Poor Railway signage...

icdg

With the recent thread on poor road signage, I'm wondering if people think Irish Rail could do with improving its exterior signage.

For me the glaring thing is the fact that Hueston Station, the busiest InterCity station in the country, has absolutely no signage outside it to tell you that it is a railway station, or what its name is. Not even an IE logo. There is some RPA-erected signage with "Hueston" on it on the tram platforms but that is about it. Now everyone in Dublin knows where Hueston Station is but what about tourists and foreigners?

Connolly was the same for many years, the only sign reading "Connolly" being down at the now-closed DART enterance. Thankfully now there are some signs up outside the station.

I must point out that not all stations are like this - most DART and Maynooth line stations do have exterior signs - the Maynooth line stations in particular have BR-style large logos with the name of the station underneath it. But for other stations it seems to be very hit-and-miss. What do people think?

spacetweek

icdg wrote:

But for other stations it seems to be very hit-and-miss. What do people think?

Something I've noticed is that directional signage leading to a DART station is usually non existent. It's hard to know how to get to them if you don't know the area. It's the same mentality that results in road signs not being put up at junctions because "sure everyone knows where to go anyway." I tried to get to Bayside DART station from Grange Road once and spent 20 minutes walking around a housing estate lost.

Zoney

spacetweek wrote:

I tried to get to Bayside DART station from Grange Road once and spent 20 minutes walking around a housing estate lost.

I had the same experience trying to get to a DART station from the RDS. Ended up at the next station out from Landsdowne; I'm told the latter would have been closer.

loyatemu

no - I think sandymount is the closest. Depends which part of the RDS you're coming from

BrianD

IR should take the 'McDonalds' approach to train stations. the design and signage should leave you in no doubt that this is the local station - just like when you approach your local McD's drive through.

There is actually no directional signage for either of the mainline rail stations in Dublin. If you were in a European city you would see prominent signage for the main rail station.

Even the exterior of the stations are poorly signed. The brand new Tara St. "south end" has no signage on the outside suggesting that it is one of the busiest railway stations in the State.

Inside the stations, IR don't seem to be good at posting signs that direct people to certain streets e.g. "Exit to Townsend St". Granted that there are few stations that have a number of exits.

Public transport needs to have strong branding to attract people on to it.

Chris_533976

In Galway the bus station is attached to the train station. There are a few signs floating about for the train station, but none for the bus station.

DerekP11

Station building signage is most definetly the responsibility of IE. But the directonal signage on streets/roads is surely the responsibility of the local authority.

Signage inside Connolly and Heuston stations is very poor. We had to remind IE to add Luas to their directional signage nearly 2 years ago. They did, buts its still poor. This is the same company who will shout the odds at customers who complain. Regardless of investment, they still can't run a bath in terms of customer service. They are still stuck in the realm of being an infrastructural company.

markpb

My personal gripe is still that there are hardly any signs inside stations telling you the name of the station and which direction to leave by. It shouldn't be difficult to tell, when a train is pulling in, where you are but it is, even on the dart line. And you shouldn't have to wait till you get off the train to have a look around for the exit signs, if there are any.

icdg

Well Irish Rail have managed to do something to impress me - took a train to Bray today and noticed that there are signs at either ends of the platforms in Dun Laoghaire and Bray signing the stations as "Dun Laoghaire/Mallin" and "Bray/Daly" for the first time probably since 1966!

Have other major stations had such signs added?

Alun

icdg wrote:

Well Irish Rail have managed to do something to impress me - took a train to Bray today and noticed that there are signs at either ends of the platforms in Dun Laoghaire and Bray signing the stations as "Dun Laoghaire/Mallin" and "Bray/Daly" for the first time probably since 1966!

Have other major stations had such signs added?

They've been there a while now, at least 6 months, possibly more. As a 'foreigner' it confused the hell out of me, I must admit, until I came across a thread here on the subject, just after they put them up.

Richard

What confused me once, was trying to find a particular station in Dublin and following various "Station" signs, none of which was marked with the actual station name.

Richard

Richard wrote: »

What confused me once, was trying to find a particular station in Dublin and following various "Station" signs, none of which was marked with the actual station name.

You wanna train to get out of town!.. who cares what the station's called

mikemac

You access Harmonstown Dart Station down an alleyway.
Can be difficult to find at the best of times, some better signs would be helpful

Polar101

Deleted User wrote: »

You wanna train to get out of town!.. who cares what the station's called

Besides, if it's the wrong station, you can always take the train to the right one. No, wait..

Polar101

Polar101 wrote: »

Besides, if it's the wrong station, you can always take the train to the right one. No, wait..

True

But if you're in the suburbs, there's usually only one station.

MOH

mikemac wrote: »

You access Harmonstown Dart Station down an alleyway.
Can be difficult to find at the best of times, some better signs would be helpful

Yep, if you're coming from the wrong side, there's abosultely nothing to indicate whee teh station is - I've walked past it before.