Tara St Station - Townsend St Exit

[DangerM]

Arrived off the train this morning at Tara st and went to the usual exit I use which is the one leading onto Townsend St, I walked down the steps to be met by a crowd forming at the turnstiles. There was no Irish rail staff to be seen and nobody's ticket would work in any of the exit turnstiles, normally there is one turnstile that is left open and Irish Rail staff there ready and check tickets but this was not the case this morning either.

Basically we were all trapped on the wrong side of the turnstile with no way out so people started using an idle stool to climb up on to the turnstile and jump off the other side, very dangerous as you can imagine.

Eventually a passenger arrived from the outside and the turnstiles were working for him so he held it open for everyone to file out, doing the job of the irish rail staff! It was a total farce, a serious health and safety risk and no one around to address it as I had to get to work I didn't have time to go around to the main entrance.

Is it worth bringing this up with anyone? I have a photo of someone climbing over the turnstile!

[Mark Gleeson]

There were problems there yesterday as well

The gates are to be supervised in person at all times. Of course the fact this happened will be denied, so photo with blury faces would be nice

From a safety point of view, activation of the fire alarm opens all the gates

[DangerM]

That's good to know, next time I'll set the alarm off if I have to!

I have a picture alright with no faces but it's on my phone so I will post when I get home this evening.

[Colm Moore]

Originally Posted by DangerM

That's good to know, next time I'll set the alarm off if I have to!

Please don't. That could result in tends of thousands of people being late.

[DangerM]

Here you go, is there anyway I can progress this as a complaint?

BTW wasn't serious about the fire alarm!

[Colm Moore]

I went along this evening. One staff member in orange jacket manning the Townsend Street entrance with his, erm, friend with the Evening Herald. Nobody seemed to be in the ticket office. Although one wonders if the friend should ahve been.

[Thomas Ralph]

The booking office at the Townsend Street entrance is never staffed.

[Colm Moore]

Well the lights were on and the shutter was up.

[DangerM]

They never actually sit in the booking office, they are usually sitting at the turnstiles to your right as you walk in. Cosy set up with a heater above their heads and the daily papers spread across the first turnstile, if u need a
ticket issued they either give you a written one or direct you to the TVM's.

[intermodal]

Was at Townsend St. entrance to Tara last Thursday at between 18.50 and 18.55. All gates were shut. When I got to the main entrance, at least a 5min walk, I asked the lad on the gate whether I could make a complaint (this is hardly the 1st time over the past few years I've missed a train due to the entrance being closed early). The ticket office he directed me to was closed, fed-up again, I just went back and validated my ticket. Having just checked the IE website today, the smartcard log shows I tagged on in Tara St. at 19.01 --my watch definitely wasn't slow.

In the past, any time I've said anything to a member of staff, they say Ulster Bank is responsible for the outer gates being shut. How can IE rely on a third-party to grant access to one of their stations like this? Is it actually true? Has anyone else had a problem here? Incidentally, the inner station gate has always been shut too when the outer Ulster Bank gates are shut early!

[Prof_Vanderjuice]

The day the glazing fell off the roof at Pearse a couple of years ago, I remember having to get off a northbound train at Tara Street (I suppose it would have been about 19:00) and finding the Townsend Street entrance open but the outer gates shut, so I had to walk through the Ulster Bank site to George's Quay. Of course, in a situation where Pearse is closed, the entrance should really be open until the last train, but that's beside the point.