Sir, - Ronan Clarke (November 26th) and Ronan O'Keefe (December 4th) have both written about the ordeal of travelling in Irish trains today.
It is not only an ordeal, it is a matter for shame when we see foreigners aghast at the mayhem that train travel here can result in. It starts at the ticket desk. You find that a ticket booked and paid for isn't there. It turns out that Iarnrod Eireann has booked it for the wrong month. No apology from the people concerned. On the train, according to the man in charge, all the lavatories are broken except one. The train is an hour late.
Then you read next day in the paper that Kingsbridge Station is to be rebuilt. It is not the station that needs to be rebuilt, it is the company, CIE. For 40 years its management has been a disgrace. The taxi men are quite right when they say that the main traffic problem in Dublin derives from the fact that public transport is totally inadequate. Travelling by bus is simply not an option for people who have time commitments or who don't want to risk illness from standing in bad weather at a bus stop for half-anhour.
Reform is now impossible. A completely new structure is needed. Travelling on the Belfast train, which surpasses any journey in the Republic, one feels a glimmer of hope. Let the North begin. - Yours, etc.,
From Ulick O'Connor,
Fairfield Park, Dublin 6.