Rail services return to normal after major morning signals fault

Some 20,000 affected as intercity trains halted for two hours, commuter services for four

Delays continued to affect the national rail network through Tuesday as engineers worked to rectify the signalling issues.  Photograph: Eric Luke
Delays continued to affect the national rail network through Tuesday as engineers worked to rectify the signalling issues. Photograph: Eric Luke

Rail services have returned to normal after Tuesday morning's massive signalling fault, and no disruption is expected on Wednesday morning, Irish Rail has said.

The travel plans of more than 20,000 passengers were affected as intercity trains stopped for over two hours and commuter services for over four hours due to the signalling issue.

Delays continued during the day and into the evening, when trains from Dublin to Westport and Galway were running 10 minutes late.

The company says it has identified and rectified the software problem that caused the fault and forced it to revert to manual signalling for a time on Tuesday.

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HOLD THE LINE: Commuters leave a train at Heuston station in Dublin after being delayed by a major signalling fault in the morning which affected about 20,000 people. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
HOLD THE LINE: Commuters leave a train at Heuston station in Dublin after being delayed by a major signalling fault in the morning which affected about 20,000 people. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Delays continued to affect the national rail network through Tuesday as engineers worked to rectify the signalling issues. Dart, Commuter and Intercity services into and out of Connolly were not impacted except for the Phoenix Park tunnel service.

Irish Rail said it was working to “get to the bottom of the problem”, but it did not believe that there was a fundamental issue with the signalling system.

The company apologised to those affected by the disruption, which it admitted had had “a very, very significant impact on all our customers”.

It has said passengers should look at the passenger charter to see if they were eligible for a refund.

According to the charter, passengers are entitled to compensation if they have been delayed for 60 minutes or more. Under EC regulation 1371, passengers will be offered discount vouchers to use for future tickets or the company can issue cash compensation.

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen is a former heath editor of The Irish Times.