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Originally Posted by longword
As a Laytown passenger I have a bit more info to add on this one, and I think there may have been two separate train failures.
It may just be that Irish Rail did a smarter and better job of managing the failures than might first appear. On the flip side it does make you wonder why the 2800s aren't being rushed towards the scrap heap. They seem to be at the bottom of every major Northern Commuter delay.
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As far as I can determine there were indeed two failures - the 0630 from Dundalk and the 0647 from Drogheda, the first 8x2800, the second 6x2800. The set rostered for the 0712 from Drogheda departed around 0656 to substitute for the Dundalk service. The delayed 0630 from Dundalk service left Drogheda as the late running 0712 from Drogheda.
The other two elements in the jigsaw appear to be the turning back of the 0709 Pearse to Drogheda (at Skerries ?). This train, I believe, provided the first southbound service for approximately an hour. It was closely followed by at least three other trains, all of which meandered along in accordance with their normal stopping pattern, the leading trains heavily overcrowded, the later ones lightly loaded. The obvious approach should be to reduce the number of stops on the more heavily delayed services thus potentially reducing delays for thousands of passengers by anything up to 30 minutes.
As for the empty train from Laytown, I would gues that this ran empty to Drogheda (via Mosney) to operate a reduced formation 0835 from Drogheda.