Kildare South and Labour Party TD Mark Wall has today called for additional carriages for Kildare towns to tackle the ongoing overcrowding on Irish Rail services.
Deputy Wall has been contacted by hundreds of people who are using Irish Rail services, boarding from commuter towns such as Athy, Newbridge, Kildare Town and Monasterevin. The overcrowding has become a major health and safety issue, with constituents sharing horror stories of people fainting.
Deputy Wall said:
“Overcrowding on Irish Rail services along the key train lines serving commuters in Athy, Newbridge, Kildare Town and Monasterevin is now presenting a serious health and safety risk. These towns in Kildare seem to be the worse impacted, with many constituents highlighting that they are packed in like sardines on these trains.
“I have heard from hundreds of people from Kildare train stations, and they have highlighted a number of serious incidents such as people fainting because of how overcrowded these trains have become. I raised this recently with Irish Rail directly and was told that the issue was managed through what they call ‘self-regulation’. Let me be very clear; that is not good enough.
“I am now calling for the Minister for Transport and the National Transport Authority to ensure additional carriages are delivered along the key train routes serving Kildare South commuting to Dublin City Centre. My office has been informed that the provision of additional carriages is dependent on DART+ South West being completed to free up carriages to be used in Kildare, that project must be urgently prioritised.
“There is huge demand in our commuter towns for further investment for more carriages and increased frequency, however, government cannot expect to hike fares without the public seeing the necessary investment in services. We need more carriages, we need more trains, we need more affordable public transport now.”