Connolly Maintenance Shed

Jonathan

Does anyone know what happened to the roller door on the front of the maintenance shed at Connolly? Looks like it was struck by a locomotive.

The_Wanderer

230 decided to go a bit too far for a stroll one day.

Rashers72

Wonder how long it will take to get repaired?
The area around Connolly is subject to a huge amount of vandalism and tagging. IE used to care, but they seem to have let all slip recently. A real pity. Completely reduces the sense of customer protection, leading eventually to passengers stopping using the services as they no longer feel safe.

Judgement Day

Graffiti is soon or later going to lead to deaths on the line and much useless hand wringing that something needs doing. It's been going on for decades but getting progressively worse and needs urgent attention - will happen - hell no!

gobnaitolunacy

I've heard of one graffitti 'artist' near-miss, doubtless there are more. Some locations are getting well plastered rather like the Paris Metro.
Only a matter of time really before someone gets a slap.

Jamie2k9

The sooner somebody gets a slap of a train the better as people will then realise not to be on the rail lines. It will always take one example of somebody being killed before it has any chance of sinking in.

Hilly Bill

Rashers72 wrote: »

Wonder how long it will take to get repaired?
The area around Connolly is subject to a huge amount of vandalism and tagging. IE used to care, but they seem to have let all slip recently. A real pity. Completely reduces the sense of customer protection, leading eventually to passengers stopping using the services as they no longer feel safe.

The door wasnt vandalised. How does a broken shed door make someone standing on platform 5,6,7 or passing on the train feel unsafe?

It wont be a case of " Oh look, a broke door and some graffiti. Im not going to use this train again as i dont feel safe ".

Rashers72

You are correct that the vandalism had nothing to do with the door, although the door was already vandalised/heavily tagged before hand.
My point is that Irish Rail don't seem to care anymore about fixing things when they break. Look at the fronts of the last batches of railcars. Every 2nd one of these I see has one part of 'front surround' missing or broken.
In the past IE used to care about both stopping the tagging, and would always apply a lick of paint to clean it up, and discourage the taggers.
Now they seem to just leave it.
To be fair, they do seem to deal with tagging on the carriages promptly, it is the physical infrastructure that seems to be getting the raw deal at the moment.
IMO large amounts of tagging around stations like Connolly does discourage people, and especially families, from using trains. Probably not as much as long journey times,and long gaps in the service in the off-peak, but when combined they all present a negative image of train travel especially into Connolly.

Judgement Day

Hilly Bill wrote: »

The door wasnt vandalised. How does a broken shed door make someone standing on platform 5,6,7 or passing on the train feel unsafe?

It wont be a case of " Oh look, a broke door and some graffiti. Im not going to use this train again as i dont feel safe ".

I think the point is that vandalised railway property e.g. Broombridge, portrays a negative image of the railway and there has been a gradual slipping of standards to the point where certain DART stations are no-go areas after dark.....Railway property should be properly secured and maintained and the state of much of it in the Greater Dublin area is a cause for concern - to me anyway.

Jamie2k9

My point is that Irish Rail don't seem to care anymore about fixing things when they break

Think its more that they can't afford to fix it...

Rashers72

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Think its more that they can't afford to fix it...

Fair enough about the parts falling off the newest railcars, and also the broken shutter. But re the tagging............:
While it is getting further from the topic, I am sure they could get a group that was assigned community service to do a few days painting over all the tagging. Zero labour cost, just the paints. And would also send out a strong message. Unfortunately we always seem to find an excuse why not to do the simple things! rant over!

Judgement Day

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Think its more that they can't afford to fix it...

That's as may be but if things were maintained regularly it would cost a fraction of the price than full-scale refurbishment - be it lineside features, buildings or rolling stock. In my experience CIE/IE don't do maintenance.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Hilly Bill

Rashers72 wrote: »

You are correct that the vandalism had nothing to do with the door, although the door was already vandalised/heavily tagged before hand.
My point is that Irish Rail don't seem to care anymore about fixing things when they break. Look at the fronts of the last batches of railcars. Every 2nd one of these I see has one part of 'front surround' missing or broken.
In the past IE used to care about both stopping the tagging, and would always apply a lick of paint to clean it up, and discourage the taggers.
Now they seem to just leave it.
To be fair, they do seem to deal with tagging on the carriages promptly, it is the physical infrastructure that seems to be getting the raw deal at the moment.
IMO large amounts of tagging around stations like Connolly does discourage people, and especially families, from using trains. Probably not as much as long journey times,and long gaps in the service in the off-peak, but when combined they all present a negative image of train travel especially into Connolly.

I dont think its a "Dont care" issue but trying to do the best that they can and keeping as much of the fleet in operation at the same time.
I cant see any families being put off using the trains by a bit of spray painting as it has no affect on them getting to and from their destination.
That shed is coming down soon anyway.

Hilly Bill

Judgement Day wrote: »

I think the point is that vandalised railway property e.g. Broombridge, portrays a negative image of the railway and there has been a gradual slipping of standards to the point where certain DART stations are no-go areas after dark.....Railway property should be properly secured and maintained and the state of much of it in the Greater Dublin area is a cause for concern - to me anyway.

I agree to some degree but unless the natives start playing ball then there isnt a whole lot that Irish Rail can do. Lock the access gates after the last train and those that want to trespass will find a way onto the tracks somehow .
A lot of the graffiti gets removed and some anti graffiti paint gets put in its place but you would nearly need a full time team working on it to get on top of the problem.
Some of the Dart stations have been done up in recent years but could still be kept tidier which is simple enough to do.
I think Broombridge portrays a negative image of Cabra rather than the railway in general and millions may have to be spent to solve that problem.

dregin

Speaking of Connolly and maintenance, my office faces onto platform 7 and I've noticed a fairly substantial increase in the number of engineers walking along the track over the last 6 months or so.

Are they checking for faults or what's the deal? If they are, can this not be automated to an extent?

Hilly Bill

Its just general maintenence on the points etc plus its a Trackwalker's job to look for faults so any defects can be repaired. You may have also seen the OHLE lads checking the overhead lines.