Iarnrod Eireann has answered criticism from tourism bodies over its plans to close its busiest station, Heuston in Dublin, over the May bank holiday.
Due to "a major element" of the Heuston redevelopment and Kildare route projects under the National Development Plan, no trains will enter or leave the station from 11 p.m. on Friday, May 4th, until noon on Monday, May 7th.
It is a 60-hour continuous project, Iarnrod Eireann spokesman Mr Barry Kenny said yesterday; the period of minimum travel during the bank holiday had been chosen to limit disruption.
"The work will begin after the bulk of the bank holiday traffic has been catered for, on the Friday evening and will be finished in time for a resumption of the peak travel period in the afternoon of Monday." Buses will be used to transfer passengers between Heuston and "various routes in Co Kildare".
During this interval rail engineers will replace the railway bridge over Sarsfield Road between Heuston and Inchicore - to allow an extra line to be laid on the widened bridge.
But tourism spokesmen including Mr Brian Flynn, regional manager for Ireland West, and Mr Declan Murphy, of Cork-Kerry Tourism, were not convinced that it was necessary to close the mainline station over a bank holiday.
The Iarnrod Eireann strategy did not take the tourism industry into account, said Mr Flynn on RTE lunchtime radio yesterday. The May bank holiday was the second best for tourism.
People were "reeling" from the effects of the foot-and-mouth crisis and the tourism industry was dependent at this time largely on the Irish market. "Many people are unable to get on trains on the Friday, and come down on Saturday," said Mr Flynn.
Mr Murphy said "many people in Dublin are suffering from cabin fever" while adhering to the Department of Agriculture's foot-and-mouth restrictions on access to the countryside - and needed a break.
Mr Kenny said up to 80 per cent of normal traffic using Heuston that weekend would be facilitated as normal. No more appropriate time could have been chosen, he said, because of the necessity for the work to be carried out over a continuous 60-hour period.
Ultimately the improvements would have major positive effects for tourism, he said. "The project will see major work take place on the platforms and approaches to Heuston Station, allowing more efficient operation of trains in the area, and an increase in the number of platforms from five to 10. This will reduce delays and increase the number of services that can serve the station."
CIE spokesman Mr Cyril Ferris has confirmed that there was no proposal before the board to charge motorists for parking at DART stations - and that such a move was not planned.