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.
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