Irish Rail to review security following arrests on trains

Anton McNulty

IRISH Rail are to review their security arrangements on trains following two separate incidents on the Westport to Dublin service last week which resulted in people being arrested.
On Thursday evening, the Dublin to Westport train was delayed by 95 minutes at Claremorris after a man allegedly assaulted a female and the train driver. The incident occurred when the train driver responded after the communication button was pressed by a distressed teenage girl.
The male passenger, who is in his 30s, is alleged to have punched the train driver in the face and it is understood that passengers had to intervene. The man was arrested and later taken to the Mayo Adult Mental Health Unit. The driver was the only member of staff on the train at the time and was later brought to Mayo University Hospital for treatment.
The second incident occurred on Saturday evening when four men in their 20s were arrested at Sallins train station after they were involved in an incident on the Westport to Dublin train.
It is understood a fight broke out on the train after the service stopped at Tullamore and at least one person was injured. Two of the men were charged with public order offences while the two others were remanded in custody to appear in court in Naas.
Following the two incidents, Jane Cregan of Irish Rail said the company was reviewing security on Intercity train services. She added they were currently in the process of recruiting onboard customer service agents for intercity services, and they hope to have an agent on each intercity service within months.
Her comments came in light of scathing criticism from Castlebar councillor Michael Kilcoyne who claimed Irish Rail is not fit to provide rail services to the public.