Irish Rail defends running trains with no heating during freeze

Iarnroid Eireann is defending its decision to tell passengers on the Sligo-Dublin route to wrap up and eat a hot meal before travelling, following the breakdown of the heating system on the trains.

The fault continued for a week on the 30-year old carriages.

Barry Kenny of Irish Rail says a carriage replacement programme is underway and the company faced the choice of using the old carriages or cancelling services altogether.

He says it was unfortunate given last week’s weather, that snow got into the electrical boxes and caused the heating to fail.

However, he adds that rail was the only means of transport available in many areas last week because of the big freeze.