Sir, - I'm standing on the 16.38 hours train from Dublin to Ballina. The train is stationary in Castlerea and has been so for the last half-hour. The excuse offered by the conductor (which had to be shouted out in each individual carriage, because there is no intercom on this train), is that there is a signalling fault.Obviously I've made the wrong decision to take the train, as I did when I was a passenger on the illfated 08.35 train from Dublin to Westport which crashed in Roscommon. ("Derailment" is understating the extent of that accident by a long shot.) Most passengers were very lucky to escape unscathed for reasons that are now well documented. Prior to the accident, the late arrival of the train into Athlone was again explained as being the result of a signalling fault.Let's face it, our train service is in the dark ages and it will remain so because the students and pensioners that use it most frequently are voiceless when it comes to getting anything done about it. It's interesting that the only two services that come anywhere near being up to scratch are the lines from Dublin to Cork and Belfast. Of course, they cater for business people who wouldn't accept anything less. Meanwhile, the other passengers who can't afford a car and rely on the train to get them long distances are left with a service which is hopelessly inefficient and downright dangerous.After spending three years as a student in Dublin and the last three working there, thankfully I am now in a position where I can consider buying a car. It's something I don't want to do right now because what's the point adding to the appalling traffic congestion in Dublin, and the tailbacks at weekends which suffocate towns like Enfield and Kinnegad? I would also be adding to the horn-blowing tailback that has formed at the level crossing in Castlerea as car drivers also wait for the train to depart.The situation here in Castlerea is an ironic microcosm of the broader picture when it comes to transport policy, or the lack of it, in this country. Public transport does not actually make things better on our roads, it makes them worse. It forces people to buy cars and kill each other on thoroughfares that are unsuited and poorly equipped for the excessive speeds at which people drive. But more attractive alternatives just aren't there.
Besides, once you've bought a car you couldn't care less whether the alternatives are there or not. That apathy is amplified if you are chauffeur-driven in a state car and whisked through the traffic jams with garda escorts.Meanwhile, we've just pulled out of Castlerea a full 50 minutes after we arrived. We are rattling and banging our wavering way west in train carriages that are as old as most of the track on which they run. Who knows where the train will hit another broken line? Who cares? If we're not killed on the track we'll die of frustration. Failing that, some of us can submit to the deadly dodgems we call car driving. - Yours, etc.,Ronan Clarke,Fairways Avenue,Dublin 11.