Hundreds of commuters turned their backs on the train in Co Louth yesterday and took to the roads instead.
The first two trains out of Clarke Station, Dundalk - the 6.04 a.m. and the 6.52 a.m. to Dublin - were cancelled because the drivers were members of ILDA, the union in dispute. Staff at the station estimated that about half of the 600 or so commuters affected waited an hour for the Enterprise service, while the rest went back to their cars.
"Because of the two earlier trains not running, there was double the normal number of commuters on the Enterprise service which left Dundalk at 7.57 a.m.," a spokesman said.
In Drogheda, from where around 2,000 people commute daily to Dublin, five of the eight scheduled departures to Dublin operated normally. Two of the trains which were cancelled had originated in Dundalk, but the majority of passengers waited for the next service from Drogheda.
The cancelled service that affected commuters most was yesterday's 5.13 p.m. departure from Pearse Station, Dublin, that serves all stations from Malahide to Dundalk and normally carries up to 1,000 people.