Missed Irish Rail service coming back as long awaited return ‘in final stages’

A much-missed train service is finally returning as Irish Rail announce that their catering will be coming back onboard for all journeys across the country.

The service was initially stopped during the pandemic in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions with Irish Rail explaining that restrictions on the number of passengers made the service commercially unviable.

However, this week has seen Irish Rail spokesperson Barry Kenny confirm that the tendering process for the returning trolley service is at its final stages.

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However, he warned that the plan still awaits funding approval from the National Transport Authority and added that there are now customer service officers on all of the Intercity routes.

He told the Irish Times: “These have been introduced over the last couple of years, so it should always be the case that there is a staff member on board to assist with any customer queries and issues.”

Earlier this week gardai have been deployed to an Irish Rail train following a ‘passenger issue’ onboard a service to Galway in what will make the third such incident within a few days.

Passengers have been warned by Irish Rail to expect delays following an issue onboard a train service from Galway Ceannt to Dublin Heuston on Monday evening.

The incident saw the train depart Heuston at 5:30pm but was forced to stop at Portarlington station and await to arrival of gardai to attend the situation.

In an update on social media, Irish Rail informed passengers of the delay due to the passenger issue onboard.

The post read: “17:30 Heuston/Galway is currently delayed at Portarlington due to a passenger issue onboard. Awaiting the arrival of the Gardai. Update to follow.”

Around an hour later at 6:45pm Irish Rail issued an update that the train departed Portarlington with just over half an hour of delay.

The update read: “Update: 17.30 Heuston/Galway departed Portarlington +32mins delayed as a result. 18.00 Heuston/Cork +20mins knock-on delays.”

It is the third incident to happen onboard a Galway service in the past few days.

On Saturday June 29, a train full of Galway GAA fans returning elated from Dublin was forced to stop in the Midlands after a problem with passengers.

The last train back to Ceannt Station from Dublin’s Heuston station was at 9.20pm and filled with fans overjoyed with Galway’s All-Ireland quarter final victory over Dublin in Croke Park.

Unfortunately, an “issue” put a damper on festivities and caused the train to be stopped in Tullamore, Co. Offaly. An Iarnród Éireann spokesperson stated: “The 21:10 Heuston to Galway service is currently stopped at Tullamore due to a passenger issue.”

Luckily, the train was back up and moving not long later with a 13 minute delay.

It wasn’t the only service to face disruption on Saturday, as Iarnród Éireann passengers departing from Galway were subject to delays when Gardaí responded to an incident on a Dublin-bound train.

It’s understood that Gardaí boarded the service on its way to Dublin’s Heuston station and several young men were removed from the train in Athlone.

It is understood that the young men were going to a festival and were removed halfway to their destination due to an incident.

A member of the public who was on the train this morning wrote online: “The Gaurds were taking people off in Athlone. Wouldn’t you be depressed and you meant to be going to a (festival)”.

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