A chara, – Connolly Station in Dublin is divided into two sections – the covered mainline rail section and the adjoining Dart section.There is understandably a high level of passenger movement between the two sections.
Those entering the Dart section from the mainline section are faced with a very useful electronic display board giving the times of the next trains on the Dart lines.The reverse side contains exactly the same information, which is of no use to those entering the mainline station in the opposite direction.
To make matters worse, there is no electronic display board inside the entrance to the mainline section from the Dart section to tell the times of the next trains in the mainline section. One has to go out into the entrance concourse to the mainline station to view the display board to get this information.
This has become of particular interest to me, as recent changes in train services mean that most trains going to Maynooth now depart from the mainline section, but from different platforms depending on the time of the service.
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Iarnród Éireann also needs to devise a system whereby incoming trains to the mainline section immediately change their destination display to show the next destination to which they will be departing.
When I arrived to get the 13.47 service to Maynooth last Tuesday, the train standing at Platform 4 gave “Connolly” as its destination, even though it was already at Connolly. I had to go to the main concourse to confirm that this was, in fact, the train to Maynooth.
The destination was only changed to Maynooth a couple of minutes before the train departed, presumably when the driver entered the train. Would it not make more sense for the driver of the incoming train to change the destination on arrival?
While waiting for the train to depart, and before the displayed destination was changed, I observed quite a number of intending passengers emerging from the Dart section staring quizzically at the train before, in many cases, asking someone else on the platform if this was the train to Maynooth.
Catching trains at Connolly can be stressful enough without Iarnród Éireann adding unnecessarily to the problem. – Is mise,
PROINNSIAS
BREATHNACH,
Maynooth, Co Kildare.