Iarnrod Eireann expects to have at least one train a day running this week to the IFI plant in Arklow in a rail dispute which has already cost the company about £5 million.
The first train running to the plant left Cork last night at 8.40 and a spokesman for Iarnrod Eireann said further trains would be scheduled today. "We would be confident there will be a minimum of one train per day to the plant." IFI needs an average of two nine-piece trains a day, six days a week.
The five-week-old dispute has cost the rail company an average of £150,000 a day. Westport and Tralee have been worst hit, and the Cork service is also affected although there is a "reasonable" service from the city.
The spokesman added: "There is a lot of goodwill from SIPTU and NBRU staff at Iarnrod Eireann to getting trains running to the IFI plant, but it does not seem to be reciprocated by the ILDA".
However, the Irish Locomotive Drivers' Association spokesman, Mr Brendan Ogle, said the fact that ILDA represented half of the Cork drivers would mean that Iarnrod Eireann would have difficulty getting a second delivery a day to the Arklow plant.
He said that the proposals which were offered by the LRC involving SIPTU and NBRU members volunteering on an individual basis to take ammonia trains to Arklow were not acceptable to ILDA members.
"ILDA has 17 members in Cork, SIPTU has six and the NBRU has 11. There is no member of the ILDA prepared to volunteer himself to operate under the proposals laid out last night by Mr Mulvey, and I can believe that causes a difficulty with respect of the IFI situation," he said.
Mr Ogle conceded that the fact the dispute was now in its fifth week was having a severe financial impact on his members, but he said they were determined to hold their position and would not be returning to work Iarnrod Eireann under the new roster proposals.