Councillors voice their frustrations to Irish Rail staff
COUNCILLORS outlined ways to improve the rail service in the Garden County in the presence of Iarnród Éireann officials during the last county council meeting of the year.
Jane Creegan and John Revell of Iarnród Éireann both attended the meeting and listened to the elected members in the council chamber make a number of complaints over the service provided in County Wicklow.
Cllr Derek Mitchell said he had drawn up his own plan and presented it to Irish Rail explaining ways in which the Wicklow service could be improved.
‘At the moment, the N11 is overfull and Irish Rail keep the line piratically empty at rush hour. Large parts of Wicklow are considered to be part of Greater Dublin, yet Carlow, a single track line, has better service. It seems that Irish Rail want people south of Bray to use their cars,’ said Cllr Mitchell.
Cllr Paul O’Brien has examined a timetable from 20 years ago and noted there was very little difference between it and the current timetable, despite the county population almost doubling in size during that time.
‘In Wicklow town, there are two trains at 6.30 a.m. and 7.30 a.m. that are packed to capacity, yet there are no plans for further trains. The service is efficient but not good enough in terms of the actual amount of services.’
He was also critical of the fact there was no lift to transport people from one platform to the other.
‘You are basically saying to elderly people that they aren’t welcome on the train, said Cllr O’Brien.
Cllr Lourda Scott queried if a dart stop was being considered for Charlesland as she felt a 20 minute dart service was required for Greystones commuters.
Cllr Jennifer Whitmore said national housing strategies and planning caused some difficulties for rail services, along with a lack of investment. She was also of the opinion that there seemed to be considerable delays between when new carriages were ordered and when they were put into service.
Cllr Gail Dunne said the lack of railway services in Wicklow as one of the biggest issues he came across while canvassing for this year’s Local Elections.
‘We have six trains coming from this direction every day, yet there are 18 to 20 coming from the north of Dublin. If we had a proper rail service then lots of cars would be taken off the N11.’
Cllr Gerry Walsh felt problems were only going to worsen.
‘ The situation looks like it will get worse rather than improve. It could get to the stage where commuters will have to pre-book their journeys.’
Cllr Mary Kavanagh described transport in Wicklow as being in ‘dire straits.’
She said: ‘Roads are blocked with traffic, there aren’t enough trains and buses don’t turn up. The service providers and the NTA need to sit down and look at a proper plan for the future or does everyone just do their own little bit in their own little spectrum without any joined-up thinking?’
Cllr Sylvester Bourke was critical of the fact that a number of vehicles were ticketed in Arklow after parking at an Irish Rail car park on a Sunday in order to attend a nearby event.
‘I don’t believe anyone got a refund or much sympathy. Now the people at church can’t use it because of a €4 minimum charge,’ said Cllr Bourke.
The Irish Rail representatives stated that the service provider was not in a position to get another train into Connolly Station due to a bottleneck caused in the morning. It also wasn’t envisaged to provide additional capacity, at least for a couple of years. Irish Rail also don’t have any plans to design a new station or bring back to life a former station.
Mr Revell, Passenger Service Manager for Irish Rail, said he commuted on a daily basis and understood the frustration of commuters.
‘I commute to and from work each day on a packed train. I would love to see more effort go into integrated transport plans rather than commercial entities looking after their own commercial interests.’