Heuston and Connolly scoop best station awards in UK and Ireland - do you agree?

thomasj

So irish rail are today gloating about their awards

On the website:

Heuston Station wins UK & Ireland Station Award by Corporate Communications

Well done to Station Manager Tony Doran and his team at Dublin’s Heuston Station, the flagship Intercity station on the Iarnród Éireann network, which has won the overall Best Station prize at the 6th annual International Station Awards.

The awards, involving eight major railway companies from across the UK and Ireland, are aimed at raising standards in stations in all participating companies, through sharing best practice in customer focus and station facilities. The awards were presented in the Cobh Heritage Centre, Co Cork yesterday evening.

The eight participating companies were:

- Mersey Rail

- First Great Western

- First Transpennine Express

- Arriva Trains Wales

- Metro Tyne Wear

- Iarnród Éireann

- Translink NIRailways

- London Overground

In addition to Overall Best Station, Heuston alsopicked up the Best Major Station Award. Connolly Station in Dublin also collected the Best Large Station prize, ahead of Belfast’s Central Station.

The full roll of honour was:

Best Metro Station

Highly Commended: Hampstead Heath, London Overground

Winner: Liverpool South Parkway, MerseyRail

Best Small Station

Highly Commended: Hoylake, MerseyRail

Winner: Barnstaple, First Great Western

Best Medium Station

Highly Commended: Stalybridge, Transpennine Express

Winner: Bridgend, Arriva Train Wales

Best Large Station

Highly Commended: Belfast Central, Translink NI Railways

Winner: Connolly Station, Iarnród Éireann

Best Major Station

Winner: Heuston Station, Iarnród Éireann

Best Innovation Award Liverpool South Parkway, MerseyRail

Best Customer Service – Going the ExtraMile Bridgend, Arriva Trains Wales

Overall Best Station Award 2011 Winner:

Heuston Station, Iarnród Éireann

Do you agree?

I have been in better stations in the uk notably mamchester picidily

What do you reckon?

roundymac

It was probably their turn to win it.:D

Cookie_Monster

Connolly???

They must have swept the area clear of junkies for the visit.

Judgement Day

Probably the same Irish judges (IRRS) who gave Mallow special mention some years ago for its 'heritage' display - the rotting steam crane in the carpark. :rolleyes:

roy rodgers

give me kings cross any day. at least i can go any where in the uk and europe from there!

foggy_lad

Heuston is a nightmare with platforms flung far and wide much the same as platforms 6 & 7 in Connolly. why are the Toilets and Ticket office down at platforms 6, 7 & 8 in Heuston not used? they should be open for the comfort and convenience of passengers.

I doubt very much that thesed awards are based on anything other than railways self gloryifing and patting themselves on the back and yes i agree it was probably time for irish rail to win.

If the judging was done completly independantly by the general public and without input from railway company supporters records societies or enthusiasts i doubt the results would stand.

corktina

Judgement Day wrote: »

Probably the same Irish judges (IRRS) who gave Mallow special mention some years ago for its 'heritage' display - the rotting steam crane in the carpark. :rolleyes:

and the old footbridge display. Better than scrapping them imo

DWCommuter

A fix. Very coincidental. Awards ceremonies tend to be dominated by sponsors, hosts and advertisers. These awards are fake. *

* My heart does truly go out to those who believe that I am the anti christ of Irish Railways and have purposefully invaded this thread. However only IE can win an award or two in a competition that they helped set up.

Meaningless crap.

LoonyLovegood

IE shouldn't have won it. Had my first experience of trains outside the uk, in Manchester Piccadilly. Clean, safe and easy to manoeuvre. The amount of times I've almost missed a train because it's down platform 8 or 9 in Heuston!

Victor

Parts of both stations are reasonably good. Heuston now has all the clocks on the same time and the toilets and Enterprise lournge are quite good in Connolly. Other parts are quite bad, like the pigeons in food areas and lack of signage at Heuston and the curved platforms and the gale that blows through platforms 5-7 in Connolly.

I think there are both better and worse stations out there.

steamengine

Fair dues to Irish Rail, at least one poster is prepared to stick his head above the parapet, no begrudgery here.

runway16

Sorry to dissent from the usual chorus of disapproval for IE (Which I do myself indulge in quite often) but I find Heuston station excellent as stations of it's size go. Its clean, has just enough services without cramming them in to every imaginable space like they do in the UK, the signage is now very good, the Information displays are clear, large and easy to see.

As for distances to platforms, where else were they supposed to put them for god sake?

Connolly is OK..... it serves it's purpose but really doesnt deserve an award.

syklops

If you consider pigeons wandering around in Supermacs clean, then Heuston is quite clean.

Best in the british isles? I have me doubts.

Victor

runway16 wrote: »

the signage is now very good

But there are no signs outside to say that it is Hueston station, or indeed a train station at all.

runway16

syklops wrote: »

If you consider pigeons wandering around in Supermacs clean, then Heuston is quite clean.

Best in the british isles? I have me doubts.

I've seen pigeons wandering around in Airports before. It's unfortunately what happens in large public building which are open at one side.

Therefore, I dont really let that influence me.

As for no signage outside, that is fair enough, but I suspect a little bit of splitting hairs is involved here in terms of pulling apart my opinion. I know it's a station, anyone using Luas or Bus will know it's a station. I would love to actually meet the person who walked past it while looking for Heuston station.......

Victor

Many a tourist or non-resident might not know it is a station or more partiularly Heuston Station.

steamengine

Victor wrote: »

But there are no signs outside to say that it is Hueston station, or indeed a train station at all.

The IE logo and station name would look the part ok - apart from the functionality.

bazza1

Lots of posts on these theads knock IE, sometimes justifiably, often times not. One good piece of news and the begrudgers cry foul and fix! Cop on guys! Yes I do work for IE, and work hard!

• IE is undergoing big restructuring and addition of new rolling stock.
• Staffing levels are greatly reduced (workload isnt).
• Many services are contracted out.
• Unprofitable services MUST be run to provide a public service.
• Fuel costs are rising.
• Maintenace costs are rising.
• Safety is the number one concern, always was, always will be!
• Speed restrictions are for a reason...not to piss people off!
• Indian railways?...please...try them and compare. Comparing IE unfavourably with Deutche Bahn etc is unfair, due to their higher passenger numbers etc. Do you compare yourselves with German people?

runway16

bazza1 wrote: »

Lots of posts on these theads knock IE, sometimes justifiably, often times not. One good piece of news and the begrudgers cry foul and fix! Cop on guys! Yes I do work for IE, and work hard!

• IE is undergoing big restructuring and addition of new rolling stock.
• Staffing levels are greatly reduced (workload isnt).
• Many services are contracted out.
• Unprofitable services MUST be run to provide a public service.
• Fuel costs are rising.
• Maintenace costs are rising.
• Safety is the number one concern, always was, always will be!
• Speed restrictions are for a reason...not to piss people off!
• Indian railways?...please...try them and compare. Comparing IE unfavourably with Deutche Bahn etc is unfair, due to their higher passenger numbers etc. Do you compare yourselves with German people?

Sorry, but comparisons with DB are entirely valid. It is not too much to expect a railway which is properly scheduled and promotes ease of connections. IE do not deliver on this and this is the very basis of any system. We also know speed restrictions are there for safety, but here's an idea: FIX them?

Judgement Day

bazza1 wrote: »

Lots of posts on these theads knock IE, sometimes justifiably, often times not. One good piece of news and the begrudgers cry foul and fix! Cop on guys! Yes I do work for IE, and work hard!

• IE is undergoing big restructuring and addition of new rolling stock.
  What is this restructuring and I thought most of the new rolling stock arrived several years ago?
• Staffing levels are greatly reduced (workload isnt). I dunno - what about those former signalmen, now relegated to depotmen at their former places of work who have little to do (with ATVMs now in place) except avoid managers.
• Many services are contracted out.
  What has this to do with anything?
  
• Unprofitable services MUST be run to provide a public service. I thought no railway line is profitable so how do you differentiate?
• Fuel costs are rising. Your point being?
• Maintenace costs are rising. Your point being?
• Safety is the number one concern, always was, always will be! Malahide, Cahir etc.
• Speed restrictions are for a reason...not to piss people off! They probably wouldn't if there was any sign of things improving.
• Indian railways?...please...try them and compare. Comparing IE unfavourably with Deutche Bahn etc is unfair, due to their higher passenger numbers etc. Do you compare yourselves with German people?

None of the above has anything to do with the best station award which is just a photo opportunity for CIE Top Brass and other liggers to have a piss-up and a mutual back slapping love-in.

foggy_lad

syklops wrote: »

If you consider pigeons wandering around in Supermacs clean, then Heuston is quite clean.

Best in the british isles? I have me doubts.

Not to mention having to go outside the restaurant to use the stations toilet facilities, not sure if that breaks HSE rules but i always thought a fast food or other resteraunt where customers could eat in had to have their own toilets?

runway16 wrote: »

I've seen pigeons wandering around in Airports before. It's unfortunately what happens in large public building which are open at one side.

Therefore, I dont really let that influence me.

As for no signage outside, that is fair enough, but I suspect a little bit of splitting hairs is involved here in terms of pulling apart my opinion. I know it's a station, anyone using Luas or Bus will know it's a station. I would love to actually meet the person who walked past it while looking for Heuston station.......

Luckily the Pigeons have the advantage of being able to see the trains from a height as they swoop down into the station so they know exactly where they are unlike many tourists who have to look around and ask the many beggars and junkies at the luas stop where the train station is. and then upon entering the station and walking towards the platforms especially 6, 7 & 8 they have to back track across the whole concourse to get to the ticket hatch all the while dragging their luggage and trying to avoid dodgey looking carachters, then they have to go all the way back to platform 8 to wait for their train. It's just such an inconvenient mess but opening up the toilets and ticket office at the far away platforms would go some way to looking after the passengers that pay the bills!

markpb

foggy_lad wrote: »

upon entering the station and walking towards the platforms especially 6, 7 & 8 they have to back track across the whole concourse to get to the ticket hatch all the while dragging their luggage and trying to avoid dodgey looking carachters, then they have to go all the way back to platform 8 to wait for their train.

I think you're exaggerating. There are ticket machines at the concourse beside 6-8 as well as in the main concourse. There aren't many tickets that the ticket machines don't sell so not many people would be put out anyway.

And if you think Heuston 8 is far away - try getting the Da Vinci Express from Rome Termini. It's almost 500m from the main concourse, tickets for it can only be bought on the platform (not from any ticket machine there or in the main concourse) and can only be paid for in cash with the nearest ATM at the other end of the station. Then there's the fact that the platforms are too low for the trains so you have to lug your luggage up several stairs to get them on the train.

Personally I think Heuston is quite good (consider it's run by CIE). It's well served by ground transport, well sign-posted inside, doesn't feel like a vast empty room (like Connolly) and has a decent selection of (very expensive) cafes. It also has a decent amount of ticket selling and collection machines.

Tigger

First time I ever saw blue lights in a toilet was in Connolly
Surely normal lights and a no junkies policy would be better

Cookie_Monster

bazza1 wrote: »

Staffing levels are greatly reduced (workload isnt).
Many services are contracted out.

So workload is not being reduced yet stuff is being contracted out, reducing workload

foggy_lad

markpb wrote: »

I think you're exaggerating. There are ticket machines at the concourse beside 6-8 as well as in the main concourse. There aren't many tickets that the ticket machines don't sell so not many people would be put out anyway.

And if you think Heuston 8 is far away - try getting the Da Vinci Express from Rome Termini. It's almost 500m from the main concourse, tickets for it can only be bought on the platform (not from any ticket machine there or in the main concourse) and can only be paid for in cash with the nearest ATM at the other end of the station. Then there's the fact that the platforms are too low for the trains so you have to lug your luggage up several stairs to get them on the train.

Personally I think Heuston is quite good (consider it's run by CIE). It's well served by ground transport, well sign-posted inside, doesn't feel like a vast empty room (like Connolly) and has a decent selection of (very expensive) cafes. It also has a decent amount of ticket selling and collection machines.

There are machines But there are also purpose built toilets as well as a large modern ticket office lying completly idle which could also double up as an information desk because lets face it the current information desk is not easy to find tucked away in the corner, Also we are in Ireland not France Germany Italy Sweden or any other country.

A Dub in Glasgo

Network Rail, who operate all the major stations in Britain did not participate in these awards.

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/765.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Network_Rail_managed_stations

I would vote for St Pancras International

mickydoomsux

foggy_lad wrote: »

Also we are in Ireland not France Germany Italy Sweden or any other country.

And yet you thanked a post advocating comparing IE to DB on this very page.

Anyways, fair play to the lads in Heuston. Not a huge fan of it myself, the layout is a bit odd.

n97 mini

I don't care who entered.

Heuston is not better than St Pancras. Heuston isn't even better than Euston.

A Dub in Glasgo

You have gone too far now :eek:

Compare and contrast

Judgement Day

Yeah, you're right as foggy_lad will tell you, Euston is a smart modern station, fit for purpose, and Heuston is an architectural ruin that should used for hardcore on a motorway.

oppenheimer1

Judgement Day wrote: »

Yeah, you're right as foggy_lad will tell you, Euston is a smart modern station, fit for purpose, and Heuston is an architectural ruin that should used for hardcore on a motorway.

Euston is a kip, as is Victoria. Don't get me started on Clapham Junction. To describe it as the outer circle of hell would be kind to it.