Irish Rail curtailed essential engineering work to pay for a pay rise for its staff last year, the company has told Minister for Transport Shane Ross. The move averted three 24-hour strikes planned by unions. Irish Rail said it deferred planned maintenance work on the Cork line at the end of last year. It said this engineering work would take place this year, and other work would be moved to next year. The row over mentoring of new drivers had delayed plans by Irish Rail for a 10-minute frequency Dart service and the expansion of commuter services.

Source: The Irish Times April 18, 2018 20:37 UTC