Thread: Monasterevin
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Unread 02-06-2006, 00:37   #16
stevetee
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Monasterevin
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[quote=Mark Gleeson]
Monasterevin is an example of what not to do, the station was provided on the back of local political pressure without any consideration of providing extra resources to support it...

Reopening the station was exactly the right thing to do for the town. It was a brave leap out of dark days in the 70s/80s, a move the town has really benefitted from. What is missing is a regular service that does not focus exclusively on commuters travelling to/from Dublin, does not rely on the presence of a station master so people can use services on a Sunday and that is more affordable to the average Joe - there have been approximately 10 fare increases since I started commuting in 2000. These are the key issues to be addressed if the station is to become more widely used by its own population.

As it currently stands, the station is either empty or closed 80% of the time. Proximity to Dublin should no longer be the key criteria for assessing the viability of a rural rail service. The populations of all towns along the Kildare line as far as Portlaoise including Monasterevin have rocketed since 2000. Why has it taken IE 6 years to react to this fact ? Even then, why a load of super fast trains that whizz by Monasterevin and end up in Galway or Liimerick. Thats a cultural issue, not an economic one.

The Environment correspondent for the Irish Times made more or less the same point as you make above a few years back in a series about commuter experience of people living in Leinster. He went out of his way to lambast the fact that a town like Monasterevin - in the middle of nowhere- should have 20 million punt spent on reopening a train station that noone seemed to be using. The reality is that since it reopened in 2001 it has been a godsend for the towns commuting public who had to travel up to Kildare by car in order to get a train.

At that time, there was still a full Arrow service running between Portlaoise and Dublin, one that stopped at all stations ( including Cherry Orchard/Park West where I worked), one that could get me home from Dublin at 900pm at night. For some unknown reason around 2003, a series of changes to the timetable left us with a few intercitys - great if you want to go to Galway or Limerick -and peak-time Arrow service only. It got worse in 2004/2005 when the Arrow services began skipping Monasterevin altogether and stopping at Newbridge/Kildare/Portarlington. I could only get ricketty old commuter trains, stinking filthy 3rd world-class carriages. Somehow the town slipped back off the radar despite having the newest train station between Euston and Portlaoise.

Monasterevin was deliberately left out of the planning game because it was (a) not a junction station like Portarlington or Kildare and (b) was not within the commuter belt. SInce 2000, (a) hasnt changed but (b) most certainly has. 32 miles is not a long way from Dublin. All towns equidistant from Dublin - Gorey, Drogheda - now have a good train service. As long distance commuters, the people of Monasterevin deserve to be considered in the changes currently underway along the Kildare Route line.
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