Dublin rail line reopens after repairs cause ‘major disruption’

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

Rail services have resumed following repairs, which caused “major disruption” to train routes through northside Dublin.

Damage to an overhead line at Raheny was projected to impact up to 20,000 commuters on Wednesday morning.

Irish Rail advised customers after 1pm that the repairs had been completed.

It said northside Dart and Northern Commuter services were resuming, as well as Enterprise trains to and from Belfast.

It warned some delays would continue, with these services “returning to normal throughout the afternoon”.

Irish Rail said full services would be in place for the late afternoon and evening peak, as well as extra trains for the Katy Perry concert at Malahide Castle on Wednesday night.

It said: “We apologise for the inconvenience and thank customers for their patience and understanding during this disruption.”

Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny said the damage arose before 8:30pm on Tuesday, but it had deferred repairs into the early hours of Wednesday as there were 20,000 people at a gig in Malahide.

He said: “I think it was the right decision to defer the start of the repair works, which would have shut the entire line.

“We had one track open to get those people home from Malahide.

“I think potentially we would have had public safety issues if we weren’t able to clear and help move thousands of people from Malahide after the concert last night.”