‘It was surreal that I was the only passenger on the train’

THE name of Limerick mother of four Gabrielle Ní Riain may enter the Guinness Book of Records for her unique travel experience.

The identity of the most exclusive train passenger ever to travel on an intercity rail service out of a capital city emerged last night.

Mother-of-four Gabrielle, 49, from Ballysimon, Limerick, was the sole passenger on the 6.25pm that pulled out of Heuston Station on Sunday January 27 — leaving more than 300 other passengers stranded on the platform.

She said: “It was surreal to think that I was the only passenger on the big train and I must say I was chuckling to myself all the way home. I’m trying to get used to the VIP treatment.”

Gabrielle discovered she was the only person on board when the ticket collector came around.

Gabrielle told the Limerick Chronicle: “I said ‘are we going back for them?’ and he said, ‘No, we can’t go back’. I was just laughing all the way down. It was a fantastic service. I’ve never been as well treated.”

Gabrielle was accompanied on much of the 190km journey to Limerick by the only three other people on board, the train driver, the ticket checker and train guard.

Gabrielle, a mature student at the University of Limerick, is visually impaired having suffered a number of strokes.

Her four grown-up daughters also attended UL.

Due to her poor sight, courtesy staff at Heuston Station accompanied her onto the train when she was returning home to Limerick after a visit to Dublin.

All the other passengers were kept at the check-in gate to allow her ease of access. After Gabrielle was seated the courtesy staff left the train.

To the amazement of the queuing passengers the train then pulled out and disappeared into the night.

Irish Rail said the premature departure was caused by a miscommunication between the station controller and the guard on the train.

The train had travelled some distance before the driver was alerted to what had happened.

However, it was not possible to reverse the train back to the platform from which it departed due to the busy schedule at that time in Heuston.