Train attacked while travelling through Broombridge

Ren2k7

I was on my way home on the Longford bound train this evening and as we were passing through Broombridge a window a few seats up from where I was sitting was bricked causing a fair amount of damage to the glass, as well as making the teenage girls sitting there to get quite hysterical and upset, understandable of course.

Incidentally, I was on my way home from the T2 trials at Dublin Airport. I may post my experiences of it over on the Terminal 2 thread later.

So, here's a question to the knowledgeable here. Is this sort of thing common on trains or was this a one off occurrence? Also, is there anything that the Gardai and Irish Rail can do to prevent this sort of thing happening?

L1011

Was wondering why there were STT lads in the lead car of my train, got off at Castleknock to cross over and presumably get on an inbound train.

They also bawled someone out of it for dropping litter at Phoenix Park as it happens

Anyway, this WAS common at Broombridge for years.

Judgement Day

MYOB wrote: »

Was wondering why there were STT lads in the lead car of my train, got off at Castleknock to cross over and presumably get on an inbound train.

They also bawled someone out of it for dropping litter at Phoenix Park as it happens

Anyway, this WAS common at Broombridge for years.

Ongoing at Liffey Junction/Broombridge for more years than I care to remember and we are still awaiting the first fatality before Irish Rail get off their fat arses and do something about it. :mad:

D'Peoples Voice

to be fair, i think its farily typical of the area,
some tourists and I got the number 19 bus back into town from botanical gardens near broombridge recently,
there was so much hash/cigarette filled smoke on the upper deck of the bus,
trying to see the steps of the stairs on the bus was no easy task. They need an extractor fan of some kind upstairs on that bus.

and to think that people are talking about spending BILLIONS building a metro through the area - truly frightening.:rolleyes: You'd be a very brave (or stupid) person to be taking that metro - unless we get a decent transport police service, but can't see that happening anytime soon.

really do feel sympathy for any decent person having to contend with that on a daily basis

r3nu4l

Aye, it's been going on a long long time. In fact when I was in first year in NUIM (1992) a guy called Clive in my year made it into the papers because a brick thrown at his train in Broombridge crashed through the window and knocked him out cold!

Not exactly how he'd have liked to have made the papers I'm sure

Seriously though, it's been going on for years and years and yet there's been little done to stop it as far as I can see. Not sure what could be done tbh.

L1011

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

and to think that people are talking about spending BILLIONS building a metro through the area - truly frightening.:rolleyes: You'd be a very brave (or stupid) person to be taking that metro - unless we get a decent transport police service, but can't see that happening anytime soon.

Its a Luas, it won't cost a billion let alone billions, it won't happen until after the recession ends and it'd likely be coupled with an extensive redvelopment of the area.

The area is effectively unpopulated, the scumbags come there to play rather than live there.

Ren2k7

It scares me to think this crack takes place. Like someone mentioned before its only a matter of time before someone is killed by these thugs.

At the end of the day they're only hurting themselves by damaging the resources built for them. Depressing really.

Amtmann

Moved from Infrastructure.

dowlingm

And they're going to have M3 Parkway trains stop there! Make it hard for them by having the target moving at least...

Propellerhead

D'Peoples Voice wrote: »

to be fair, i think its farily typical of the area,
some tourists and I got the number 19 bus back into town from botanical gardens near broombridge recently,
there was so much hash/cigarette filled smoke on the upper deck of the bus,
trying to see the steps of the stairs on the bus was no easy task. They need an extractor fan of some kind upstairs on that bus.

and to think that people are talking about spending BILLIONS building a metro through the area - truly frightening.:rolleyes: You'd be a very brave (or stupid) person to be taking that metro - unless we get a decent transport police service, but can't see that happening anytime soon.

really do feel sympathy for any decent person having to contend with that on a daily basis

How about a hashtag on Twitter #blamemetronorth :rolleyes:

mikemac

It's like a quiet country road. And at times during the day it's incredibly quiet.
For an area so close to the city centre, it's very undeveloped.

There were huge developments farther out and indeed in commuting areas outside Co Dublin but this area was untouched, Celtic Tiger passed it by.
The train station, a few industrial buildings and fields out there.

Anyway, last time I used the station there was a gang on the bridge, dropping stones on the Longford train as it went by.
And regularly heard from friends who went to Leixlip and Maynooth that the train windows got bricked.

It's not new.
One day the area will be developed and transformed. But who can say when that will happen

foggy_lad

redevelopement will not take the scumbags away from the area but just give them more to rob and vandalise!

If it were up to me this station would have been closed long ago, Cherry Orchard was given the chop for similar reasons (was it even as bad?).

January

The botanic gardens are nowhere near broombridge and the 19 goes nowhere near Broombridge either

Oliver1985

This is Dublin scum bags are everywhere are like to break everything and get there Doll from hard working tax payers, it aint gonna change anytime soon!

DominoDub

I was on the 17:25 from Coolmine to Pearse and did see a gang with a nice bonfire going at the end of the station. In the past I have seen many a broken window and have had cars on fire on the rail track !

santiago

foggy_lad wrote: »

redevelopement will not take the scumbags away from the area but just give them more to rob and vandalise!

my front door was vandalise by teenagers living in the same estate.
Cought one of them and he told me and a guy from property management who else was involved .
Went to their parents,decent peoples I think but I was told that there were only playing and I should go back to my country if I dont like it!
I didnt want to think that these kids are scumbags but its sems that are taking this road as they are acting like .
Of course that I am blaiming the parents not the kids!

trad

Broombridge is far froma a quiet country road. It's a link from Cabra West to Finglas and is a heavily used route.

In my fathers time as a train driver a concrete block was lowered on a rope at windscreen level and was struck by a train. The driver was powerless to avoid it and was badly shocked. Until some developement takes place on the site it will continue to be an area of anti social behaviour.

AlekSmart

Until some developement takes place on the site it will continue to be an area of anti social behaviour.

I hear what you`re saying Trad,however at this stage I feel we collectively have to step back and take a closer look at this approach.

My first brush with this principle was as a young lad goin to Tech in the "Inner City" back in the late 1960`s.

At that time we were in the throes of demolishing the last vestiges of the old Georgian Mansions which had become slum-dwellings and thence a haven for criminals and criminality.

At regular intervals since then,Dublin has had many such Urban Renewal programmes,Gardiner St,Sherriff St,East Wall,Fatima Mansions,The Coombe etc etc.

At each juncture the public was assured that the move from the dirty run-down old accomodation into shiny new untis with front gardens etc would dramatically reduce poverty and crime levels.

I`ve little in the way of Statistics,but I`m confident enough that this end-result just did`nt play out as planned,either in the newly refurbed "Inner City Regeneration Zones" or in the shiny new outer suburban Nirvanas.

There`s an interesting article in the Sunday Independent today on the topic of Social Deprivation...

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/brians-could-learn-from-britains-welfare-rethink-2372808.html

The article by John-Paul McCarthy will doubtless be dismissed out-of-hand by some as being illustrative of the Sunday Independent`s ownership ethos,but I prefer to read and make my own mind up.

This bit I feel is relevant.......

He is indebted to Frank Field here, the most radical thinker in the British debate. A former Labour minister, Field advises Cameron on welfare reform and poverty. As an MP for one of the tougher constituencies in Britain, Field has little patience with Bloomsbury-style paternalism that is happy to sign welfare cheques in return for a quiet life.

His tough-minded approach to the entire benefit culture is proof against parody to the extent that his thinking is based on clear-eyed humanism rather than pity.

He noted recently that there were more violent crimes against the person recorded by the police in Birkenhead [his constituency], than in the whole of Britain 50 years ago.

Unlike older comrades like Tony Benn, who tend to blame Haliburton and the monarchy for Britain's woes, Field is secure enough in his convictions to say there is too much violence in British towns, too much mayhem in their culture and not enough role models in the lives of British children.

Rather than reach for the standard Tory image of the single teenage mother who buys bottles of vodka with her welfare cash, Field wants to shift the emphasis on to single fathers.

He insisted in a recent debate that people should "be even more worried about the number of feckless, absent fathers, who refuse to acknowledge their child-rearing responsibilities and instead adopt a selfish, hedonistic approach in which they look no further than their own instant gratification".

During a lecture to the Attlee Foundation in London, he bemoaned the lack of emphasis on single fathers, and blamed what he called "the feminisation of debate about poverty which has largely been run by upwardly mobile, very successful women".

In other words, he sees his task as that of taking the welfare debate out of the hands of the comfortable middle classes who see benefits as a form of social pacification or even control, rather than as evidence of profound social collapse in certain areas.

The current system condemns young men to what Field called "an abyss of a life on benefit, trying to make ends meet with petty crime and drug dealing".

It`s all very easy for Politicians to ribbon-cut on shiny new developments and regeneration programmes such as Ballymun,Moyross or wherever the Social Fire-Brigade is next called out to,but recognising and addressing the less easily fixed elements is often just too much trouble for those imbued with the Irish National Political Ethos.

foggy_lad

trad wrote: »

Broombridge is far froma a quiet country road. It's a link from Cabra West to Finglas and is a heavily used route.

In my fathers time as a train driver a concrete block was lowered on a rope at windscreen level and was struck by a train. The driver was powerless to avoid it and was badly shocked. Until some developement takes place on the site it will continue to be an area of anti social behaviour.

but developement wont change anything it will only make the scumbags even more aware of the differences between the haves(us) and the have nots(them)

they also seem to be a totally different social breed that do whatever they want and know that nothing will be done as they are rarely jailed or even prosecuted(most serious charges are watered down to nothing!) regardless of how many thousands of euros they cost the state in damages social workers community welfare forged free travel passes etc etc

TheChrisD

Sometimes I even wonder why Broombridge station is still used anymore. It's nothing but two platforms running along the tracks, and nothing else, not even ticket vending machines from what I can see. And it's horribly under-used, probably about 3 people get on/off it anytime it stops there? Just close the whole darn thing...

L1011

The closure was proposed and basically politically interfered with as it was deemed that Dessie Ellis would make political gains off opposing it. That was prior to the 2002 election.

I actually know someone who uses the station daily to get to and from work and there are always a few people getting on and off these days, think usage has increased.

thomasj

MYOB wrote: »

The closure was proposed and basically politically interfered with as it was deemed that Dessie Ellis would make political gains off opposing it. That was prior to the 2002 election.

I actually know someone who uses the station daily to get to and from work and there are always a few people getting on and off these days, think usage has increased.

And that's basically the problem. Political interference. Everytime there is a threat to services stopping there there is uproar. But how often have you heard these people in the area and local politicians give out about the attacks in the area and the risk to passengers and people at the station?

It's only when ie start threatening stopping services and closing off the area that people will sit up and pay attention!

Psygnosis

Oliver1985 wrote: »

This is Dublin scum bags are everywhere are like to break everything and get there Doll from hard working tax payers, it aint gonna change anytime soon!

Why would they need a Doll and why do hard working tax payers give dolls to scumbags is it to play with

thomasj

Psygnosis wrote: »

Why would they need a Doll and why do hard working tax payers give dolls to scumbags is it to play with

I think Oliver meant to say dole!

purplepanda

"He is indebted to Frank Field here, the most radical thinker in the British debate. A former Labour minister, Field advises Cameron on welfare reform and poverty. As an MP for one of the tougher constituencies in Britain, Field has little patience with Bloomsbury-style paternalism that is happy to sign welfare cheques in return for a quiet life.

His tough-minded approach to the entire benefit culture is proof against parody to the extent that his thinking is based on clear-eyed humanism rather than pity.

He noted recently that there were more violent crimes against the person recorded by the police in Birkenhead [his constituency], than in the whole of Britain 50 years ago."

One of the few modern politicians who talks forthright common sense on issues affecting modern society, unfortunately his kind are rare in his own land & also it seems throughout the western world. Instead we are plagued with career politicans & do gooders who can't relate to real life & real people at all. :mad:

mrsdewinter

MYOB wrote: »

The closure was proposed and basically politically interfered with as it was deemed that Dessie Ellis would make political gains off opposing it. That was prior to the 2002 election.

I actually know someone who uses the station daily to get to and from work and there are always a few people getting on and off these days, think usage has increased.

But the powers-that-be still regard the station as a joke, where you can't even tag on or off your Rail Smart Card on the journey into town...

mrsdewinter

mrsdewinter wrote: »

But the powers-that-be still regard the station as a joke, where you can't even tag on or off your Rail Smart Card on the journey into town...

In fairness, any time new facilities are installed in Broombridge they just get destroyed and/or thrown into the Royal Canal...

L1011

mrsdewinter wrote: »

But the powers-that-be still regard the station as a joke, where you can't even tag on or off your Rail Smart Card on the journey into town...

There are readers fitted. Whether they've managed to be broken is another question entirely!

Judgement Day

Closing the station won't solve the problem anyway as the whole area from Glasnevin Cemetery through to beyond Broombridge Station has been a no-go area for decades. Stone throwing has been popular at Liffey Junction since Old God's time - it's part of local culture and some of the stone throwers must be third generation at this stage. The signal cabin at Liffey Junction was burnt the night after it closed. I used to know one of the signalmen there and I remember joking with him to keep the last bullet for himself if they got into the cabin - it was that bad.

D'Peoples Voice

AlekSmart wrote: »

I hear what you`re saying Trad,however at this stage I feel we collectively have to step back and take a closer look at this approach.

There`s an interesting article in the Sunday Independent today on the topic of Social Deprivation...

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/brians-could-learn-from-britains-welfare-rethink-2372808.html

The article by John-Paul McCarthy will doubtless be dismissed out-of-hand by some as being illustrative of the Sunday Independent`s ownership ethos,but I prefer to read and make my own mind up.

I wonder what John Paul would make of these articles???

a nod to ireland_is_different on the PropertyPin)
Benefits rise will increase the number of single mums

AN increase of £13 a week in benefits may push up the rate of single motherhood by 2%, according to an EU-wide study that suggests a direct link between the welfare system and the number of lone-parent families.
Ireland — despite its Catholic heritage — has the highest proportion of single mothers in the EU. In 2001 more than 4% of households were headed by single mothers. Irish lone mothers receive as much in benefits as their British counterparts.

http://www.familydiversity.ie/students/Quick%20glance%20statistics%20on%20one%20parent%20families%20in%20Ireland%202002%20and%202003.pdf

In total in 2002 there were close to 153,900 lone parent families in Ireland.
Between 1996 and 2002 the number of households containing a lone parent
with children increased from 105,400 to 131,200, an increase of 25,800
households (24.5%).

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82069
Kevin Myers

Ed had suggested that mothers of bastards could earn up to EUR 20,000 a year from benefits. Through her gushing tears, Anne inconsolably declared that a lone parent (i.e., a MoB) gets only EUR 148.80 a week, plus EUR 19.30 per child. And indeed, this would be impossible to live on if it were all that the State forked out; but it is not. In addition, the State pays for the MoBs' rented accommodation - worth over EUR 13,000 or more a year. So the MoB's real income could come to nearly EUR 23,000. If you're working, you have to have pre-tax earnings in the region of EUR 38,000 to match that income.
And how do MoBs cope when their male bastards (in a literal sense) become metaphorical bastards in adolescence? How does a woman assert her will over a sour, aggressive, uncommunicative teenage boy? Well, she usually doesn't - as a study of the parental backgrounds of gang members in London and New York - where they are ahead of us in such matters - will tell you. Mob members usually have stressed-out MoBs for mothers, and absent FoBs for dads.
Well, even that compulsive sharer of pain, Bill Clinton, knew something tough had to be done: at the instigation of a Republican-dominated Congress, he began a concerted drive against MoBbery, cutting welfare and introducing strong tax incentives for working MoBs. The results were amazing. After 30 years of unbroken increase, the rise in MoBbery was swiftly halted. Welfare handouts plummeted; and 10 years on, two out of three MoBs are now in work.

Zebra3

Judgement Day wrote: »

Closing the station won't solve the problem

Yeah, I'm always bemused at those who think that will somehow stop people throwing bricks at trains. The bricks tend to be thrown from the field behind the westbound platform. If that land is not developed so people can't hang around there, the railway line needs a covering.

thomasj

Zebra3 wrote: »

Yeah, I'm always bemused at those who think that will somehow stop people throwing bricks at trains. The bricks tend to be thrown from the field behind the westbound platform. If that land is not developed so people can't hang around there, the railway line needs a covering.

My point is, only by threatening to close the station, affecting those who use the station, will the authorities in the area sit up and take notice, and the issue will be in the spotlight! Otherwise they won't care!

munchkin_utd

no
theres also feckers throwing bricks at busses heading to Cavan/ Navan
and theres no bus stop for the scumbags to get them to Cavan
So withdrawing the non existant bus stop wont help stop those pr1cks

What is needed is a hardcore heavy heavy policing strategy that will stop f#ckwits throwing blocks at busses and trains.

Wel... and cages on overpasses to stop braindead gimps chucking 15kg missiles onto trains and busses.

DaveTheWave

Nah happens all the time really, just no one hears about it

kildarecommuter

Many many moons ago I remeber being on an RPSI train going through Liffey Jct(no brombridge then) and the stone throwers got a big shock when someone on the loco threw a lump of coal back and hit one of them on the head!

BostonB

This hasn't changed in the 20yrs or so I've been using the train.

empirix

Judgement Day wrote: »

Closing the station won't solve the problem anyway as the whole area from Glasnevin Cemetery through to beyond Broombridge Station has been a no-go area for decades. Stone throwing has been popular at Liffey Junction since Old God's time - it's part of local culture and some of the stone throwers must be third generation at this stage. The signal cabin at Liffey Junction was burnt the night after it closed. I used to know one of the signalmen there and I remember joking with him to keep the last bullet for himself if they got into the cabin - it was that bad.

what do you mean a no go area!!! its not Beiruit, its grand and lets put things in perspective, the brick throwers are kids/teenagers and obviously not on the dole!

foggy_lad

empirix wrote: »

what do you mean a no go area!!! its not Beiruit, its grand and lets put things in perspective, the brick throwers are kids/teenagers and obviously not on the dole!

many of them are hash head drug dealing authority abusing wasters that hang around with groups of kids because of the strange way kids see tham as some kind of cool role model, the tree-hugging hippies that lived in tunnels to try to stop roads being built are the same breed of waster.

Judgement Day

empirix wrote: »

what do you mean a no go area!!! its not Beiruit, its grand and lets put things in perspective, the brick throwers are kids/teenagers and obviously not on the dole!

Where in my post did I mention the dole? It is a no-go area for anybody in their right mind. Liffey Junction/Broombridge is a railway blackspot along with Longpavement (Limerick/Ennis line), Cork (old yard at Kilbarry), Carrick-on-Suir, Ballyfermot, Athlone (west of the Shannon), Shankill (nr.Shanganagh Jn), Kilbarrack (not so bad these days), Lurgan, Belfast Central/Botanic - have I missed any? Like so much else relating to the railway things have been on the slide for years and, as I said, they are waiting for someone to be killed before something is done about it.

dowlingm

Is there an IE protocol regarding numbers of stopping trains before the station rates an IE employee on premises at all operational hours? I presume the M3 parkway trains don't bring the numbers near those levels?

maninasia

TheChrisD wrote: »

Sometimes I even wonder why Broombridge station is still used anymore. It's nothing but two platforms running along the tracks, and nothing else, not even ticket vending machines from what I can see. And it's horribly under-used, probably about 3 people get on/off it anytime it stops there? Just close the whole darn thing...

But why is it unmanned? Why is there no security and security cameras? It's common sense, the more people that use it the safer it would actually be.

maninasia

empirix wrote: »

what do you mean a no go area!!! its not Beiruit, its grand and lets put things in perspective, the brick throwers are kids/teenagers and obviously not on the dole!

It basically is a no go area, nobody would feel comfortable there, would you be comfortable for your wife and kids to use it? I would never let them use it and even for myself I would feel distinctly uneasy.
The only way to deal with this thuggery is indeed to use tough policing just like on the continent, take out the batons and let them hurt, otherwise you just get walked over as a society..strange people in Ireland can't figure this out. All the PC talk actually harms quality of life to a huge degree, you can't have it both ways, being nice to thugs and letting them off and funding their social welfare dependency helps nobody.

maninasia

Karsini wrote: »

In fairness, any time new facilities are installed in Broombridge they just get destroyed and/or thrown into the Royal Canal...

You mean a park bench of something....need cameras and a police/security presence plus an actual railway station!

maninasia

Judgement Day wrote: »

Closing the station won't solve the problem anyway as the whole area from Glasnevin Cemetery through to beyond Broombridge Station has been a no-go area for decades. Stone throwing has been popular at Liffey Junction since Old God's time - it's part of local culture and some of the stone throwers must be third generation at this stage. The signal cabin at Liffey Junction was burnt the night after it closed. I used to know one of the signalmen there and I remember joking with him to keep the last bullet for himself if they got into the cabin - it was that bad.

This is so true, the North Dublin Royal Canal area was once a prestigious area of Dublin (back in the 18th an 19th century). It is still a lovely green area but little known as it is not a safe area in general and a lot of scumbags hang out around it. It amazed me that it was almost totally passed by during the Celtic tiger..very strange as it is a central area and should be an amenity for people in Phibsboro/Glasnevin/Cabra/Finglas.

MrStuffins

Hahahaha, some absolute bull-pat being spoken in this thread!

Nevyn

maninasia wrote: »

This is so true, the North Dublin Royal Canal area was once a prestigious area of Dublin (back in the 18th an 19th century). It is still a lovely green area but little known as it is not a safe area in general and a lot of scumbags hang out around it. It amazed me that it was almost totally passed by during the Celtic tiger..very strange as it is a central area and should be an amenity for people in Phibsboro/Glasnevin/Cabra/Finglas.

A huge hunk of the factory along the line at the station were bought by a property developer looking to put in a complex like the one at Ashtown.
The area was let go to rack and ruin in hope that the locals would be happy to have anything built there, the plans had a 6 story apartment complex which would have over shadowed the houses along bannow road and cut out any sunlight.

Objections to the plans were lodged and up held and the re development now won't happen. Most of the units on the stretch are empty and that plays a part in the neglect of the area.

http://www.property.ie/commercial-property/Broombridge-Station-288-Bannow-Road-Cabra-Dublin-7/20725/

foggy_lad

The land owners should be responsible for security and if they can't handle it the council should apply to compulsory purchase the land to clean it up!

Thaedydal wrote: »

A huge hunk of the factory along the line at the station were bought by a property developer looking to put in a complex like the one at Ashtown.
The area was let go to rack and ruin in hope that the locals would be happy to have anything built there, the plans had a 6 story apartment complex which would have over shadowed the houses along bannow road and cut out any sunlight.

Objections to the plans were lodged and up held and the re development now won't happen. Most of the units on the stretch are empty and that plays a part in the neglect of the area.

http://www.property.ie/commercial-property/Broombridge-Station-288-Bannow-Road-Cabra-Dublin-7/20725/

BostonB

Thaedydal wrote: »

A huge hunk of the factory along the line at the station were bought by a property developer looking to put in a complex like the one at Ashtown.
The area was let go to rack and ruin ...

It was bad in the 80's long before any developer went near it. I think it was worse back them tbh.

optogirl

Karsini wrote: »

If it were up to me this station would have been closed long ago, Cherry Orchard was given the chop for similar reasons (was it even as bad?).

luckily it's not up to you and the hundreds of commuters who use the station and don't throw bricks can continue to do so

optogirl

Judgement Day wrote: »

Where in my post did I mention the dole? It is a no-go area for anybody in their right mind. Liffey Junction/Broombridge is a railway blackspot along with Longpavement (Limerick/Ennis line), Cork (old yard at Kilbarry), Carrick-on-Suir, Ballyfermot, Athlone (west of the Shannon), Shankill (nr.Shanganagh Jn), Kilbarrack (not so bad these days), Lurgan, Belfast Central/Botanic - have I missed any? Like so much else relating to the railway things have been on the slide for years and, as I said, they are waiting for someone to be killed before something is done about it.

No go area! Wonder how I and my neighbours manage to survive!