Connolly Station, To be disrupted by strike
Rail Services operating out of Connolly Station will be disrupted from midnight tonight due to proposed strike action. Train drivers have rejected a proposal to bring together drivers stationed at two separate depots. Train services to Belfast, Sligo, Galway and Rosslare will be affected.
An estimated 30,000 people will be effected every day by this strike. The strike centres around the two depots of drivers at Connolly station in Dublin. Iarnród Éireann wants to amalgamate the two sets of drivers, but unions rejected the proposal and since then a compromise arrangement was offered by management. This averted a strike due at the end of November.
However, Unions claim this new deal was just an optional proposal for drivers which was not well received and so the strike will now go ahead. Management, on the other hand, says that this strike is unofficial as the compromise deal must be balloted by members and they have not given enough notice for strike action. While management says that they are open to further discussions, there is very little time left now to reach agreement.
What the strike means for commuters is that half the trains to Dundalk and Drogheda will be cancelled tomorrow, there will be no trains to and from Maynooth and only five of the eight trains to Belfast will run. The strike also affects journeys to Sligo and Rosslare. Three trains will run from both towns, but will not reach Dublin. The Sligo trains will stop in Edgworthstown and Mullingar, the Rosslare ones in Greystones, Enniscorthy and Rathdrum.
