Skerries named Ireland's best station

Navan Junction

ireland.com, 20th March 2007

The prize for best railway station in Ireland has been awarded to Skerries, Co Dublin.

The winners of the Best Railway Station Awards were announced in Croke Park today.

The awards, in their 15th year, judge Ireland's 135 railway stations in terms of facilities, cleanliness, innovation and customer service.


Skerries station in Co Dublin It is the second time Skerries has won the overall Best Station Award, having won the top prize in 2000.

It also retained its Best Suburban Station title, which it has now won for 11 years in a row.

The northeast did particularly well in the awards, with Drogheda and Dundalk, Co Louth, coming first and second respectively in the Major Stations category.

Skerries and Donabate topping the list of Best Suburban Halts and Balbriggan being named the best improved.

Arklow in Co Wexford beat Westport, Co Mayo, into second place to take the Best Intercity Station section. Castlebar, Carrick-on-Shannon and Roscommon topped the list of Best Intercity Stops.

Greystones was named the Best Dart Station, followed by Bray and Malahide. Sandymount was singled out for being the best improved stop on the line.

Wicklow station won the Innovation Award, while Arklow's staff were deemed to have made the best effort over the past year.

Mallow was awarded top prize in two categories - the Mary Linehan Floral Display category and the Heritage Awards. Rosslare Station place second in the heritage category.

markpb

:rolls eyes:

How about we start holding awards for worst train operator in Ireland? Even with competition, Irish Rail would walk away with it every year.

Navan Junction

Bet Docklands gets it next year, Adamstown 2008, Six mile bridge for 2009, Dunboyne for 2010, and so on and so forth..

Or maybe there will be a best new station award

MarkoP11

With the exception of Grand Canal Dock no new station has ever got anything

You'd think the new Howth Junc or Bayside would get something got nothing neither has hanging baskets which of course means instant disqualification

Zebra3

They should have had a Worst Train Station award to highlight the state of Broombridge.

Jimoslimos

Wicklow station won the Innovation Award

I'm fascinated to know what sort of 'innovation' has been going on down in Wicklow. Seems to be so many prizes doled out that I'd imagine there is hardly any station in Ireland without half a dozen plaques on the wall for "Best pedestrian access", "Least platform alterations", "Most Improved Platform Loudspeaker ", etc etc.

Zebra3 wrote:

They should have had a Worst Train Station award to highlight the state of Broombridge.

Yeah Broombridge is shockingly bad.:(

Kintarō Hattori

How can it win a best station award? There's not very much to it!

zap

Arklow which is in Co. Wicklow not wexford is ana wful awful station can't see how it won anything.

Zebra3

How about this.....

A rail user group stages an annual awards event at the same time as irish Rail's (like the Raspberries to the Oscars?) and gives out a load of worst stations in different catagories to counter Irish Rail's propag-I mean, PR.

MarkoP11

We was on Today FM and Irish Rail's spokewoman refused to go head to head with us, it quite interesting stuff http://www.radioireland.ie/lastword/2032007-16.wmv

Broombridge without a doubt wins the worst station, probably the worst in Western Europe

In customer service terms Heuston is way down the bottom

Much as I'd like to but to visit all 120+ stations would take weeks

Victor

MarkoP11 wrote:

Broombridge without a doubt wins the worst station, probably the worst in Western Europe

Guess who the local TD is?

http://www.constituency-commission.ie/Images/map_b.jpg


http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=29&ConstID=73&disp=mem

loyatemu

Greystones station had a sign up saying "Toilets temporarily closed due to vandalism". So have they fixed the toilets? No, instead they've tip-exed out the word "temporarily". And the platform displays still don't work. Here's your award guys.

RuggieBear

MarkoP11 wrote:

Much as I'd like to but to visit all 120+ stations would take weeks

Ah come on now... the train system isn't that bad!

Alun

The only award Bray station could win would be the "Station with the grubbiest, scruffiest, litter strewn frontage" or the "Surliest, most unhelpful staff" awards. They're having a laugh, surely?

Zebra3

Alun wrote:

The only award Bray station could win would be the "Station with the grubbiest, scruffiest, litter strewn frontage" or the "Surliest, most unhelpful staff" awards. They're having a laugh, surely?

It's got a good bar in fairness. :cool:

MarkoP11

Alun wrote:

The only award Bray station could win would be the "Station with the grubbiest, scruffiest, litter strewn frontage" or the "Surliest, most unhelpful staff" awards. They're having a laugh, surely?

Yes they are having a laugh, Bray is mess, while it has improved significantly in the last few years especially since the roof on platform 2 was sorted the whole ticket barrier area still needs work

Most Improved Sandymount must be a joke the place is still a building site from the upgrade works

Slice

Hanging baskets are a crime against humanity.

Was there an award for most poorly serviced station? I take it these awards didn't include stations in the north

D'Peoples Voice

loyatemu wrote:

Greystones station had a sign up saying "Toilets temporarily closed due to vandalism". So have they fixed the toilets? No, instead they've tip-exed out the word "temporarily". And the platform displays still don't work. Here's your award guys.

I must agree this thing about vandalism is no excuse.
Just look at Harmonstown, that's now a classy station.
they had problems with vandalism years ago ,it's all been sorted, and now we have a top quality station comparable to any I've seen in Holland or Germany.

Harmonstown station should be the benchmark station for other like Dun Laoghaire, Lansdowne Road, Bray, Broomsbridge, Leixleip Confey & Tara Station to aspire to. We shouldn't be making up excuses!

The Hill Billy

eo980 wrote:

How can it win a best station award? There's not very much to it!

There may not be much to it, but the lads in the station run it well, keep it in good shape & the bogs are spotless. Fair dues to them!

Red Alert

Would you be all that surprised if you saw hundreds of scumbags carting of a 29000 from broombridge?

That station gave me the creeps one time i was near it

MarkoP11

Not their style, they would take it apart on site and strip for parts. Afterall we are talking about the station which once had a nice cobble lock platform. It was removed brick by brick. The night the vandal built a barricade across the track and then once the train was stopped opened fire goes down as the most terrifying experience on a train I've come across

Victor was on the ball last week and managed to assist in the arrest of one of the troublemakers.

Its not contest its the worst station

Navan Junction

Slice wrote:

I take it these awards didn't include stations in the north

Nope - and some of the ones in the six counties are brutal..

Newry is in bits, and when you add it's wind-swept location it can be a really miserable spot.

And a few metres away you have the Craigmore Viaduct and the Egyptian Arch bridge on the other side.. It's a pity the station isn't as interesting

Victor

MarkoP11 wrote:

Victor was on the ball last week and managed to assist in the arrest of one of the troublemakers.

Next plan is to hide in hte long grass with a paint ball gun and wait for them to moon a train.

Zebra3

Victor wrote:

Next plan is to hide in hte long grass with a paint ball gun and wait for them to moon a train.

I was on the train going through Broombridge a couple of years ago on a hot summer's day when I had the pleasure of witnessing of the locals perform a "frontal" moon, if you get my drift, at the passengers on the train. :eek:

It's hard to imagine there's a worse station in the country than Broombridge, but I do remember a time when Kilbarrack station was robbed on an almost daily basis and was even petrol bombed at one stage. You can see an old clip of it in The Snapper when the brother (he was Johnny One in Fair City) of your one who was pregnant comes over the old bridge. It has changed beyond all recognition because the area around it has been redeveloped and this must happen with Broombridge.

And there's no reason for it not to happen sooner rather than later. If those factories beside the station are derelict, there should be a CPO put on them.

Victor

There is currently a planning permission application in.

spacetweek

Victor wrote:

There is currently a planning permission application in.

Might be a moot point anyway as the station would be easier to access if moved west to Ratoath Rd.

Garret

drogheda still doesnt have displays which is annoying considering there are 3 platforms that are used, so its not a case of platform 1 north, 2 south:(

MarkoP11

Drogheda doesn't have displays since they wouldn't work if installed.

The Hill Billy

MarkoP11 wrote:

Drogheda doesn't have displays since they wouldn't work if installed.

And why is that?