Sir, - While travelling home recently on the 17.30 train from Heuston Station I overheard a fellow passenger comment that he now knew what it must have felt like to travel on a Nazi train to the concentration camps.
An interesting comment, but understandable considering conditions on the train. We were standing between the carriages and packed in so tightly that there was hardly room to move.
As a daily commuter I know that this was not a once-off occurrence, but something that happens regularly on this train, with many people having to stand from Dublin to Portarlington or Portlaoise.
The incident prompted me to send a letter to Iarnr≤d ╔ireann pointing out that if it provided decent travelling conditions a lot more people would use the rail service. In due course I received a very courteous reply from J.P. Walsh, manager, Intercity, stating that yes, there were more people travelling that it could provide seats for, because it had not been able to purchase new carriages for this line since 1987.
In short he was saying it had had no funding from the Government to improve the situation and unless it received funding things would stay much the same.
The more people who travel into the capital by public transport, the fewer cars choking up the city streets and taking up valuable parking spaces. Everyone agrees that the gridlock we experience in the city is costing us millions each year. But if you want to encourage people to leave their cars at home you must provide a decent standard of public transport - and this is something we do not have.
At a time when projects such as Farmleigh House can be carried out so swiftly and efficiently, with money apparently no object, it is difficult to understand why the upgrading of the rail service should proceed at a snail's pace. There is huge potential to solve a lot of our traffic problems by developing our rail service, and obvious cash benefits to the economy. All it requires is a little vision on the part of our politicians - vision that appears to be lacking so far.
In fairness, though, based on Iarnr≤d ╔ireann's track record (pardon the pun), it is understandable that the Government is reluctant to throw money at the problem. Any large injection of capital into the rail service should only be on the basis of set targets for increases in passenger numbers being achieved within a given time frame.
If they are achieved, there should be incentive bonuses for all staff; if not, heads should roll at management level. - Yours, etc.,
David Orford, Patrick Street, Portarlington, Co Laois.