Ireland’s looming winter energy crisis could cause commuter chaos as both the Dart and Luas trams and trains will grind to an immediate halt in the case of unplanned electricity blackouts.
And the Department of Transport has confirmed there are no backup plans to divert energy to keep the vital public transport services running in the case of sudden electricity losses.
Households and businesses have already experienced brief unexpected blackouts in recent weeks as demand on the power grid surged at times.
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But this is set to worsen as autumn and winter rolls in, with the Government and energy chiefs desperate to ration the amount of energy we use.
And the Irish Mirror has learned that if there are sudden electricity power cuts, then the Luas and Dart trams and trains will be stopped in their tracks.
Both are completely reliant on electricity, with some generator power used to maintain power in signal boxes and other control equipment.
Social Democrats co-leader, Catherine Murphy, received the Luas all-stop confirmation from the Department of Transport and TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland).
The Mirror contacted Irish Rail to see if it was the same situation for the Dart and they confirmed it was.
Both transport companies said they had backup plans and would be given priority by the Government if the blackouts, or brownouts, are planned.
However, if the power cuts are not scheduled, as is often the case when the electricity grid is being pushed to the limit, then all the trams and trains will stop immediately.
Ms Murphy told the Mirror: “The response from TII in relation to keeping public transport and people moving in the event of energy shortages is very concerning.
"The first revelation in the TII reply to me is that the Luas operator hasn't secured for itself a categorisation as an 'essential service' and secondly the absence of a backup source of power just underscores the degree of unpreparedness of the Luas operator and some State bodies as we approach the winter."
A spokesman for TII told Ms Murphy: “A review of Luas operations electricity requirements and the potential for reducing Luas operations electricity demand is ongoing.
“In the event of electricity supply outages affecting the electrical distribution network supplies to Luas, once no voltage is detected in the Luas overhead power lines, the Luas trams would come to an immediate stop.
“As such, were circumstances of electrical supply outages to arise, the Luas trams could not operate during the affected periods.
He added: “The Luas Operator is liaising with the Luas electricity supplier to have Luas categorised as an essential service with the objective that Luas services would not be a part of any controlled power outages, were such outages to occur.”
A spokesman for Dart operators, Irish Rail, told the Mirror: “For the Dart, you need both signalling and overhead line power.
“We would have generator power for signalling as back-up in the case of a blackout.
“Electricity supply for the overhead lines to run the DART is on the existing priority list – therefore, if a situation arose where power restrictions were occurring, we would anticipate that we would continue to receive power, allowing the service to continue to operate.”
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