Many rail passengers travelling on the Mullingar to Dublin train service are frustrated by persistent delays on the route, according to a new survey.
Passengers complained the trains were overcrowded, ventilation was poor and that at times, if they had cars, they would get to Dublin quicker by road.
In addition, they said delays were frequently not explained.
One passenger said the train had been late three times the previous week. "How hard can it be to be on time?" the person asked. Others complained that millions of pounds had been spent on upgrading the service, with no obvious benefit.
The survey was conducted on the 6.40 a.m. Mullingar to Dublin service last October by a local farmer and member of Young Fine Gael, Mr John Fagan, who said he had always struggled to get a seat on the train and wanted to see how serious the problem was.
"We went for the 6.40 a.m. train but it didn't arrive until 7.10 am," he said.
Some 200 questionnaires were handed out to passengers embarking at Mullingar, Enfield and Maynooth. He said once the train reached Maynooth it became dangerously full. "We were packed in like sardines," he said.
"At about 8.30 a.m. we stood on the track outside Connolly Station for about 20 minutes waiting to get in. Eventually we got into Connolly at 9.15 a.m."
"It is 50 miles from Mullingar to Dublin. This means we travelled at less than 25 m.p.h. the whole way. One lady described it as a donkey-and-cart service.
"It was eye-opening just to see how disgruntled people were. I came out of it with a splitting headache". Mr Fagan said about 2,000 commuters left Mullingar for Dublin every day and if the train service was improved, many more would use it.
The survey found 71 per cent of those questioned would have preferred to work locally. Most said decentralisation would help.
An Iarnród Éireann spokesman, Mr Barry Kenny, pointed out that the survey was carried out in October when leaves were a problem on the track and meant trains had to slow down.
"October is our most difficult month," he said.
He said newer carriages were being fitted with a material that would reduce the impact of the leaves. "But you will never completely eliminate it. The only way you can solve it is by obliterating trees all along the line," he said, adding that Iarnród Éireann could only interfere with trees on its own land.
He said the punctuality record of the train was now, in the absence of leaves, "very good" but he acknowledged there were problems from time to time.
Mr Kenny said the reason people may not see much of the investment on the line was because it had been spent on upgrading the track to make it safer.
However, he said there were newer carriages on the morning service from Mullingar on all weekdays except Monday, when the train departed from Sligo rather than Longford.
He rejected the suggestion customers would be quicker reaching their destination if they travelled by road. "In terms of punctuality people who use the road would experience a lot more delays," he said.
He added that Iarnród Éireann hoped to have an extra morning service on the Mullingar/Dublin line soon to meet growing demand. In addition, he pointed out that standing was a common feature of commuting around the world.
"It's simply a myth that it has safety implications but it is reasonably new to have standing on our trains and people need to get used to it," he said.
He also said that in the vast majority of instances, delays were explained to passengers. When they weren't, this was inexcusable, he conceded.