Train strike

Train dispute causes annoyance and inconvenience in Mayo

Neill O’Neill

ALL train services in and out of Mayo were cancelled last Friday, when a sudden and unofficial strike by train drivers left hundreds of locals and tourists  – trying to make their way to and from the county – stranded.
The morning, afternoon and evening services between Westport and Heuston Station in Dublin – which stop at Castlebar, Manulla, Claremorris and Ballyhaunis – were among the 33 cancelled by Iarnród Éireann.
There were confused faces on platforms at train stations all around Mayo on Friday morning but no trains passing through, as the new inter-city locomotive and carriages sat idle on the tracks in Westport. No buses operated from the train stations as a substitute for the suspended services, and many of the Bus Éireann services between Mayo and Dublin reached capacity as a result of the strike.
With Bruce Springsteen playing in the RDS and Ireland’s senior international soccer team playing Serbia in a match in Croke Park over the weekend, people intending to travel on the train to these and other events – including the Community Games in Mosney – had to make their own alternative arrangements. Travellers and students coming in the opposite direction faced similar problems.
The unofficial strike began in Cork when train drivers took issue with their company over a disciplinary action that was taken against a colleague over the training of new drivers. The dispute centred on one Cork-based driver’s refusal to operate a training route last Thursday. He had shown up for work at Kent Station in Cork expecting to be moving trains around the depot, but was asked to operate a training route instead. He refused to do this and was told he was being taken off the payroll, at which point other drivers from SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union refused to operate their routes, in solidarity. Mayo-based drivers were among those striking.

STRIKE REACTION
LOCALS AND VISITORS CAUGHT OUT

1 - Kevin Joyce – Westport
“I was given tickets for the Bruce Springsteen concert for Christmas and have been looking forward to it for the last five months, along with a group of friends who also have tickets. We were due to go to Dublin on the train on Friday and would have missed the concert only that we were very lucky to get a lift at the last minute. We got to the concert in the end but that was no thanks to anyone at Iarnród Éireann, who, it seems, cannot be depended upon to provide a reliable service.
“There is obviously an inability by the company to solve a long-running issue with their staff, even though it’s not the Good Friday Agreement they have to come up with to resolve the dispute once and for all.”

2 - Marian O’Sullivan, Mae Talbot, Marie McKiernan, Nuala Ludlow – all Dublin
“It’s an absolute disgrace what’s going on today. Sixteen of us have been in Westport since last weekend and we had to leave our hotel early to get the bus at mid-day, which was to take us to Swinford – from where we were to get another bus to Dublin. Ten of the girls got on the first bus but six of us were stranded here on this footpath and told to wait for two hours for the next bus because that one was full. It’s not Bus Éireann’s fault, but you’d think that Iarnród Éireann would put on a bus from Westport Train Station to Heuston Station for the passengers that are inconvenienced by all of this.
“Now we can’t even go for a cup of coffee as we have loads of bags and need to be first in line for the next bus in case it’s full as well.”
3 - David Brennan and Mareane Sundner – Dublin
“We are heading to Mulranny for the weekend and were on our way to Heuston Station this morning to catch the Westport train when the taxi driver told us about the strike. The bus left at 8.30am and arrived over five hours later, which was a long journey. Also, the bus was packed and people were standing for parts of the trip so it was uncomfortable at times. The whole situation is a joke.”