Iarnr≤d ╔ireann has insisted overcrowding on Dublin's DART and Suburban services is not a safety issue. The majority of the DART fleet carries less than 200 people per carriage, even at peak times, the company said, in response to criticism from the Opposition Spokesman on Public Enterprise, Mr Jim Higgins.
Mr Higgins called on the Minister for Public Enterprise to make an order limiting the number of people who can legally be carried on a train.
In many cases, he claimed passengers on commuter trains were unable to get standing room in the carriages and had "no option but to stand in the passage-ways between the carriages."
However according to Irish Rail spokesman, Mr Barry Kenny, while peak-time DARTS may appear overcrowded, they are operating within the numbers recommended by the DART manufacturers.
The situation with other suburban services was essentially the same, as "standing in trains is a comfort issue rather than a safety issue, particularly on suburban trains and limiting the number of people in carriages is to force people out onto the roads".
A spokesman for the Department of Public Enterprise said the Minister, Mrs O'Rourke, was committed to rail safety and would shortly be publishing legislation for the establishment of a Rail Safety Inspectorate and a Rail Safety and a Railway Safety Board.
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