Dart and commuter services experienced a significant disruption yesterday, which was put down to “signalling problems”.
This meant all Dart services were suspended for a substantial period, which left passengers frustrated.
Mark Gleeson, spokesman for Rail Users Ireland, blamed a significant breakdown in the control system for the disruption on November 28.
The fault in the system occurred twice, shutting down for about an hour and a half around 7pm, and then again after a brief recovery.
“When the system goes down, everything has to stop,” Mr Gleeson said.
“There is a back-up procedure, but it relies on manually operated stations, and the issue is there simply aren’t enough staff trained to handle this.”
This resulted in a lack of communication, leaving frustrated passengers without updates on delays and service status.
Irish Rail came under fire back in August when they revamped their timetable, which led to major disruption and delays to passengers.
However, despite eventually returning to the original timetable, passengers using Irish Rail are still reporting significant delays during their regular commute.
Rail Users Ireland looked at particular services for the month of November for commuters between Dromod and Connolly, which shows there were cumulative delays of roughly 9 and a half hours this month, up from six hours in October.
Other services experiencing the same level of delays include Edgeworthstown and Longford services into Dublin.
Mr Gleeson said there are a number of reasons behind these recurring delays, including the aging fleet of trains, outdated signalling equipment, system reliability issues, and a lack of sufficient investment and resources.
Leaves along the line were also mentioned which pose a significant challenges to trains as they are the equated to black ice for cars.
He also said that passenger numbers have surged, placing significant pressure on the system.
“Passenger numbers are up to 20pc year on year, and that’s part of the problem,” he said.
“There’s an awful lot more people using the trains, and it’s causing issues. It just takes longer for people to get on and off, and when there are more passengers, the trains inevitably slow down.”
He acknowledged that, while the older fleet of trains are not “necessarily falling apart”, some commuter trains are about 20 years old, and some Dart carriages are about 40 years old.
“They’re in good condition, but the reliability is dire with some of the Darts – some are constantly breaking down, constantly having to be taken out of service,” he said.
“Some of these trains, which are from 2003, are older than the passengers themselves.
“They need more downtime for repairs. The strain on this aging infrastructure, combined with increasing passenger numbers, is making it harder to maintain smooth services.”
Dart carriages are set to be replaced with a new electrified fleet around 2027 or 2028, which are expected to be a “game changer” for the railway network.
Rail Users Ireland said it is cautiously optimistic about a new signalling control centre, due early in 2026, which should “dramatically improve reliability”.
Responding to yesterday’s disruption, Iarnród Éireann spokesperson Barry Kenny said the system has “not had issues of that kind” previously.
“We appreciate and apologise for the major disruption which occurred last night,” he said.
“The system received an upgrade in 2019/2020 and has not had issues of the kind that occurred last night previously.
“It remains a robust system, but the systems associated with the National Train Control Centre will facilitate both expansion in the network and services in the future, and assist overall service performance.
“Migration of the full network to the new National Train Control Centre will commence from, on a phased basis, Autumn 2025 through to the beginning of 2027.
“We have a network of localised control panels which can be put into operation in the event of a fault, but again, such faults are very rare,” he added.
