O’Hanrahan Station in Wexford.
The early morning train from Wexford to Connolly Station in Dublin was forced to return to O’Hanrahan Station this morning, after it collided with horses on the tracks near Ferrycarrig, a short distance from Wexford town.
Passengers on the 05.35 service between Rosslare and Connolly Station first became aware that something was amiss on Thursday morning when the driver began to let off long blasts of the horn, a short distance from the Wexford town station.
Next thing they knew, the train braked suddenly with a jolt and there was an impact before it came to a complete stop.
At this point, Iarnród Éireann staff came through the carriages to explain to commuters that the train had collided with a two horses that were on the tracks. They were informed that there was “at least another dozen” horses running loose on the tracks and they had ran into the tunnel, meaning that the train couldn’t safely proceed.
At this point, the decision was taken to return to O’Hanrahan Station where passengers were given the option of finding a bus or waiting for the next train.
Bus transfers were put in place from Gorey and Wicklow as Iarnród Éireann scrambled to react. Workers eventually managed to clear the line, however, the departure of the 7.10 service between Rosslare and Connolly was delayed by 57 minutes as a result.
A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann confirmed that two horses had been killed in the incident and that a full investigation will be carried out as to how the horses came to be loose on the train tracks.
Meanwhile, Iarnród Éireann apologised to all customers impacted by the disruption and confirmed that services have now been fully restored and are running as normal once again.