RESIDENTS are urging Irish Rail not to allow their local train station to become damaged and neglected.
The residents fear for the future of Clongriffin DART Station, which opened only three years ago at a cost of e20 million.
They are pleading with Irish Rail to do more to protect the valuable public resource, which is used by over 400 people per day.
In particular, they are demanding that an anti-social behaviour hotline be made more user friendly as it is currently unmanned after office hours.
Emer Liston, who lives close to the station, believes the LoCall 1850 hotline number discourages members of the public from reporting instances of anti-social behaviour such as graffiti and vandalism.
“I gave up calling the number about two months ago,
? Ms Liston told Northside People.
“It’s a real shame that when something happens at the station the people who care about it, use it and want to protect it feel they have no way of reporting anti-social behaviour to Irish Rail.
“It’s particularly frustrating when you are put on to an automated machine and paying by the minute for the call.
“It just doesn’t seem fair or logical, especially when most anti-social behaviour occurs in the late evening and night time.
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Ms Liston emphasised that Clongriffin is not a hotspot for anti-social behaviour but said a better and cheaper hotline number was crucial to protecting the station.
“Surely it’s in Irish Rail’s interest to staff the anti-social hotline number around the clock,
? she added.
Dublin North East TD Tommy Broughan (Lab) has asked both Irish Rail and Transport Minister Leo Varadkar to urgently enhance measures to address anti-social activity.
“Commuters feel more vulnerable using a rail station at night and it would clearly provide them with greater peace of mind if they knew that the anti-social hotline was manned after 5.30pm,
? Deputy Broughan stated.
“I understand that DART users have also requested that the machine is answered by a person instead of the current automated service.
“Clongriffin commuters are very concerned that the hotline number to report anti-social behaviour in unmanned DART and rail stations is an 1850 high cost number which acts as a disincentive for commuters to report graffiti, anti-social (behaviour) and other criminal activity.
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Irish Rail uses its national enquiries number (1850 366222) for reports of anti-social behaviour, which are directed to the company’s customer information centre.
A spokesman for the company said the 1850 numbers are not premium rate numbers,
“They are designated LoCall numbers by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg),
? he told Northside People.
“This applies a local call charge for landlines regardless of where in the country it is phoned from, which is useful for a national company such as ourselves.
“Mobile phone companies charge at varying rates for 1850 numbers, with some including it as a local call or within
‘free minutes’ plans, but where charged this is at a per call rate, and is therefore cheaper than an 1890 number which is charged per minute on landlines and mobile phones.
“According to a number of price survey websites, the highest current cost for 1850 numbers is 35c per call.
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The spokesman added that for some mobile phone users, calling a standard 01 number is therefore cheaper than using 1850 numbers, or is included in
‘free minutes’ plans from the mobile operator.
“Customers can therefore also access the anti-social behaviour report line by calling 01 8366222, which may be cheaper,
? he explained.
“We would very much welcome it if ComReg were to designate 1850 numbers as a national number for all mobile phone operators, and require it to be within
‘free minutes’ plans, which would be in keeping with the original intent of 1850 numbers.
? The spokesman pointed out that there is an emergency 01 number listed at stations and manned at all times.