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Passengers on the first train from Grand Canal Dock to Hazelhatch this morning Irish Rail/Twitter
Transport
Despite delays and ticketing issues, Irish Rail hails a 'very successful morning' for Phoenix Park tunnel
The almost-140-year-old tunnel was opened to daily passengers today.
IRISH RAIL HAS hailed a successful start to services using the revamped Phoenix Park tunnel, despite IT problems causing initial ticketing issues and some delays on the line.
“Overall, it was a very successful morning,” an Irish Rail spokesperson told TheJournal.ie.
“Around 600 to 700 people used the service this morning, which is very encouraging.”
The tunnel opened this morning as commuters on the 6.14am from Newbridge became the first passengers on the new line.
The Phoenix Park tunnel connects Newbridge and Hazelhatch in Kildare with Dublin Connolly and Grand Canal Dock.
Customers had complained that Taxsaver tickets weren’t working on the new service.
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The Irish Rail spokesperson said an “IT problem” that occurred overnight meant a very “low number of people” were affected by ticketing issues.
They added that anyone affected by the issue was still able to travel into Dublin city centre, and that the situation had been resolved by 8.30am this morning.
In terms of delays, Irish Rail says that delays of up to 10 minutes occurred on the line, but this was normal to the current low rail adhesion season, which sees delays caused by autumn leaves falling on tracks.
There were commuters, however, who were delighted with the new line and welcomed the cut in their commute times.
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