98% of survey respondents report feeling dangerously overcrowded on the DART – Mitchell O’Connor

Fine Gael Dun Laoghaire Deputy, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has today (Thursday) welcomed the active and honest engagement by Dun Laoghaire DART users with her online survey, which was launched last month and which aimed to determine the level of satisfaction, or otherwise, of local users with Irish Rail services.

“The results of my online survey, which was carried out in conjunction with my colleague Simon Harris TD, in response to representations we had been receiving about overcrowding on DART services were very telling. More than 300 people from the Dun Laoghaire catchment area took part in the survey and a staggering 98% of them said that they felt dangerously overcrowded on the DART at some point.

“The level of dissatisfaction coming through was palpable with people stating that using the DART had gone from being a ‘pleasure’ to an ‘ordeal’, while others spoke of the ‘dangerous and extremely uncomfortable’ conditions being experienced, especially for older people, due to a reduction in the number of carriages in use during peak times.

“Following the launch of my survey I wrote to both the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar TD, and the CEO of Irish Rail, Mr. David Franks, to outline the severity of the situation being experienced by rail users who are very frustrated by the fact that they are increasingly paying more for reduced, unreliable and substandard services.

“Mr. Franks unreservedly apologised for any overcrowding that may have occurred due to technical faults, industrial action and the presence of leaves on the tracks, insisting that a policy of reducing carriages at peak times has not, and was never, employed. I have been assured that carriages have been restored to a number of services where capacity issues arose and that Irish Rail has identified a number of areas where policy issued needed to be revised in response to customer feedback.

“Minister Varadkar expressed a desire to ensure that ‘rail users are not expected to pay more for a service that is less’. I will be sending the survey result onto Mr. Franks and Minister Varadkar and will continue to keep the pressure on to ensure the all assurances are met and sustained.”

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