Maps are back
October 18th 2006
In November 2005, Platform 11 made representations to Irish Rail in relation to the lack of suburban maps on the Dublin Fleet. Astonishingly it took until February 2006 until we received a reply. That reply from Mr. Tom Devoy, General Manager of the DART cited "vandalism" for the lack of maps. Mr. Devoy went on to claim, "currently we are updating our route map and within the next couple of weeks we will be placing the new maps in all DART and Railcar carriages."
Despite Tom Devoy's claim of "a couple of weeks", Platform 11 are pleased to announce, after over 7 months, that the new maps have finally started to appear on the Dublin fleet. We can confirm that the new stations at Spencer Dock, Adamstown and Phoenix Park are included on the new map. (opening 2007) While Platform 11 welcomes the re-introduction of the map, we are highly critical of Irish Rail's complacency in what was a very simple matter. It is extremely unprofessional of the company to have suburban trains operating without any corresponding map of the network for such a long period.
Platform 11 has also noted that no maps of the Cork - Cobh suburban service actually exist. To compound this problem, some trains operating the service, actually carry copies of the Dublin suburban rail network! This is a totally unacceptable practice and reflects how "out of touch" Irish Rail are with their Cork suburban service. It may be small, but it's due for expansion to Midleton and Blarney and it's about time the company, at the very least, applied the same ethos that it still struggles to provide in Dublin.
Platform 11 will be contacting those responsible for the Cork - Cobh service and calling for the introduction of a map on board trains servicing the route. It's a sad reflection on Irish Rail that Platform 11 has to point this out to them.
Watch this space.
Platform 11 obtained a copy of the new map in July 2006 not from IE we must add, however it was not seen on train until 8/10/2006
