An unofficial railway dispute temporarily halted services out of Cork's Kent Station yesterday, disrupting the schedules of up to 1,000 passengers.
Line maintenance workers walked off the job shortly before 9 a.m. after it was claimed that four of their colleagues had been dismissed for failing to sign new contracts relating to payment and rostering. The contract was said to have included issues related to weekend work for temporary workers.
The strike was called off when management at the line maintenance company, Permanent Way, agreed to hold a hearing for the four temporary workers. SIPTU spokesman Mr Gerry Riordan confirmed the hearing would take place over the next few days.
"The strike affected a number of services in and out of Cork. The 9.05 a.m. train did not go from Cork to Mallow, and we had to bus people to their connecting train," Iarnrod Eireann's business development manager in Cork, Mr Andrew Roche, said
Commuters affected by the strike included those on the Cork to Dublin link, passengers travelling from Cork to Cobh and from Mallow to Cork city. Services were back in operation by mid-morning.
Meanwhile, Kerry rail passengers intending to go to Thurles for the Dublin-Kerry GAA championship match on Saturday may be left stranded because there are not enough trains available.
Iarnrod Eireann yesterday asked those intending to travel to Thurles or Dublin on Saturday on key scheduled services not to turn up unless they have pre-bought their tickets and to choose trains outside of those requiring control cards.
By early afternoon yesterday, a number of the key Saturday stops were already booked out. The 7 a.m. from Tralee had sold out and the stop in Killarney was also nearly gone. A special match train for the Dublin-Kerry game in Thurles sold out in under 20 minutes.