DART `close' to full service

Iarnrod Eireann expects the DART to be running at "close to full service" today and for the rest of the week and no disruptions…

Iarnrod Eireann expects the DART to be running at "close to full service" today and for the rest of the week and no disruptions of the scheduled Christmas and New Year timetable for suburban rail services to and from the capital.

A spokesman for the company said yesterday the dispute involving rest-day working for DART drivers, while not fully resolved, was unlikely to affect services in the coming days. DART and suburban rail services for today and tomorrow are expected to operate "at normal Saturday levels, with slight alterations".

Some progress is understood to have been made in talks between Iarnrod Eireann and its two main unions, SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union over the rest-day issue, following severe disruptions on the DART last week.

Last Saturday about 15 out of the 17 drivers entitled to a rest day refused to work. About 17 trains were cancelled on Friday and 20 the day before. The company was yesterday claiming a full DART service was in place on Sunday and in the afternoon of Saturday, while conceding Saturday morning had been disrupted.

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Mr John Keenan, Iarnrod Eireann's human resources manager, said he was more hopeful following talks with the unions that a deal could be delivered. He was particularly encouraged, he added, that a couple of drivers had come in on their rest days in the afternoon of Saturday.

Serious disruption could return next week, however, "at the next pinch-point, from January 2nd", if no solution to the dispute was found in the meantime, Mr Keenan warned. He would be in touch with SIPTU and the NBRU today and was hopeful progress could be made.

Rest-day cover was implicit in the implementation of the new agreement signed between management and the unions, said Mr Keenan, under which DART drivers received £8,000 each to allow the direct recruitment of new drivers, who will earn 90 per cent of the rate paid to existing drivers and take six years to reach the top of a reduced pay scale.

Fears that the row over rest-day working could also destabilise mainline services were discounted last night by the company despite pre-Christmas indications from suburban rail drivers at Connolly Station that they will refuse to work new rosters due to come into operation from mid-January.