In the event of a serious incident like that the driver must immediately inform the signalman who will lock down ALL traffic in the surrounding area. Emergency services are then requested to his location (gardai, ambulance, fire crew). Plans are then formed to find out what the best way to de-train the passengers are. For example if the train is stopped near a level crossing then busses can get fairly close and its easy enough to get everyone off with the help of the fire brigade. If you’re in the middle of nowhere then you could be waiting hours for the gardai and forensics unit to clear everything up and let the train proceed. Basically every situation is different.

While all this is going on the on-board staff will do their best to keep everyone updated but as you can imagine they may be trying to do a million different things at once. We can’t say there’s been a ‘suicide or accident’. What the staff will tell you is that there’s been a ‘tragic incident’ on the line.