Charleville train station lift ‘back in service in August’

IRISH Rail has given assurances that repairs to the wheelchair-accessible lift at Charleville station will be completed next month.

It comes amid concerns voiced by a disability rights activist that some wheelchair-accessible lifts in Cork train stations have been out of service several times over the past month.

Bernard Mulvany, co-founder of Access for All Ireland, said lifts, which are essential to wheelchair users, have been “consistently” out of service in Cork stations in recent weeks.

“This has a huge impact on people with disabilities, on our older community, and on parents with pushchairs, as it effectively rules them out of using public transport, and this especially hits people with disabilities who are full-time wheelchair users,” Mr Mulvany told The Echo.

Mr Mulvany said that while Irish Rail has given a commitment to upgrade these systems, progress has been slow.

A spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann told The Echo that repairs at Charleville are scheduled to be completed by August 26, while repairs were completed at Kent Station last week.

The spokesperson added that the company is working to improve lift reliability through a major programme of renewal, with 52 stations seeing new or upgraded lifts in the 2020-2024 period.

“We apologise for inconvenience these works cause, and will continue to work to improve access to all our services,” they said.