IARNRÓD ÉIREANN has warned that several thousand train passengers face disruption again today as a result of unofficial industrial action by drivers.
The company said it expected there would be further disruption on the Dublin-Cork and Dublin-Kerry routes as well as to commuter services in the south. However, it said it anticipated that the situation in the west would improve today.
The company said last night it expected a number of trains between Dublin and Cork and Dublin and Kerry to be cancelled today. All Cork/ Cobh, Cork/Mallow and Cork/Tralee services are also likely to be cancelled. Other services on the Cork route would have bus transfers between Cork and Mallow.
Some 20,000 passengers were affected yesterday as a result of the cancellation of 30 services between Dublin, Cork, Galway, Westport and Athlone.
Train drivers in Cork, where the dispute started on Thursday before spreading to the west, yesterday submitted proposals to Iarnród Éireann for a return to work. But these were rejected by the company.
Assistant general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union Dermot O'Leary said the drivers had proposed returning to normal rostered duties in return for a meeting without preconditions with the company on the issues at the centre of the dispute.
He said this formula could have allowed train services to resume almost immediately.
However, Iarnród Éireann said the drivers were offering an unconditional return to work with conditions, and this was unacceptable.
It is understood that among the core issues drivers in Cork wanted to discuss was that of flexible working arrangements. The company has said that under agreements dating back to 2000 drivers can be required to move from operating one train to another in the course of a shift.
However, it is understood that the Cork drivers have argued that under a local agreement the obligation on them to move between duties "as required" only applied in emergency circumstances. Iarnród Éireann said that this contention was "nonsense".
The company said that in looking for unconditional talks, the drivers were seeking to re-open the deal on flexibility for which they had been paid in 2000.
Iarnród Éireann has maintained that the withdrawal of co-operation by drivers on flexibility was aimed at exerting pressure on separate talks between unions and management on reduced working hours.