Aisling Kavanagh was undertaking her regular commute back to Portlaoise from Heuston two weeks ago, when she inadvertently caught her hand in the vent beside her seat onboard the train.
Her engagement ring got stuck and when attempting to prize it out, the diamond from her solitaire engagement ring became dislodged and fell into the vent.
Feeling helpless, Aisling disembarked from the train at Portlaoise, where she was collected from the station by her husband, David.
The train seats there taken apart to find the diamond
She was distraught about losing the stone from her engagement ring, which she was understandably very emotionally attached to.
Figuring that the stone had gone through the vent and out onto the track, there was no hope of ever finding it again.
She told one of her colleagues at work, who happened to live next door to an Iarnród Éireann, employee, who works in the mechanical engineering section.
He advised that the vent does not go straight out onto the track and all may not be lost.
He asked Aisling to draw a diagram (above) of where she was sitting and which carriage she was on on which particular service.
When that train was in for an examination last Thursday, he and his colleagues took apart the vent and lo and behold, out fell the diamond!
Aisling was overjoyed.
Speaking after she found out that her diamond had been recovered, she said: “I was so upset when I lost the stone out of my engagement ring, I really thought it was gone forever.
“The amount of effort that these people went to reunite me with it has restored my faith in human kindness”