Iarnród Éireann has been issued with an urgent safety advice notice after a series of near misses between trains and employees over the past three years, the Railway Accident Investigation Unit has said.
In one incident, on 25 November last year a worker walking on the track near Clonygowan in Co Offaly, had their back to a train approaching at 127km/h and only moved clear with less than three seconds to spare.
In another incident, an employee working on the Portarlington-Athlone line at Clonnydonnin, Co Westmeath, on 9 October 2023, managed to step clear just before a train passed at 126 km/h in heavy fog conditions.
The RAIU has recommended that immediate action should be taken to protect workers accessing train lines as a safe system of work cannot be achieved for staff working alone without a lookout on almost 50% of the rail network.
The recommendations include a call for an immediate cessation of all staff patrolling track on their own where minimum sighting distances – the distance at which an approaching train must be visible to allow a track worker sufficient time to reach a position of safety – cannot be met.
The RAIU said it had concluded that Iarnród Éireann was not fully discharging its duties under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Railway Safety Act 2005.
It revealed there have been eight reported near misses between trains and railway staff between February 2023 and November 2025.
The workers were carrying out various activities including track patrolling, infrastructure inspections and fault rectification.
Although no injuries were reported as a result of these incidents, the RAIU said they “pose a serious risk to members of staff on the railway who could be hit by trains, causing injuries or fatalities.”
The RAIU said almost 10% of the rail network has quarter-mile sections classified as “very high risk” and a further 37% as “high risk” in terms of the main hazards of sighting distance, availability of safe positions and train frequency.
The RAIU noted that following an investigation into a near miss incident at Woodlawn, Co Galway in June 2019, it concluded that Iarnród Éireann appeared to have “over a long period of time accepted a certain element of risk in relation to track patrolling given that known dangers are not being adequately mitigated by patrol gangers or their managers.”
It added: “This appears to continue to be the case.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Head of Communications with Iarnród Éireann Barry Kenny said that the safety of workers is of “paramount importance”.
He said the company has been improving technology and processes to ensure safety is increased, which has seen, for example, all DART track inspections happen at night when there are no trains running.
In relation to lone patrolling, Mr Kenny said that Iarnród Éireann put in safe systems of work to support that and ensure it is providing the safest possible working environment.