[Article] Dundalk-Dublin train evacuated

[Jack O'Neill]

RTE News Website
Dundalk-Dublin train evacuated
Monday, 8 March 2010 15:26
A commuter train from Dundalk to Dublin had to be evacuated after a fire broke out underneath a passenger carriage.

The fire broke out when the train was in Laytown and was initially tackled by the automated fire suppression system onboard the Iarnród Éireann commuter train.

The driver also tackled the small fire with an extinguisher.

Passengers had to leave the train and were accommodated on a later service. No one was injured in the incident.

A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann said the reason for the fire is being examined.

[James Shields]

This would probably explain the empty train parked at Mosney, and the unscheduled stops the Enterprise maade this morning.

[Mark Gleeson]

It appears to have been the 8:00 Drogheda Bray, it stopped in the platform in Mosney

The service restarted from Skerries with a different train and terminated in Pearse about 30 minutes late.

Enterprise presumably called Laytown, Gormanston and Balbriggan

Second 29k fire this year

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0309/1224265879036.htmlSmoke alert clears passengers off train
OLIVIA KELLY

PASSENGERS WERE evacuated from an Iarnród Éireann commuter train at Laytown station, Co Meath, yesterday morning after smoke billowed from beneath one of the carriages.

The smoke was the result of a mechanical fault with one of the brakes on the 8am Drogheda to Dublin service. But there was no fire and no danger to passengers, an Iarnród Éireann spokesman said.

“The driver applied the parking brake on the wheel unit, but due to a mechanical fault it stuck. There were sparks and a lot of smoke, but no fire.”

Passengers were evacuated at Laytown and were accommodated on the next train.

The train would be examined he said. It was believed that the fault was a one-off incident.

There were no similar problems with other trains on the fleet, which was brought into service in 2003.

Fine Gael transport spokesman Fergus O’Dowd has called for an inquiry into the incident.

“Any type of fire on a passenger train is a very serious matter and I am thankful that no one was injured,” he said.

“The rail safety commission must now conduct a detailed investigation.”