Fergus O'Dowd
Question:229 Mr. O’Dowd asked the Minister for Transport his views on the dreadful situation as described in a recent newspaper report as the train journey from hell (details supplied). [18581/04]
View answerTuesday, 22 June 2004
Questions (229)
Written answers
While problems on particular train services are an operational matter for Iarnród Éireann, I understand from the company that, on the service in question, a number of different situations led to the problems raised. First, the delayed departure of the train was caused by a points failure which occurred at Connolly Station. In addition, a technical problem occurred with the air-conditioning units on some of the individual carriages of this particular train, which compounded the discomfort experienced by Iarnród Éireann's customers on the delayed train on this particularly hot day.
Iarnród Éireann is conducting a full examination of all of the newly-acquired diesel railcars over the next few days to ensure that there is no recurrence of the problem. It apologised to its customers for the delays that evening and is working to ensure that such occurrences are avoided in the future.