Written Answers. - Railway Investment.
Jack Wall
Question:
51
Mr. Wall
asked the
Minister for Public Enterprise
the proposals, if any, there are for the upgrading of the Athy to Waterford rail line; if so, when this will take place; if she has satisfied herself that the recent derailment of a carriage on that line occurred due to the poor condition of the track; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[22772/97]
The Dublin-Waterford 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 Cohesion Fund.
Of the £73.3 million package, £6.5 million was allocated to upgrading track on the Dublin-Waterford 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 Cherryville Junction-Kilkenny section of the route. Up to the beginning of September 1997 spending on this project amounted to £1.2 million.
A further £14 million was allocated for the replacement of an outdated mechanical signalling system on four routes, including Waterford, with a new, modern, cost-effective and centralised control system. The work on the Waterford line will be undertaken on the Athy-Waterford section of the route. The total package of investment is scheduled for completion by the end of 1999.
This investment will build on the progress achieved under the 1989-93 Operational Programme on Peripherality during which £3.5 million was invested in upgrading 11 miles of track on the Dublin-Waterford line. In addition, a further £1.5 million was invested at Lavistown Junction, Kilkenny. This work involved the construction of a one kilometre circular single track section to directly link the existing two lines. The work also included signalling work and the installation of a passing loop. It will also complement the investment already approved and implemented under the Cohesion Fund covering the period 1993-95 where five miles of track on the line was upgraded. The non co-financed programme, and its implementation, is a matter solely for CIE and Iarnród Éireann.
I understand that the derailment to which the Deputy refers involved an unladen engineer's train travelling from Portlaoise to Waterford and occurred between Athy and Carlow at about 8.20 p.m. on 7 December 1997. The six flat wagons were derailed together with three wheels of the rear bogie of the locomotive.
Iarnród Éireann has established a joint inquiry board to investigate the circumstances of the accident. Until the board's report is available, it will not be possible to state definitively why the derailment occurred. However, I understand that preliminary indications are that the accident was a random occurrence rather than the result of track conditions on the line. Meanwhile, the line will be subject to inspection by Iarnród Éireann in the normal way and I have been assured by the company that there would be no question of allowing trains to operate if track conditions were considered to be unsafe.
