Recently in Rail commuter to Dublin Category

Currently works are underway at Newbridge railway station, Co. Kildare, to improve access. This is to be welcomed. Temporarily, the already inadequately sized canopy shelter on the platform for Dublin bound trains is partially fenced off, leaving a band near the platform edge. On a wet and windy morning, like this morning was, passengers have a stark choice. They can advance further down the platform to where the train will stop, where there is no shelter, or they can stand under the shelter with their backs against the temporary fence. Once passengers are standing in this manner any additional passengers who arrive and wish to advance down the platform are almost obliged to walk outside the yellow line. This situation could be dangerous or unsafe.

The railway station in Newbridge is beautiful and quaint, persisting from another time. I appreciate beauty and form and function. However, I am an engineer of today, who is keen to address the needs of today’s society. I believe it is right and proper to dismantle (let me be blunt, destroy) beauty that has outlived its era. Let’s log it, digitize it or store samples of it in heritage parks or museums. The Earth is not big enough to leave our former built environment in place as we continue our development.

I need to digress momentarily. In my view, the beautiful stone bridge in the photograph is highly dangerous for the citizens of Newbridge who use it as a road. Newbridge has expanded greatly in recent years and that small narrow bridge without footpaths now links large housing estates to the town and schools of Newbridge. Children and parents with babies walk over the bridge in great numbers and are in danger from the two-way traffic.