocol doesn't cover the events of last night and we certainly will be talking to Irish Rail about it.

How many people use Broombridge station between 1930 and the close of business ? Somewhere between 10 and 30 passengers would be my guess.

Given the known risks and frequent incidents there is a very good case for late eveming services not stopping at Broombridge especially if patronage is very low. I do have sympathy with the argument about not penalising ordinary decent passengers, but the welfare and safety of the majority must also be given due consideration.

While Irish Rail may not be entirely responsible for the problem, they do have a duty of care and can't simply walk away from the problem. An open unmanned and unsupervised station is not viable at this location especially later in the evening.

Given how crazy the situation is at Broombridge, it would seem that the protocol needs altering for the specific circumstances there. This station has been a serious problem for as long as I have been travelling by train. I can remember windows regularly coming through there back in the early 90s.

Given that there is also a history of people having bags and phones snatched from trains at Broombridge, it doesn't seem at all unreasonable to close this station after 7:30 or so. It is a regular occurrence for Dublin bus or Luas service to be curtailed in various parts of Tallaght and its environs. If it is worth Irish Rail's while to provide service there, then they have a duty of care towards their customers to manage the associated risks.

I think that is a perfectly reasonable suggestion regarding trains not calling at Broombridge after a certain time in the evening.

dublin bus suspend services in the same circumstances, but the reality is that the train must pass through the station anyway and will still be pelted.

Nice things about that reality:

1. Moving Target
2. Doors not open

Moving target can be worse
1. Combined speed of train and brick particularity and issue for the driver
2. Its harder hit the centre of a window when its moving (everyone assumes the centre is the weakest part). Train windows are actually weaker in the corners than in the centre so if it it the corner, the window will literally explode

Folks in Broombridge are also known to build barricades across the track, forcing the train to a halt.

Really just moves the target a little bit

Suspending services after say 7pm does buy some relief but the core issue remains.