IRISH RAIL HAS said passengers were never in danger when a fire broke out on a train this morning in north Dublin.
Passengers were evacuated from the train at Clongriffin station after the driver was alerted to a small engine fire on the underside of one of the carriages.
The fire started shortly before 10.30am on the train from Drogheda in Louth to Pearse station in Dublin city centre.
The driver alerted Dublin Fire Brigade, but the train’s automated mechanism on board kicked in and extinguished the fire before the firefighters arrived.
A passenger on the train, Aoife McArdle, told TheJournal.ie:
It stopped at Clongriffin when smoke began pouring out of the train. Loads of people were on the train in every carriage including me. Not sure what started it though. They just kept saying it was a technical fault.
A statement from Irish Rail said:
While the fire generated smoke, and customers would have seen and smelled this smoke as it developed, it was confined to the engine and at no stage did fire enter the passenger area. On-board safety systems operated correctly, and the driver responded professionally to ensure all precautions were taken and passenger safety prioritised.
There were some delays on the line in the wake of the emergency but full services have since resumed.
Irish Rail apologised to customers for the disruption and said:
Delays to services resulted as Dublin Fire Brigade and Iarnród Éireann maintenance services attended, ensuring the train could move on safely, and the line was closed through Clongriffin for approximately 70 minutes. Full services are now operating to schedule. The incident will be investigated, and Iarnród Éireann apologises to customers for the disruption to services caused.
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