This isn't the first time they got caught with this flooding. This is at least the fourth time over the last six years. From their reports, the line is under about a foot of water, so it wouldn't seem like it would cost millions to raise the trackbed by a couple of feet. They should have been on to resolving this the second time it happened. But you see this pattern all over the country where people are mopping out their houses for the second time in 6 years because nobody in power could be bothered fulfilling their public duty and investing in the proper flood defences and planning.
The fact that this is happening for a prolonged period every winter is exactly why I think it needs to be brought to the NTA. I often think that Irish Rail don't really have any respect for the capital assets they have control over possibly because they fund rolling stock out of gifts from the government rather than as part of their normal budget. This is the logic that results in the throwing out perfectly good 20 year-old carriages because it is operationally cheaper to replace it with new rolling stock, but if you considered the interest payment on the cost of replacement, it would have been far cheaper to muddle on. By my reckoning, they have over 20 million euro worth of public assets sitting idle in Sligo for a fortnight because of this.
In fairness, the simple change of bussing the Sligo passengers all the way to Dublin for the 0545 has made a massive difference to me and the bulk of the regular users. But traffic is very light this morning. It's a four car 22K and my car is around half-occupied after Enfield.
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