Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 9 Oct 2002

Vol. 554 No. 5

Written Answers. - Rail Safety.

Denis Naughten

Question:

1254 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Transport if he has considered the possibility of an order to set a maximum number of passengers to be carried on carriages on Iarnród Éireann trains; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16671/02]

Denis Naughten

Question:

1273 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Transport if he has received a report from the rail inspectorate regarding the overcrowding on Iarnród Éireann trains; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16690/02]

Minister for Transport (Mr. Brennan):

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1254 and 1273 together.

The imposition of a limit on the number of passengers to be carried in carriages on Iarnród Éireann's trains is an operational matter for the company. Iarnród Éireann has a statutory responsibility for ensuring the safety of its passengers. It is therefore a matter for the company to satisfy itself that the number of passengers being carried in any particular train or carriage does not compromise overall passenger safety.

Data provided by Iarnród Éireann show that over the period from 1994 to 2001, passenger numbers on intercity services have increased from 7.8 million to an estimated 11.3 million, and on suburban services from 18.8 million to an estimated 22.7 million. To address this growth in traffic, significant funding has been and continues to be made available to Iarnród Éireann for investment to improve the safety of the network, increase the passenger capacity of the system and improve the quality, reliability and speed of services. The ongoing delivery of new rolling stock will increase the available capacity to deal with peak periods and should help to alleviate the present crowding difficulties.

In the meantime, the railway inspecting officers of my Department continue to monitor developments in regard to crowding on trains. They have been in contact with Iarnród Éireann on a number of occasions drawing its attention to the importance of keeping the issue of crowding under review. The chief railway inspecting officer has also raised particular aspects of crowding on rail services with Iarnród Éireann.

Iarnród Éireann responded to the chief railway inspecting officer on 24 December last, advising that the recommendations made by its consultants in 2001 for alleviating crowding on services in the Dublin area are being implemented by the company.

In regard to intercity mainline services, a second independent review of its crowding management strategy is being carried out by consultants for Iarnród Éireann. Pending completion of that review, crowding issues continue to be managed in a proactive manner by Iarnród Éireann. For instance, Iarnród Éireann has adopted a system of pre-booking tickets and boarding cards at bank holiday weekends and other particularly busy periods. Iarnród Éireann is considering expanding this system to all intercity services using modern ticket reservation technology.

My predecessor advised the House on several previous occasions that there are no national or EU quantitative safety standards in existence at present in regard to the maximum number of passengers permitted on trains.

The Railway Safety Bill, 2001, which was published in December last, will require all railway undertakings, including Iarnród Éireann, to implement a formal safety management system and to describe that system in a document called a safety case. The Bill will require a railway undertaking to identify in its safety case all issues impacting on the safety of its operations. Such issues would include its strategy for managing crowding of trains. The Railway Safety Commission, to be established under the Bill, will need to be satisfied that the proposed strategy is adequate to ensure the safety of passengers.