Vol. 481 No. 7
126 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the amount of money which was spent on the upgrading of the Sligo to Dublin rail line in each of the years from 1993 to date in 1997; the type of work which was carried out; when her Department envisages that work will be completed on the rail line; and the amount of money to be spent in the next number of years in having the works completed. [16818/97]
130 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the expenditure by Irish rail on track upgrading, signalling system and rolling stock for each of the past five years on the Mullingar-Dublin, Mullingar-Sligo and Mullingar-Athlone lines. [17271/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 130 together.
The Dublin-Sligo line is included in an EU co-financed investment programme in mainline and suburban rail over the period 1996-99. This programme will cost £73.3 million and the European Commission has allocated £62.3 million in grant aid at a rate of 85 per cent from the EU Cohesion Fund.
Of the £73.3 million package, £12.5 million was allocated to upgrading track on the Dublin-Sligo line. The work involves the replacement of life expired jointed track on timber sleepers with continuous welded rail on concrete sleepers. It is being undertaken on the Dublin-Mullingar section of the route. Up to the beginning of September 1997 spending on this project amounted to approximately £3.5 million.
A further £14 million was allocated to the replacement of an outdated mechanical signalling system on four routes, including Sligo, with a new, modern, cost-effective and centralised control system. The work on the Sligo line will be undertaken on the Maynooth-Sligo section of the route. The total package of investment is scheduled for completion by the end of 1999.
I have no function in relation to the details of railway investment other than the EU-funded programme. The non co-financed programme, and its implementation, is a matter solely for CIE and Iarnród Éireann.
