Iarnrod Eireann has said that its plans to introduce a limited DART service to Malahide this morning will not hamper expansion of the limited service to Greystones, Co Wicklow.
The company says the Malahide service will instead use drivers and trains switched from the Howth service.
According to Iarnrod Eireann, a dispute over the deployment of new drivers is preventing the introduction of a full service to Greystones or Malahide, although new drivers have been recruited and are on full pay but without work.
Just nine DART trains run between Malahide and Bray off-peak, beginning at 11.10 a.m. today. Trains and drivers are being switched from the Howth line and will serve Portmarnock and Malahide instead of Bayside, Sutton and Howth.
More than 50 DART drivers have now been paid a lump sum of £8,000 agreed in March to allow the recruitment and training of additional drivers to operate the new services.
Six new drivers have been recruited to operate the Greystones trains and introduce a peak-time service to Malahide.
A compromise plan to allow the new drivers replace existing drivers out sick was refused by the existing train drivers.
The company says the drivers' strategy is to link what it sees as a separate review, the new deal for drivers, with the agreed introduction of the Greystones and Malahide services.
A partial DART service to north Co Wicklow offering two trains in each direction was introduced in April after a number of deadlines for the introduction of the full service had been missed.
Spokesmen for SIPTU and NBRU, the drivers' unions involved, were not available for comment yesterday.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/8a09a42a-bf7b-491e-848d-432f8309b3fa.png)