Rail chiefs bow to Government pressure on DART

Iarnród Éireann has buckled under Government pressure and has agreed to suspend all work for the first three weekends in December to facilitate Christmas shoppers.

The company was heavily criticised in the Dáil this morning, with the Taoiseach accusing it of mishandling the upcoming weekend DART closures.

Mr Ahern told the House he believed Iarnród Éireann had failed to give the public sufficient notice of the disruption that will be caused by the refurbishment of the DART line. He said the communications were "not thebest handled".

He said Iarnród Éireann had agreed - following a request from the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan - to maintain the DART service during the three weekends leading up to Christmas.

"They will make up for that in what are very slack weekends over the New Year," he said, adding that once work was finished, DART capacity would increase by 30 per cent, taking more traffic off the roads.

In a statement, Mr Brennan said he welcomed the response from the Chairman of CIE, saying the €170 million upgrade to the DART network would be "enormously beneficial for commuters."

"I have made clear to the Chairman and to Irish Rail that it is imperative, even at this late stage, that all possible measures are immediately taken to comprehensively inform the public o the works schedule and of the alternative transport services that will be available," Mr Brennan said.

The company claimed yesterday it could not postpone the upgrade of the southside DART line between Grand Canal Street and Greystones, which is due to begin this weekend and continue every weekend until next summer, because it would be in breach of contract. The State stood to lose thousands of euro in compensation if the work was halted, a spokesman said yesterday.

The Taoiseach was responding to an attack by the Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, who accused Iarnród Éireann of "giving a two-fingered gesture" to the Government and treating customers with contempt.

The announcement that DART services would be affected for up to 18 months in total caused major debate over the amount of notice given, with politicians accusing the company of treating passengers "shoddily" and the company insisting it had given ample notice of the works.

However, the Green Party transport spokesman, Mr Eamon Ryan, said this morning it was a "mistake" to halt the work during December. He said the Minister's intervention is proof the Government has "all the vision and common sense of a headless chicken" in its transport policy.

"The Government should instead bring back the number 8 bus route, fastrack the QBC project for both the Merrion and the Blackrock road and ensure that the bus service will be increased over the weekends to make up for the loss of the DARTs," Mr Ryan said.

Mr Denis Naughten TD, Fine Gael's transport spokesman, called for the refurbishment to include not just the track and stations, but also the planned upgrade of the signalling system between Connolly and Pearse Street stations to ensure that passengers are not subjected to more disruption in the future.