DART: 'Frightened' passengers forced open train doors

A woman who was on a train in which some passengers forced open doors and walked on the tracks said it had been an "unbelievably hot and frightening" situation.

Gardaí (Irish police) and ambulance crews were called to the scene outside Bray on Sunday afternoon.

Irish Rail has apologised and has launched an investigation.

However, it has disputed the length of time that passengers said they were waiting in a hot carriage.

Pip Bride was on a busy DART from Dublin to Bray when it stopped outside the County Wicklow station.

She said that after "15 minutes sitting in sweltering heat" that people had panicked.

Irish rail said the delay was just over five minutes.

Some passengers forced doors open and walked the tracks in what Irish Rail said was a "dangerous act".

The 15th annual Bray Air Display event returned to the County Wicklow town at the weekend and it meant trains were busy.

On Twitter, many passengers complained about being stuck on trains in extremely hot conditions.

Irish Rail communications manager Barry Kenny said the initial problem began when some passengers left the 13:55 DART after it had been delayed for just over five minutes.

"A small number of people pushed open a door. It resulted in the situation being very, very hard to control.

"Once those people did that and were on the track, we obviously couldn't operate any train out of Bray station until the track was clear," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme.

"We apologise to people who were caught up in a very distressing situation for many customers. We'll be investigating all of this. It became chaotic and upsetting for a lot of people," he added.

Irish Rail said some trains have air con but it is not as effective when the trains are stationary.

The company said the initial action turned a delay outside Bray "of just over five minutes" into one which affected services for up to two hours.

However, Ms Bride said the delay was not five minutes and that people were sitting for longer.

While she did not condone the fact that people forced open the doors, she said the situation on the train had been frightening.

"This was the scariest experience I've ever had. It was horrific," she said.

"It was extremely hot, the doors were not open and the air con was not working. There was no way to open the windows either.

"After about 15 minutes, people got very panicky. Someone in the carriage started to have a panic attack.

"Children were crying. There was one woman with a toddler and she had to strip him down to his nappy as the toddler was too hot."

"It was not a five minute delay. It was at least 15 minutes before people started to get upset and 20 minutes before the doors were opened. People started to panic. There was no air con and no way to open the windows.

"If you have a dog, you are not supposed to leave him in the car on a hot day. In that situation, it was hard to stay calm."

She remained in the carriage until a paramedic came in to help the woman who had a panic attack.

Stefan Teehan, who was with his son on the second train that had to stop on the line, said it was "very distressing".

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Philip Boucher Hayes on Monday, he said people were very close to panic.

"The train continued to get hotter and hotter. The situation really could have turned into something bad," he said.

"The train had windows that were open but the train was so packed.

"We were there stopped for over an hour - it had so many people on it, it was just like an oven. It was getting very distressing for a lot of the older people and the children on the train."

Mr Teehan said the train was "absolutely packed".

"People couldn't breathe properly. I put my son beside the window so that he could breathe easier… people were wet with sweat. Their clothes were sweaty.

"I gave people drinks but It was getting to the point where it was getting close to panic."

The rail line reopened shortly after 17:15 local time.

Gardaí assisted with traffic management.