COMMENT: Lack of staff is ruining our rail service

I’M A big fan of the train. In fact, if there was a rail link between my house and office in Santry, I don’t think I’d even bother owning a car.

I live two stops short of a DART service and have to rely on the Drogheda commuter train. My closest station isn’t walking distance from my town, which means I either have to park and ride or pay for a taxi. The cost of both these options is a major disincentive to taking the train.

Like many stations along the rail network, mine is nearly always unstaffed. The self-service ticket machine isn’t very user friendly and doesn’t take €50 notes, which the poor woman in the queue ahead of us found to her cost as the train approached the platform last Sunday. Exasperated and flustered, she abandoned her plan to take the train and got back in her car.

We had no choice but to board the train without a ticket, running the risk of being fined and publicly humiliated if an inspector got on (none did). For the record, we had every intention of paying on arrival but when we got to our destination station the ticket office was closed and all the automatic turnstiles were open.

If you were willing to take the very slight risk of being caught, Iarnród Éireann was essentially offering free travel that day. No matter what spin is put on it, self-service train stations are simply an exercise in reducing staff costs. It would be interesting to see the cost benefit analysis of this approach given the potential for fare evasion. Most people would be less inclined to ‘bunk’ the train if they had to hop the barrier in front of an Irish Rail employee.

Then, of course, there’s the ongoing issue of anti-social behaviour on trains and at isolated stations. Clongriffin station, for instance, feels like it’s in no man’s land and has been the scene of violent incidents and vandalism in the past. A relative of mine had an unsettling experience there last week when he was approached for money on the platform by a drug addict. He felt extremely vulnerable and anxious as he endured what seemed like the longest wait ever for his train. 

Again, the station was unstaffed. If he had been attacked, there was nobody around to help him or call the gardaí. The platform is a number of flights of stairs up from ground level. If you are targeted by thugs, there is nowhere for you to go.

But back to my own train experience last Sunday. We managed to buy tickets for the homeward leg but the journey was not without its dramas. Two teenagers got on at Malahide and brazenly started rolling joints. Then, when we disembarked at our station, some brain-dead idiots had set the bushes on fire beside the platform before hopping on board the train. In the absence of any Iarnród Éireann staff, it was left to the passengers to put the flames out with their own water bottles.

This was a sinister incident which had the potential to endanger lives and suspend rail services on the Dublin-Belfast line for the rest of the evening. How much would it have cost to have one member of staff at the station? It seems to me that it’s a case of penny wise, pound foolish.

The establishment of a dedicated transport police unit, with powers of arrest, should be the ultimate goal. Personally, though, I won’t be holding my breath waiting for our politicians to act. In the meantime, please re-staff our train stations in the interest of commuters’ safety.