114 passengers travelling to Dublin from Belfast last night experienced serious delays when a fire broke out on board a train.
It happened in the engine compartment of the 18.05 Belfast to Connolly Enterprise - the train was brought to a halt outside Newry, where 4 crews from the Northern Irish Fire Service attended the scene for several hours. They sprayed the fire with foam, which helped to bring the blaze under control within 2 hours, though it took much longer to extinguish the fire completely.
Irish Rail and Translink will work in conjunction with the Fire Service to investigate the cause of the incident.
Passengers remained on the train, along with 5 crew, throughout - though they were moved to the back of the train, away from the flames in the engine compartment at the head of the train.
Eddie Carroll, Group Commander within the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, spoke to Newstalk's news team this morning:
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Passengers were eventually transferred onto a second train, a later scheduled service travelling from Belfast to Connolly, which arrived into Dublin in the early hours of this morning - 5 hours late.
RT"@independent_ie: Probe after engine on Belfast to Dublin train catches fire. indo.ie/lN2vc" ...and we're still not home!!!
— Paddy C. Courtney (@paddyccourtney) June 6, 2013
Irish Rail apologised to customers and said they would take whatever actions neccessary to get passengers home.
@paddyccourtney Bus will bring you to Drogheda. If the last train is gone, we'll get you a taxi. Apologies about this
— Iarnród Éireann (@IrishRail) June 6, 2013
The rail line itself wasn't damaged, only the train.
Translink, Irish Rail's sister service in the north operating on the Enterprise line, has said services this morning are operating and the line is open, but passengers will be affected by shortened trains and reduced facilities:
#ENT 06:50 Belfast to Dublin is formed of 6 coaches. First class is not available & catering is reduced due to an earlier train fault.
— Translink (@Translink_NI) June 7, 2013
