Fire on commuter train causes chaos
Commuters disembark at Laytown station.
A BLIND man who tried to get onto the Enterprise after a fire on a commuter train at Laytown station abandoned his journey after fearing for his guide dog's safety because of crowds of commuters.
Mornington resident, Joanne Corbett, had just sat in a window seat. 'I saw a passenger run up to the front of the 8.06am train, then the station master and the driver ran back. One of them was carrying a fire extinguisher. There wasn't any panic but I did notice that the crowd on the platform was getting larger. One passenger gestured into us that the train was on fire.'
The train was driven off and the passengers attempted to get onto the Enterprise train, but it was 'chaos' according to commuters.
'I heard a blind man who had been on the Laytown train with his dog, and who tried to get onto the Enterprise, tell his sighted helper that he was afraid the dog would be stood on.'
Joanne, who had to stand all the way to Dublin, was 'gobsmacked' that the train stopped and let people on at Balbriggan.
Fine Gael spokesman on transport and local TD Fergus O'Dowd called for all trains to be checked immediately and said it was a 'disgrace that stranded commuters weren't allowed into first class on the Belfast train'.
Irish Rail stated that as the train arrived at Laytown Station, the driver's display showed that the parking brake had applied at one of the bogies (wheel units). 'This generates smoke and heating of the bogie, with sparks generated. This was fully contained in the area of this bogie, and did not impact on the passenger area.'
The driver applied the extinguisher to the bogie as a precaution, and took the train out of service. He asked passengers to disembark, and moved the train onwards to clear the platform to allow passengers complete their journey on the following train.
- Christine DOHERTY
