Rail strike threat leads to lower than usual passenger numbers

An eerie silence echoed through the main hall of Connolly Station in Dublin on Friday morning as a handful of morning commuters arrived to catch Dart and intercity services.

The low turnout at the Dublin train station came after a three-hour nationwide rail strike was called off at 4am on Friday morning following 18 hours of talks at the Workplace Relations Commission.

An employee at Connolly station said only six passengers had caught the early morning Enterprise service to Belfast, a train usually packed with passengers.

Lynn McCarthy from Malahide had planned to drive into work on Capel Street, a journey which would have taken an hour and a half, she says. The train takes 15 minutes.

“I would normally get up at about 6.50am but I got up at 6.30am instead, so I took more time doing my hair instead” she said, adding that she heard the three-hour rail strike had been called off on the 7am news bulletin. Ms McCarthy said the Intercity train from Drogheda was almost empty and believes many people were unaware that the strike had been called off.

“Our train was really quiet so I’d say a lot of people had just taken the day-off. I had a four-seater to myself and I normally don’t have any seat at all.”

Barry Hickey who arrived into Connolly station had arranged a taxi last night to ensure his girlfriend made it into the city centre on time for an interview this morning.

“I got an alert on my phone. I don’t know what time it came through but I woke up at 6.30am and it was there. We had made alternative plans but the taxi company actually rang us wondering if we still needed them at that point.” The couple decided to get the Dart, arriving in Dublin in time for the interview.

Jackie Mee was planning to catch the Sligo to Dublin train but was able to catch the regular Intercity service from Mullingar when she heard the strike had been called off.

“I got the breaking news on my phone so I knew this one was running. I woke up at 5am and checked, I usually would get up at 6am. With the Sligo train I would have been about 20 minutes late for work.”