Commuters ‘fainting’ in packed trains on Dunboyne to Dublin line

Commuters travelling in stifling heat on very overcrowded trains from Dunboyne into Dublin, have fainted in the extreme conditions, according to local commuters.
The trains fill up rapidly and at this time of year when commuters are wearing heavy coats, fainting can be a regular occurrence on commuter trains, according to Cllr Damien O'Reilly who has welcomed the news that additional carriages are to be purchased for the suburban network.

One Dunboyne commuter who travels from the M3 Parkway to the Docklands says that there is seating available if you get on at the Parkway or Dunboyne, but after that, it is standing room only.
"After that, it gets progressively worse. It is particularly bad when the schools and colleges are open , because there are so many more passengers.
"People are standing shoulder to shoulder and it gets very hot. In the last six weeks I have seen two people fainting," he said. 

 Cllr Damien O’Reilly has welcomed the seeking of tenders for additional rail carriages to be used on the Irish Rail Suburban and Inter City Network, saying they are very badly needed.
Tenders have been sought for the provision of between 60 and 80 carriages through a lease agreement with a term of seven years, or for direct purchase. He explains that Iarnrod Eireann have ordered new carriages, 41 one which will be in place in 2021, with another due in 2023, but the recent tenders will see second hand carriages in place next year to relieve overcrowding sooner.
Cllr O’Reilly, stated that overcrowding at peak times on both the Dunboyne and M3 Parkway line was now a "serious problem for Meath commuters and the move by Irish Rail to try and source second hand carriages for lease or purchase for delivery early next year was to be welcomed."
"The overcrowding issue is extremely serious. It is unbelievable how packed the trains on the Maynooth line can get and people are fainting on the trains from the heat. "They have even been fainting on the platforms," he said.
"A double decker bus has a limit  to the number of passengers it can hold, but there is no such limit on a train. People are wrecked by the time they get into work."

A spokesperson for Iarnrod Eireann said the additional carriages will be used on all routes, providing greater capacity. He accepted there was "full loading on all urban routes."

"It is the nature of urban transport that commuters are travelling in highly loaded situations," he said adding that the Dunboyne/Dublin route was not an outlier in this regard. He confirmed that people have fainted but it hadn't happened often.