RUI Worst Station of the Year
 

As IE has recenly announced that Greystones was station of the year and gave themselves a big pat on the back about it we think that you, the customers, should nominate your worst station.

We expect compitition to be fierce, and we will, of course, present a certificate and small prize to the station master of the winning shambles with accompanying press wallahs a la Michael Moore Style....

Please note, in the interests of fairness we cannot include Boombridge.

However, Pearse Toilets are IN!!

Off ye go...............

Howth Junction and Donaghmede because of the trek you have to take to get to the platforms.

Drogheda, because there is no digital displays for the next train due, and announcements are very rare so when there are no staff manning the booth (late in the evenings) you are on your own about what train to get on and what platform.

Connolly, for the ridiculous trek you have to make to the commuter platforms. It should also gain honourable mentions for lethal platform tiling and poor and misleading information.

Got to be Pearse

1. Roof is in a horrible state, needs lots of glass and a total repaint
2. Toilets need I say more the worst I've ever seen
3. Booking office area is a horrible mess
4. What is it with the doors into the station?
5. The lighting on the platforms is exceptionally poor
6. Horribly outdated signage to the platforms
7. Can't pay with plastic despite being the 2nd busiest station in Ireland
8. Only DART station not to have the yellow line with the textured concrete
9. The funky steps on a slope on the northbound platform

Don't forget the PA in Pearse which would have had Allied code breakers during the war scratching their heads trying to decipher what is being said.

I presume that Broombridge, Cherry Orchard and (latterly) Clondalkin are hors de concours.

Pheonix Park station because nobody uses it, its name is misleading and nobody could get on a train during rush hour if they wanted to use it.

Don't forget the toilets! One occupied, one with a broken lock, one with no paper and the last with a seat used as a urinal. Then you go to the information desk to complain and you see how mankt that area is as well.

It's a very close call between Pearse and Connolly for me, for previously-mentioned reasons.

Although you can use cards in the vending machines in Pearse.

Did I hear somebody say Cherry Orchard???? Also, what about Portarlington despite the new platforms.

how about seperate awards for major stations and minor stations

Pearse for the major
woodlawn for the minor - picture the scene - the sunday evening train to dublin - the busiest of the week - one solitary person on the platform at woodlawn

Major station

Staffed minor station

Unstaffed Halt

Cherry Orchard, Broombridge and Clondalkin won the prize too many times so are out of the running to give a level playing field. All three are being demolished soon enough

Could also have most disappointing station after refurbishment

Im going to go for Connolly as worst major station as I would use it more than Pearse. Reasons being toilets, customer services and cleanliness.


Worst unmanned halt, does Mosney count?

And then Portmarnock for worst manned minor station. Appalling access and minimal facilities eventhough it was renovated a few years ago. I know they are awaiting pp for a multi story car park but for the numbers that use it - its very poor.

Harmonstown. The entrance is hidden, halfway down a lane way between 2 housing estates. The track is in a large trench along this stage. The platform walls and embankments have always been hideous. This was made worse by the adding uf very unsightly reinforced poured concrete wheelchair ramps. The old ramps were too steep for modern standards. Most other stations got lifts (albeit they are more expensive to run). They could have splashed out for some kind of stone, redbrick or composite cladding for the concrete. Every wall has now been coated in a horrible light orange colour. This station is very unusable at night due to it's layout, darkness and location.

On the positive side. There was a lot of shrub planting done a few months back. However, this was only because of serious complaints by various local politicians amid cries of unfairness compared to the south side equivalents (as far as Blackrock anyway)

Killester comes a close 2nd for the same reasons. It's entrance location is a little better though.

For next year, I think RUI should make a serious attempt to really find out which is the worst (under various categories) and release the results to the media on the same day as Irish rail release there farcical results. I bet you Newstalk would be interested in the Idea. The Newstalk/RUI awards :) Have a drum roll & fanfair when calling out the winner.

Heres some categories suggestions (feel free to add more)
Worst Station (Dublin)
Worst Station (Elsewhere)
Lease Manned Station
Worst Accessibility
Worst Higene
Least Attractive
Best Hidden Station
etc

I was playing a match up in 'Tarf a few weeks back and got off at Killester and made the short journey to Castle Ave.

I could not find my way back to the DART afterwards :o

definatly dont think greystones deserved to have won the best station award...i mean if that's the best one, it makes me wonder how bad the rest the stations are on the network! some ugly white container on stilts was delivered by truck to greystones yesterday aswell..they had a crane lift it onto its base, i'm presuming its something to do with the re-signalling project? dont think there were any planning permission notices for it though!

That be a SSI/CBI interlocking thingy, Maynooth line has a few of them.

I was in Greystones last Saturday and apart from the obligatory best station entry requirement of the floral display I can't say much good about it. A fortune was spent on it on 2002. Still platform 2 is not accessible, the toilets are locked and the platform display has never worked.

It satisfies the 'functional' needs of station but isn't anything to get excited about.

Docklands and Adamstown don't appear, obviously failing the entry requirement of the hanging baskets, Thurles despite a serious rebuild got nothing despite the unrebuilt station being a frequent winner, so modern clean and efficient is a negative

I think the northside darts are all pretty poor especially as they are in a post refurb state.

Surprised noones nominated Cork yet. The main station for the countries 2nd largest station (and probably the one that takes the most money per passenger) has had a nice refurbishment made to the waiting area recently which isnt bad, but its lost its shop to be replaced by a glorified shed, theres usually only one ticket window open but that tends to be a good thing because when there are two the little old ladies staffing it spend more time talking to each other than selling tickets.

The platform area is a dark dismal disgrace, and as a former daily commuter through Pearse i can assure you that the toilets there are luxurious compared to what youll find in Kent station!

nominations close at midnight tonight and then we'll have a poll with two weeks of voting.

I'd have to go with Cork as well. There are some great, albeit controvesion plans for redevlopment.

There is a station somewhere on the Dart, southside, where the platform is extremely narrow. The area behind the yellow line can barely fit one person. I only noticed it from the train itself.

Rosslare Strand Station is awful. Luckily I used it in good weather. Hate to be stuck there in on a wet day.

That be either Seapoint or Glasthule, probably Seapoint since the nearly the entire northbound platform is like that

Seapoint itself deserves a mention for being the most inaccessible DART station with probably the worst staffing level of any staffed station, not to mention the building is falling apart

Problem with a vote like that is that the busier stations might have an advatage(!)
There could be some really bad stations on the Rosslare-Limerick line or the Nenagh line which nobody knows about...:D :D
Maybe there should be criteria and a judging panel!!

Here are my nominations

Least Attractive:
In terms of pure aesthetics, Pearse must be the worst. All that darkness and brown EVERYWHERE. It's retro-functional, and not in a good way.

All around Worst Dublin Station: Connolly is more pleasing to the eye, but has its own problems especially regarding integration. The journey from Platform 6/7 to the Luas station is crazy. And the toilets, yikes, talk about skimpy! And then of course we have the mega farm of ticket validation machines, which when installed replaced what had been a massive seating area. :mad: :mad: :mad:

I would have nominated Sligo for the ugliest station, but since they gave the station a mini-facelift it looks quite decent now.

Best hidden station (in my limited experience) must be Edgeworthstown. Whatever posessed the MGWR to put it a good 400M further outside the town centre than was necessary, I do not know. To make matters worse, while the station is to the South East of the town, guess where all the new developments and recent (i.e. since 2000) housing estates are. That's right, the North West. On the upside though, there's plenty of parking spaces there for "Park N Ride" use, which makes it a priceless asset to much of North Longford. :)

I'm surprised Adamstown station isn't in the running for Best Station, from what I saw of it in photographs, it looks really nice. In fact, when I first saw a pic of the interior, my first thought was "Gee, that looks like it might be an airport terminal."

Worst Major Station: Connolly, narrowly edging out Cork. Cork has worse facilities, but it doesn't have the air of menace you get round Connolly later in the evening.

Worst Minor Manned Station: Killarney, not so much for the station itself as for the access problems. The arrival or departure of a train causes the whole area by the station to clog up with traffic, making it impossible for drivers and potentially lethal for pedestrians. Mallow and Limerick Junction deserve honourable mentions as well. People probably do more waiting in those stations than any others on the network and yet the facilities are non-existent.

Unmanned Halt: Carrigaloe. It has to be seen to be believed. Platforms that are well below the train (they even warn about this on the Irish Rail website). A general appearance that there has been no investment for 30+ years.

What about The Curragh halt???

Curragh station is officially closed

The extended part of the northbound platform at Blackrock (about the "front" half of the platform) is narrow enough that to walk around someone you have to go over the line.

all right, time for a poll.

only ten options allowed so some had to be dropped.

As weehamster has suggested, this years one is a bit of a test run.... we'll co-incide with the IE one next year.

Back of the northbound platform in Seapoint is narrower

God help Pearse - it should be a treated as a national treasure due to it's age and importance in Irish transports history... I have seen Northern Rail stations with more grace

It still has a platform sign that says "Curragh". :)

Mosney has been closed for years and still has platform and station sign AND electronic display. Last time I looked, the display was still illuminated.

I have to agree with the comments about Drogheda. The lack of displays is a pain, and it's not uncommon for trains to be waiting on both platforms 2 and 3, leaving you to guess which one to board - or trek back over the footbridge to find someone to ask. Trains often depart unannounced, and you are often left to guess what's going on.

On the other hand, I've always found the staff to be friendly and helpful (when you can find them), the toilets always clean and well looked after, and in general the station falls a long way short of what's required for a worst station award. I'll mention it to them so they can try harder next year.

I agree that Pearse is a deserving winner. We'll have to see if the current refurbishment fixes anything. I can't help wondering if they're going to bolt on a new entrance, but leave the existing station unchanged, like the Townsend St entrance to Tara St. The current ticket office is a disaster, and if the rumours of ticket validators going on the platform rather than the ground floor are true, I have worries of dangerous crowds of people unable to get off the platform. And yes, the toilets are horrible. Notice also, the disabled toiled requiring the key to be acquired from the booking office, which would be a difficult trek for a wheelchair user travelling on their own,

Connolly also leaves much to be desired. I think they did a relatively good job with the automatic validators, and it's amazing what a lick of paint has done for the toilets - though they're still pretty bad, at least they're not as dark and dingy.

I think Grand Canal Dock deserves an honourable mention. The validators were never going to be adequite for a station that busy. There's never enough staff for the number of people using it - often only one person present at rush hour. I also met a lady there trying to get a buggy out of the station when the lift down to street level wasn't working - the guy at the ticket desk wasn't able to help as he was on his own. I checked after, and there was no mention of Grand Canal Dock on the list of stations with broken lifts on the electronic displays.

No rumour. The ticket validators have already been installed on the Southbound platform (not functional yet though).

They are there, virtually the exact same spot as they where back in the 1970's

Pearse is the winner no question

Next station down, Monasterevin, is _unofficially_ "closed".

Pity I was too late for the poll. Monasterevin is def way up there as a contender for the most underutilised, undervalued and (especially) undermined train station in Ireland.

8 trains a day is hardly closed