Tens of thousands of DART passengers are facing yet more disruption after Iarnród Éireann confirmed it is to shut down the southside part of the rail service from Christmas Day until January 5th.
The 11-day closure of the line between Connolly Station and Greystones means no southside service will operate during the Christmas and New Year sales season. The rail company said it would normally expect to carry up to 25,000 DART passengers per day during what is one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. Suburban services between Connolly Station and Arklow and the mainline service to Rosslare will also be disrupted with passengers being facilitated with extra bus services.
The chairman of the Oireachtas transport committee, Mr Eoin Ryan TD, said passengers and retailers would be shocked at the decision to "write-off" the Christmas period.
While an Iarnród Éireann spokeswoman, Ms Cliona Ní Fhatharta, acknowledged that passengers would be inconvenienced, she said the shutdown was required to enable essential upgrade works to take place.
"There's no good time to do this," she said. "This is the best possible solution." Confirmation of the closure emerged five weeks after the company agreed to keep the service open during the three weekends before Christmas Day after previously announcing that it would close.
Ms Ní Fhatharta said the company had signalled the Christmas closure at that time. In a statement on October 8th, it said the upgrade work would be concentrated on "the quieter period from Christmas Day to New Year's Day". The service normally closes at about 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve and it remains closed on Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day, she said. Yesterday's confirmation of the plans means that the service will remain closed during every day in this period and on Friday, January 2nd. It will also close the following weekend.
