Kilcoole Station

[Mark Gleeson]

Good news finally, a ticket machine and leap card equipment is to be installed.

This closes out a fare evasion loophole and provides Kilcoole commuters access to cheaper leap card fares

No date yet, but its on the program list

[Thomas Ralph]

You can already get leap fares of a fashion by just touching at the Dublin end, as to everywhere other than Greystones it's the maximum fare.

[Mark Gleeson]

You do hit some problems if you don't tag off as you might get stung with a double hit on the way back

[Traincustomer]

In recent weeks I travelled from Dublin to Kilcoole one Saturday to visit someone (using a single ticket and the evening Rosslare train as that's the only southbound service stopping there on Saturdays and there's nothing back on Sundays). I was one of three passengers alighting from the train (didn't know the other two passengers).

The person I was visiting collected me by car but was delayed in Kilcoole village en route to the station. I had a wait of ten to fifteen minutes. This didn't bother me but it was a very showery evening and it is pure luck I wasn't caught in a torrential downpour.

Point of this account - had the heavens opened there was absolutely nowhere that I could have taken shelter.

There's a portacabin type room between the platform ramp and the station gate (entrance/exit) - whether this is just for staff who may be working on the line from time to time/for stores or supplies or whether it is sometimes open to rail passengers I don't know. It wasn't open anyway.

Now the car park and platform surface at the station are perfectly ok and I understand from the IÉ website that a ticket vending machine (and presumably a Leap Card pole) will be available around the middle of this month. All very good but surely a shelter of some description (doesn't matter what it looks like) can be provided to make the passenger experience of using the station meet basic satisfaction/needs levels?

[JamesK]

I used to use Kilcoole station on a regular basis to travel to and from Wicklow on the late morning train that ran to Arklow or Gorey. At that time (about three years ago), a basic shelter with a seat was provided on the right hand side just beyond the swing gate that allows access to the platform i.e. adjacent to the portacabin type structure to which you refer. For reasons unknown to me this basic shelter was removed so now, as you point out, there is no shelter for passengers or even a seat. I have never seen the portacabin type structure to which you refer open and to the best of my knowledge, it has never been available for use by waiting passengers.

Alas, it is not now possible to catch a southbound train at Kilcoole and then return there later in the day. Thus a poor service has become no service at all!

[Traincustomer]

Interesting. Was it a metal box type shelter or a bus shelter type with windows/panels?

I think that train to Arklow was withdrawn from the introduction of the September 2011 timetable. Hopefully - if at any point in the future an additional train is introduced on the line south of Greystones - it can stop at Kilcoole.

A shelter at a station - however basic or primitive the structure - is a must at every station given our typical weather. It is a perfectly reasonable basic expectation. The only station in my view that can "get away" without a shelter is Manulla Junction as it's a transfer station with no public access and passengers can wait onboard the train from Ballina if the weather is bad/the mainline train is not there.

[Eddie]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

Good news finally, a ticket machine and leap card equipment is to be installed.

This closes out a fare evasion loophole and provides Kilcoole commuters access to cheaper leap card fares

No date yet, but its on the program list

Just checking that Kilcoole had a leap card reader installed? Might need to use the station in the next while.

[Underground]

Originally Posted by Eddie

Just checking that Kilcoole had a leap card reader installed? Might need to use the station in the next while.

http://www.irishrail.ie/travel-information/kilcoole

Doesn't look like it.

[Jamie2k9]

Originally Posted by Underground

http://www.irishrail.ie/travel-information/kilcoole

Doesn't look like it.

There website is out of date. It also says Thomastown has no TMV when it has for well over a year.

[ACustomer]

Kilcoole is, let's face it, a backwater. What about the lack of TVM and Train displays at Broombridge? Does Irish Rail not realise that Broombridge is no longer a semi burned-out wreck but a major connecting point?

[berneyarms]

Originally Posted by ACustomer

Kilcoole is, let's face it, a backwater. What about the lack of TVM and Train displays at Broombridge? Does Irish Rail not realise that Broombridge is no longer a semi burned-out wreck but a major connecting point?

I think you forget that the NTA is responsible for all capital funding now - perhaps ask them?

[Traincustomer]

Originally Posted by Eddie

Just checking that Kilcoole had a leap card reader installed? Might need to use the station in the next while.

No Leap Card reader at Kilcoole unfortunately. Took the train there myself this evening and the booking office clerk at Bray confirmed I couldn't use Leap Card so spent 90c over the odds purchasing a single ticket. This is despite a LeapCard fare being advertised on the IÉ website...

At a glance well into the teens in passenger numbers alighted, perhaps more.

No shelter either.

The station timetable contains the generic line "Passengers must purchase tickets before joining the train." We don't have thousands of stations in this country - is it that difficult to reprint the poster with appropriate info for the ten/fifteen stations in the state without ticket vending facilities?

But this appears to typify the approach of the NTA who have appear to have little interest in lesser used stations/lines.

There is however now an information panel and map adjacent to the station with an overview of the area's history and ideas for walks. Good that the local community clearly recognise the station as a gateway to the area.

Noticing a signpost indicating the Ballydonarea Loop Walk outside the station I undertook this walk to Kilcoole village and had time for a bite to eat before catching an 84. The walk can be accessed by turning left at the top end of the station car park (end away from the level crossing).

[Eddie]

Originally Posted by Traincustomer

No Leap Card reader at Kilcoole unfortunately. Took the train there myself this evening and the booking office clerk at Bray confirmed I couldn't use Leap Card so spent 90c over the odds purchasing a single ticket. This is despite a LeapCard fare being advertised on the IÉ website...

There are also maps on commuter trains showing Kilcoole as one of 4 stations which represent the limit of the leap card zone.

I suspect advising the NTA that it's impossible to clock in or out at Kilcoole might result in some action.

Alternatively leapcard holders reclaiming the credit from overpayment might result in Irish Rail taking action to install a machine.

[Traincustomer]

I notice the Dublin Area Train & Tram Services map dated December 2017 displays the following note alongside Kilcoole:

Travel Credit not valid at this stop