Sir, - Mr Murphy of Iarnrod Eireann's (November 10th) dealt with peak-hour demands and how his company was coping with them.
On the morning his letter was published, I was late for work because the 7.57 DART from Bray had to be cancelled because there was "no driver available". I imagine if I was back at school again, my ear would have been a tad red after offering that laughable excuse!
As a regular DART traveller, I have noticed quite a few delays in past weeks. These are commonly the failure of signalling equipment and have not all taken place during peak hours. I do not know if these are related to capacity, but the increasing number of delays to what was a very good service is very frustrating.
Passengers should be informed of delays at the station entrance. In most cases, they find out after they have paid for their tickets and arrived at the platform.
Secondly, I suggest that public telephones are available at every station near the platforms so that passengers can at least make alternative arrangements when disruptions do arise. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who travels by DART belongs to the mobile phone brigade! - Yours, etc.,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.