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Want to keep your railway station? Work for it

  • 22-02-2012 11:06pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭


    Since Austerity is likely to cause threats to close rural routes with unstaffed stations, I thought I'd share the efforts of people in Olympia, Washington State in the US to retain their Amtrak service.
    At Amtrak's Olympia station, volunteer attendants have served the needs of thousands of rail travelers faithfully since the station, built with volunteer labor, opened in 1993. Amtrak has cooperated — up to a point.

    Open the Amtrak timetable, however, and the station directory will tell you that Centennial Station, the national rail provider's Olympia-Lacey stop, is unstaffed and unattended — like most of Amtrak's hundreds of stations. Get off a train at the station and you'll find out Amtrak isn't giving you the straight story.

    You'll be greeted by volunteers who will help carry your baggage, assist you to a bus, tell you where the restrooms are, or answer questions about your next Amtrak trip.

    What's more, volunteers built the station house, which opened in 1993, with donated money and material. If ever there was an example of people joining together to create transportation infrastructure, this is it.
    this is the money quote for me:
    Amtrak's representatives also pooh-poohed the volunteer staffing, which began as soon as the station opened. “'It'll peter out,'” Flem recalls them as saying. Events have proven that skepticism ill-placed, too: the volunteers have met every train, without exception, since 1993. That includes the occasional very tardy Coast Starlight arrivals, which have required volunteers to come out at two or three in the morning, according to Rich DeGarmo, who supervises the 60 station volunteers as president of the Centennial Station Committee.

    “We have three four-hour shifts, 365 days a year,” DeGarmo, an Olympia pharmacist, explained. “It's all on the basis of a sign-up sheet at the station. People are dying to sign up and serve. We never have any openings, generally.
    and on my favourite hobby horse (show me the money Councillors)
    The station's backers have made their voices heard at the local level, too. Local jurisdictions have put in almost $100,000 each year to maintain the station's physical infrastructure, but in early 2011 the Olympia City Council decided unanimously to terminate its $11,000 contribution in view of a budget shortfall. “There was such an imbroglio from the people that they decided to reverse themselves,” DeGarmo said. The vote for reversal was likewise unanimous.


Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    Some pics and info here: http://railpassengerbyjohn.blogspot.com/2009/02/olympia-washington.html and not a bit of concrete or pallisade fencing in sight. :D

    WA+Olympia_Lacey+Amtrak.jpg

    dowlingm - we should get a room as we talking to each other and few other posters think along the same lines as us i.e. that the railway needs to be put back at the centre of the communities it serves. :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    I think it should be "Use It!" instead of Work for it. I always thought this line of thinking especially relevant to the Rosslare - Waterford campaigners.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    n97 mini wrote: »
    I think it should be "Use It!" instead of Work for it. I always thought this line of thinking especially relevant to the Rosslare - Waterford campaigners.

    Use it or lose it is meaningless in the context of lines where the service is designed to suit staff requirements and the powers that be in Heuston rather than the communities served.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    I absolutely agree, and I don't blame the 200 or so people who protested outside stations as trains ran empty.

    A friend lives in south Wexford. He gave out about the rail service ceasing yet it's been 20 years since he used a train. Car reigns supreme. He's not unique, but rather is in the vast majority.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭steamengine


    Referring to MD's interesting post above, has volunteerism ever taken place in connection with railways here, outside of the preservation scene ? In particular, railway stations that win the yearly awards, are they assisted by the local tidy towns committees, or is it purely IE staff that put in the work ?


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    I seem to remember that Millstreet had a heavy input from the local community (Tidy Towns) some years ago and has won several awards.

    2010-05-22-The-Twelve-Counties-Railtour-MkII-800.jpg
    http://www.millstreet.ie/blog/category/communities/millstreet-town/page/25


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭steamengine


    I seem to remember that Millstreet had a heavy input from the local community (Tidy Towns) some years ago and has won several awards.

    Cloughjordan Tidy Towns have taken the station there under their wing also I see :- Link


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,744 ✭✭✭deRanged


    in the early 90's the Community Association in Glounthaune ran a program to employ local teenagers in the area. One of the things they did was to paint Glounthaune station ( Cobh Junction at the time). They got an art teacher to come down and put a mural on the wall of the shelter, and then it would be preserved and the station painted each year.
    Irish Rail would supply the paint, and an inspector to make sure we stopped painting 5 minutes before each train until 5 minutes after it was gone (for safety of course). I had been wondering how it would take 4 of us a week to paint the station until I saw that :)
    The station won a bronze award in the most improved category the first year.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    To be fair, I remember Tuam people doing a reno on the station there in recent times:
    http://www.westernpeople.ie/news/eyqlmhcwcw/
    but there have to be shekels too, not just sweat equity, if they want service back - both in terms of County Council contribution (which could include road grade separations to delete level crossings) and commitments to buy season tickets.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,463 ✭✭✭CIE


    n97 mini wrote: »
    A friend lives in south Wexford. He gave out about the rail service ceasing yet it's been 20 years since he used a train. Car reigns supreme. He's not unique, but rather is in the vast majority
    Is he supposed to use the train at least every month or something, to qualify to be angry about losing rail service? There are lots of other reasons for wanting to keep rail service in your locality even if you aren't necessarily a frequent user of it; perhaps you might have businesses that would get a boost from rail users coming to visit, or suchlike.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    CIE wrote: »
    Is he supposed to use the train at least every month or something, to qualify to be angry about losing rail service? There are lots of other reasons for wanting to keep rail service in your locality even if you aren't necessarily a frequent user of it; perhaps you might have businesses that would get a boost from rail users coming to visit, or suchlike.
    The reality is though that that recognition should cost something - if you're going to lose customers as opposed to them shifting to another transport mode then you should be approaching IE to see how the service can be supported, such as a joint marketing campaign or other ways of making it viable from an IE perspective especially when compared to other ways the same capital and operating funding can be employed elsewhere.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,295 ✭✭✭n97 mini


    CIE wrote: »
    Is he supposed to use the train at least every month or something, to qualify to be angry about losing rail service?
    There is a difference between using it occasionally and never using it at all. If you're the latter, well don't be surprised when the railway closes.
    CIE wrote: »
    There are lots of other reasons for wanting to keep rail service in your locality even if you aren't necessarily a frequent user of it
    There are, but if you show absolutely no support (i.e. put your hand in your pocket every now and again), well don't be surprised when the railway closes.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 47 Ted Mosby


    Re use it or lose it, the example often cited of the West Cork railway campaigners coming to Dublin by car to visit CS Andrews, protesting the closure of the railway, the only reason why they came by car was that it was impossible to travel to and from Dublin in the same day due to crap timetabling by CIE in order to run down the railway. Yet Andrews used that as a cheap shot against the campaigners.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    Ted Mosby wrote: »
    Re use it or lose it, the example often cited of the West Cork railway campaigners coming to Dublin by car to visit CS Andrews, protesting the closure of the railway, the only reason why they came by car was that it was impossible to travel to and from Dublin in the same day due to crap timetabling by CIE in order to run down the railway. Yet Andrews used that as a cheap shot against the campaigners.

    Dead on! I'm so tired contradicting this urban (legend) often parroted by so called enthusiasts. :mad:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,831 ✭✭✭Markcheese


    Ted Mosby wrote: »
    Re use it or lose it, the example often cited of the West Cork railway campaigners coming to Dublin by car to visit CS Andrews, protesting the closure of the railway, the only reason why they came by car was that it was impossible to travel to and from Dublin in the same day due to crap timetabling by CIE in order to run down the railway. Yet Andrews used that as a cheap shot against the campaigners.

    Bet they could have driven or bused to Cork and got the train to Dublin.....

    Trains are mass transit... There's no point trying to keep open or re-open routes if there's no population base ...
    I agree crap time tables and IE don't help, but in most instances an express coach service with proper stations and "proper" bus lanes would be cheaper, more efficent,more flexible probably carry more passengers....
    And just cos I enjoyed playing with train sets as a kid won't change that.....

    Slava ukraini 🇺🇦



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    Markcheese wrote: »
    Bet they could have driven or bused to Cork and got the train to Dublin.....

    Trains are mass transit... There's no point trying to keep open or re-open routes if there's no population base ...
    I agree crap time tables and IE don't help, but in most instances an express coach service with proper stations and "proper" bus lanes would be cheaper, more efficent,more flexible probably carry more passengers....
    And just cos I enjoyed playing with train sets as a kid won't change that.....

    Do you actually know anything about the West Cork Railway or did you just join this thread for a five minute argument?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,831 ✭✭✭Markcheese


    Well since the original thread title wasn't about the west cork line and it closed long before I was born.... And I'm no spring chicken ... I've been listening for years about how the line was sabotaged... I'm no historian and I wasn't there so, will confess to being out of the loop...
    I do have a genuine interest in mass transit systems but not from a nostalgia point of view ( even though I enjoy showing and taking my son on the train) which was why I started reading the thread.
    Your probably a bit right about the argumentative thing. After a couple of sat evening beers I put in words a few thoughts I'd had most times I've read the forum .

    Slava ukraini 🇺🇦



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    I'm afraid I've had too much Guinness (rugby related) and it tends to make me even more tetchy than normal - apologies to all concerned. :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,831 ✭✭✭Markcheese


    Agh beer the solution to, and cause of most of lifes problems. :)

    Slava ukraini 🇺🇦



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 267 ✭✭dmcronin


    On a similar theme I always wondered why they don't rent out the accom. areas of station buildings to say, retired couples or something to keep the place in some sort of order and to discourage teens hanging around and trashing the place. There seems the be fewer and fewer station houses occupied these days. I know some can be damp b*tards of places but I know at least one recently renovated station that's all boarded up now that the last crossing keeper left after automation of the LC. Seems a waste.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,549 ✭✭✭✭Judgement Day


    Not to mention all the goods stores around the country that they let fall down rather than let. CIE's property department is another of the company's long standing jokes.....don't mention Horgan's Quay. :rolleyes:

    BALLY.JPG
    http://derelictireland.blogspot.com/2011/09/ballisodare-train-station.html Sarah Stevens

    Ballisodare station near Sligo - a monument to CIE waste.


  • Site Banned Posts: 5,904 ✭✭✭parsi


    dmcronin wrote: »
    On a similar theme I always wondered why they don't rent out the accom. areas of station buildings to say, retired couples or something to keep the place in some sort of order and to discourage teens hanging around and trashing the place. There seems the be fewer and fewer station houses occupied these days. I know some can be damp b*tards of places but I know at least one recently renovated station that's all boarded up now that the last crossing keeper left after automation of the LC. Seems a waste.

    We knew the former signalman at Dromkeen and when he retired IE refused to let him continue to rent the station building and boarded it up.


  • Site Banned Posts: 5,904 ✭✭✭parsi


    Ted Mosby wrote: »
    Re use it or lose it, the example often cited of the West Cork railway campaigners coming to Dublin by car to visit CS Andrews, protesting the closure of the railway, the only reason why they came by car was that it was impossible to travel to and from Dublin in the same day due to crap timetabling by CIE in order to run down the railway. Yet Andrews used that as a cheap shot against the campaigners.

    Aren't you the guy who wanted to demolish a historic building and replace it with the HQ of Goliath Bank ?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,346 ✭✭✭dowlingm


    parsi wrote: »
    Aren't you the guy who wanted to demolish a historic building and replace it with the HQ of Goliath Bank ?
    I think Sven should put the massive dinosaur tower on top of Tara St Station.
    Sven.jpg


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