Rail Users Ireland
Platform 11 is a rail transport pressure group in Ireland whose agenda is centred on the idea that there is an economic case for expanding rail transport in Ireland though better utilization of existing infrastructure with only minor expansion of existing routes. Through press releases, lobbying and leafleting they have promoted the Interconnector, a proposal to build a tunnel south of the Liffey to link up Dublin's Heuston Station with the existing DART and LUAS lines.
The Platform 11 organisation
History
Platform 11 was founded in 2003 and initially comprised users of boards.ie message board and members of the UK Based, Irish Railway News trainspotter website.
Membership
Although slighted by opponents as favouring "Palerail", a reference to their theory that higher ridership Dublin services should be expedited, some of the principals actually hail from areas such as Sligo and Clonmel, and claim more experience of the more rural parts of the network than those who criticise them.
Style
Their own on-line discussion board showcases their combative style, their detailed knowledge of transport issues and their dislike of groups such as West-on-Track who make a development case for rail expansion where this case tends to require large subsidisation from some level of Government. Despite many trainspotter members, they are also highly sceptical of rail enthuasiast groups whom they assert tend to have the interest of train spotting enthusiasts, many of them from overseas, at heart rather than that of local rail users and taxpayers. This scepticism has led to some rather childish conflict with these groups on internet message boards.
Areas of concern
As well as making the case for expanded commuter services in the heavily urbanised Greater Dublin Area, the group advocates suburban rail for Galway and Limerick if combined with a focused planning environment such as the Cork LUTS (Land Use and Transportation Study). They also advocate bus services connecting to railheads where rail is not feasible. They also support direct rather than connecting services to Clonmel.
Gradualist approach
Where existing infrastructure is to be re-activated, they tend to advocate stepwise re-opening to prove each stage before embarking on the next. In respect of the Western Railway Corridor they advocate re-activating the Ennis-Athenry section first, followed by Athenry-Tuam if practicable. The group considers the corridor north of Tuam unviable on current evidence unless the first two re-openings far exceed expectations and Galway and Mayo County Councils perform huge levels of urban development focused on the corridor.
Sub-groups
Recently Platform 11 have been getting affiliated with smaller regional groups to whom Platform 11 will be an umbrella body. Groups currently affiliated with Platoform 11 are Newbridge Rail Group and Kildare Rail Users' Group.
Projects
Interconnector
The Interconnector is a proposed East-West railway tunnel under the city centre of Dublin. The tunnel as proposed by Iarnród Éireann would provide stations at Heuston (linking with the Kildare Line), High Street, St Stephens Green (linking with the Green Luas line and the Airport Metro), Pearse Street (linking with a DART service from Greystones to Maynooth) and Spencer Dock (continuing on to Drogheda and linking with the Red line Luas).
Dublin Metro Project
The Railway Procurement Agency wishes to proceed with a plan to operate a metro from Dublin International Airport to Dublin City Centre. While behind the metro concept in principle, Platform 11 has expressed concerns that the metro plan as currently released offers insufficient interconnections with other parts of the rail network, with few opportunities for "one-change" journeys from various parts of Dublin. They are also concerned that building the metro to European rather than Irish rail gauge would limit the scope of interoperability with DART. The RPA has proposed removing the extensions of the line to Swords and to St. Stephen's Green to reduce the cost of the project, terminating instead at the Airport and at O'Connell Street.
LUAS
In its initial period of planning and operation, Platform 11 raised doubts about the RPA's assertion that 40 metre trams could not operate on the line to Tallaght. The trams on this line are now experiencing extremely high load factors. The 30m trams have operated on the Dundrum line when tram availability was low, the issue is whether 40m trams can safely operate on the Tallaght line. They also wish to push the planned southeastern extension of the Dundrum LUAS line and the linking of the A and C/C1 lines, with a possible extension northwards from that link.
Unitary Transit Authorities
While being a rail lobby group, what Platform 11 admires most in other transit systems such as Munich's Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund and the Toronto Transit Commission is the integration rather than competition of various transport modes such as subway/metro, heavy rail, light rail and bus. Many of their members wish to see Dublin and Cork have an integrated system of routes to encourage seamless door-to-door public transport journeys and for easy to use transit maps and payment schemes to be available for residents and visitors to be able to access all these modes.
Urban Planning
Platform 11 members tend to believe in focused planning strategies which place public transport as a primary determinant of development and which discourage car-dependent sprawl and one-off housing.
Rail Freight
Rail freight is viewed sceptically by the group given the low distances and tonnages involved in most rail freight operations in Ireland and the poor rail connectivity of many Irish seaports. They tend to favour diesel or electric multiple unit vehicles solely for passengers rather than dual-use locomotives. Critics have claimed this demonstrates a "Rail for rails' sake" attitiude that ignores the role rail transport plays in addressing envoirnmental and other broader issues.[citation needed]
Transport 21
Platform 11 is compiling a list of details about each project in Transport 21. They hope to have the most comprehensive database on the projects available. This will allow them to closely monitor all projects on a value for money basis with cost over runs and projects delays being highlighted to the appropriate authorities.
Criticisms
While Platform 11 has been a very successful consumer advocacy group, its approach has not always been orthodox.
Opposition to the Western Rail Corridor
Railway enthusiasts and rail transportation advocates were surprised at the idea of a rail pressure group opposing any rail project. Platform 11 took the view that it should only support viable projects and that those they deemed unviable were more likely to hurt rather than help the cause of rail transport in Ireland. The Western Rail Corridor had very well organised support from people and politicians in the Mayo, Galway and Clare areas and has been the highest profile consumer-led rail development issue in Ireland. Supporters of this project were angered that Platform 11 opposed the reopening of this track on cost grounds.
Blunt PR
Platform 11 used very plain and sometimes provocative language in its early PR statements.
- "The Western Rail Corridor is a joke from Sligo to Limerick for three trains a day filled with grannies on free travel passes to refill their holy water bottles at Knock and imaginary railfeight [sic] that does not exsist [sic]."
Adversarial Approach
Many organisations and individuals have been publicly criticised by Platform 11 such as the Railway Procurement Agency, Irish Rail and its unions, Kevin Myers (opinion columnist with the Irish Times), Seán Barrett, economics lecturer at Trinity College Dublin and railway consultant, The Sunday Business Post, West On Track (lobby group for the Western Rail Corridor). Because controversy is often newsworthy, these public positions have been criticised as drawing attention from the projects being advocated by Platform 11. On the other hand, supporters see this approach as refreshingly honest.
Policy Changes
Platform 11 has changed policy positions dramatically since its formation in 2003 when it supported the Western Rail Corridor, opposed the Interconnector project and attacked Irish Rail for concentrating development resources in the Pale.[2] These changes of policy may be seen either as evidence of a lack of consistency, a change in personnel since the initial formation of the group or of a willingness to change.
Secrecy
Initially, the group's committee structure and membership were unknown to outsiders. Despite claiming to represent Irish rail passengers, those passengers had little idea who controlled the group, given that members tended to use pseudonyms when posting opinions on internet discussion forums. However, since 2005 the committe membership has been published on their web site[3], but ordinary membership numbers are still unknown. In 2003, they claimed to have about 40 members to the Dáil Joint Committee on Transport.[4]