Irish Rail is asking cyclists not to engage in anti social or reckless behaviour by cycling on platforms inside the rail stations. The company points to an increase in incidents involving cyclists and skateboarders on train station platforms, saying they are a danger to themselves and other people.
Irish Rail also said it had carried out "station blitzes" to catch people cycling or using scooters and skateboards on rail platforms and had issued fines to them, of a minimum €100. It plans to persist with that enforcement operation and to pursue people through the courts if they do not pay the fines.
The rail operator record 145 platform accidents in 2022 and 52 in the first three month of this year. It added the danger is heightened as people are often rushing through the stations to catch a train. Irish Rail has now launched a "stay alert, stay safe" campaign - via social media - aimed at stemming the increasing in the accidents.
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Within those platform incidents are a group of accidents that involved cyclists, skateboarders or people using scooters; some 66 incidents last year and 24 in the first three months of this year.
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Irish Rail communications manager, Barry Kenny, told Newstalk's Pat Kenny Show many of the people cycling or skateboarding on rail platforms did not have bad intentions but they still posed a significant safety risk.
“It’s a mixture of messers and people who wouldn’t think they are engaging in antisocial behaviour, but they are,” he said. “Frankly, if you're cycling, if you're using a e-scooter or skateboard on the platform, you're basically showing complete disregard for everyone else on the platform you are also putting yourself at risk.
“We don't want to be talking about after the event, 'that we were aware of this and did nothing about it'," he said, adding while bikes, skateboards and scooters could be brought onto trains those on them could not say “to hell with everyone else, I’m going to just use the platform here and everyone else’s platform”.
He added while the platform a train was disembarking from could be a very long way from the entrance to a train station, people must walk that last part of the journey.
“We get that it's really convenient for that the last mile in the journey,” he said. “It’s a big part of public transport for people to switch between active modes and public transport. But using the scooter or the bike within the station – that is not what we’re in this for.”
