A section of the railway line between New Ross and Dublin will be closed for at least a fortnight following the derailing on Monday of an out-of-service train just south of Wicklow station. The incident was caused by a landslide and the driver of the train was uninjured.

Two days earlier another section of the the busy commuter line had to be closed when an embankment was found to be unstable. That had already forced the bussing of passengers between Gorey and Arklow, now the bussing is required between Gorey and Wicklow.

The derailment came on the day that the Dublin-Belfast line reopened after a three-month closure caused by the collapse of the Broadwater Estuary Viaduct. Those who used the service were disappointed that their train arrived in Dublin 20 minutes behind schedule. Many others had come to like the bus services that had been put on after the viaduct collapsed in August. The two replacement bus services are to continue to run for the next two weeks after commuters said it was faster and less crowded than the train service. However Bus Éireann is to scale the service back at the end of that period.   

Both Translink and Iarnród Éireann plan major marketing campaigns with reduced prices in an effort to entice passengers back on to Dublin-Belfast Enterprise service.

---

Using the buttons below you can save this article to your favourite social bookmarking site