Shelter requested at Kilcoole train station

IRISH Rail will be asked to install a shelter at Kilcoole train station before winter sets in.

Members agreed to write to Irish Rail to keep a commitment previously made to that end.

This arose at the meeting in a notice of motion made by Cllrs Derek Mitchell and Cllr Grainne McLoughlin.

Irish Rail’s passenger services manager John Reville told members of Wicklow County Council in June that he ‘didn’t envisage a problem’ providing a shelter at Kilcoole.

On that occasion, Cllr Tom Fortune said that Kilcoole has a population of 4,000 but the train station didn’t have any shelter.

He also questioned the lack of stops at Kilcoole, stating that if the train were passing through the station he didn’t see why it couldn’t stop there too.

His request for a shelter at the station was supported by Cllr Nicola Lawless.

She also raised concerns about the accessibility of trains and queried the need for people with mobility issues having to give notice.

Mr Reville said that he would look at the feasibility of trains passing through Kilcoole stopping there more often.

‘I think we can look positively on it as long as it doesn’t disrupt the timetable too much,’ he said.

In another notice of motion before the meeting last week, Cllrs Mitchell and McLaughlin proposed that they write to Irish Rail about carriages they are planning to purchase.

They asked that the council write to Irish Rail to ask them to ensure that diesel carriages they are about to order have a selection of doors only open at short platform stations as in other commuter railways.

‘ This will enable longer diesel trains to serve Greystones and double the Wicklow train capacity, which is standing room only at rush hour,’ they said.

It was agreed that Cllr Mitchell would compose this letter which will then be sent to Irish Rail from the Municipal District.