Iarnrod Eireann has welcomed moves by SIPTU to organise discussions so that a late-night DART service might operate next Friday and Saturday.
This follows the failure by management and the 53 DART drivers to reach agreement about a proposed late-night service which was due to start last night and to continue nightly for the next two weeks.
An Iarnrod Eireann spokesman said last night there were no volunteers to drive the trains, despite the bonus payments offered and the extra security guards hired to protect drivers and trains.
It was planned to run two trains in each direction from Howth to Bray at 12.30 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. but agreement could not be reached in time to start the service last night.
Asked what the stumbling block to the negotiations was, a company spokesman said he was not aware of any stumbling block.
"There were no outstanding items, we just couldn't get agreement," he said.
The late-night service was scheduled to operate in the same way as the late-night bus service, the Nite Link, which operates on the hour from midnight to 3 a.m.