We have a short powerpoint presentation. There are more slides than I intend to refer to. I did not understand there was such a time limitation. I will skip through the presentation quickly and I hope all the points will be clear. We will be happy to answer any questions afterwards.
The first slide deals with the definition of the western rail corridor because there is some confusion about it. The western rail corridor is the railway that links Sligo to Limerick. Two sections of it are already open, the Sligo to Collooney section and the Ennis to Limerick section, which has just been upgraded.
The map on display shows the western rail corridor running as a spine down through the west and through the mid-west from Sligo to Ennis. On the right, there is a legend that carries all the towns between Sligo and Limerick that would benefit from the re-opening of the western rail corridor. There would also be a spur line into Galway city through Oranmore that would serve commuters from north and south Galway.
There are three critical elements to the campaign - local government, statutory bodies and the community, whom we are representing. We have brought with us 100,000 signatures from people in the west.
West-On-Track is a community based campaign which was set up to support local elected representatives and the Minister for Transport in his stated ambition to see the Western rail corridor re-opened. We are trying to co-ordinate community support. We work in co-operation with statutory agencies. We organised a petition and received 100,000 signatures. Many thousands of postcards have been sent to the Department. We have produced car stickers and a calendar that members will receive later. Our organisation commissioned a site survey of the line from Collooney to Ennis. We have carried out a photographic survey of the line and prepared draft timetables, an example of which members shall see later. Our work was recognised recently by An Taisce, which presented us with one of its national awards.
We are seeking a commitment to re-open the entire Western rail corridor from Sligo to Limerick within a specific time frame; a commitment to specify the incremental phases against a specific time frame - in other words, it should be opened section by section. An instruction should be issued to Iarnród Éireann to programme the work within the current national development plan, and to establish a framework for local participation in overseeing the operating of services on the corridor.
I wish to deal with the economic arguments. What are likely to be the running costs of trains on a line like this? In that context, there will be one-person stations, automated ticketing and one-person trains. There is also the fact that a new railway would be less costly to maintain, the existing signal operators could control all train movements and rolling stock maintenance would be a fraction of the maintenance programme of the national fleet. In the case of the services we describe in the documentation presented, the regional rail cars would fit seamlessly into that proposal.
The new Charlestown service would cost less to operate than the current empty Manulla-Claremorris service which runs three times daily. This is because: the Charlestown service would be operated by one person while the Manulla service requires two people; the Charlestown railcar would do four miles to the gallon, whereas the Manulla engine does one mile to the gallon and Charlestown would have automatic crossings, while Manulla has four manual crossings. This is an example of the difference between what we are seeking and what is already available in County Mayo. Members can read what we have to say about the "Mayo ghost train" in their own time. We have provided pictures of the train which runs empty, three times a day from Manulla to Claremorris when it could provide a commuter service through Castlebar and on to Westport and back.
Our next slide shows the national distribution of commuter trains in Ireland. As members can see, there are 148 DART trains and 144 Arrow trains in the Dublin area while there is nothing in the west. We are seeking 158 DART trains and 144 Arrow trains for Dublin and 15 trains to operate in the western rail corridor. We contend that this is not an excessive demand.
On comparative construction costs, the Dublin metro would cost €100 million per mile and for the Luas €50 million per mile is being paid, while the western rail corridor, all-in, would cost a total of €2 million per mile. We have also provided a detailed document on the costs involved, using figures from Iarnród Éireann and Booz-Allen Hamilton. We estimate that it will cost €215 million to reopen the western rail corridor and have trains running on it. Spending €15 million for double tracking from Athenry to Galway would make it a grand total of €230 million. Explanatory notes are provided in respect of these figures.
We wish to draw the committee's attention to the major imbalance at the halfway stage of the national development plan in terms of expenditure. During the first three years of the plan, the proportional spend on public transport between the south and east region and the BMW region is €1.315 billion against €155 million. The diagram provided shows it clearly and members will see that 90% of the spend has been on 74% of the population, while the other 10% of the spend has been on 26% of the population, namely, that part of it in the BMW region.
What are the plans of Iarnród Éireann? We understand that there is an investment of €2.2 billion being considered, in line with various strategic rail reviews, the NSS, etc. In that regard, we can only see that money going for some of the intercity carriages and the final safety programme, with approximately one third of it to be spent in the west. From a projected commitment of €790 million, the most we can see coming to the west would be €50 million. On the figure of €769 million to which the document refers, all of the projects mentioned in Iarnród Éireann's plan relate to the Dublin region or Cork. A total of €1.559 billion from the €1.581 billion in the balance of the NDP has already been committed, leaving virtually nothing to redistribute. The BMW region would appear to be due to benefit to the tune of €50 to €100 million from this sum, which is a relatively small percentage.
The last five lines on the slide currently on screen show that projected expenditure for the BMW region for the period 2000 to 2006 will be €477 million, whereas actual expenditure to date has been €155 million. In the period 2003 to 2006, €322 million is due to the BMW region. According to what we can gather, however, estimated for the BMW region is €100 million which leaves a maximum projected figure for it of €255 million. In our view, the €222 million for the western rail corridor could come from the latter. Under the European Regional Development Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, a total of €160 million has been spent under the special category 1 status. Of that figure, €140 million has been spent in Dublin and €20 million on the Border, midlands and west regions.
On Fridays, an adult day-return ticket for a 42 km round trip on the Athrenry-Galway line costs €11.50, while on the Bray-Dublin line it costs €3.50; a 48 km round trip on the Ballymote-Sligo line costs €11, while on the Maynooth-Dublin line it costs €4.50; on the Claremorris-Castlerea line it costs €14, while on the Balbriggan-Dublin line it costs €5.90; and on the Ennis-Limerick line it costs €13 euro, while on the Balbriggan-Dublin line it costs €5.90. We refer to these figures because we believe that if the fares were the same in the west, many more people would travel on trains.
A reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Deputy Daly on 20 March 2002 indicated that it costs €600,000 per mile, all-in, to lay a mile of railway line. This is slightly different to the strategic rail review's estimate for the western rail corridor of €2.4 million.
I wish to show members some photographs before concluding. The first shows the new railway from Ennis to Limerick at Sixmilebridge - south of Ennis in 2003 and north of Ennis members will see grass growing on the railway line. This is one of the most valuable pieces of infrastructure in Ireland and grass grows on it from Ennis to Collooney. The next photograph shows a pair of railcars similar to those required for the western rail corridor service pictured at Galway, which they were visiting for the weekend, in 2003. The next photograph shows Athenry junction. The link to the left is that to Tuam, which was severed unilaterally at the end of last year. Members can see, on the right, the result of the works that were being done to put signalling in place at Athenry. It was considered an improvement to remove this valuable link. However, Iarnród Éireann informs us that it can be restored and we intend to ensure that it will be.
The next photograph shows the closed down Galway-Mayo railway near Belville. That is within a few hundred metres of the traffic congestion on the N17, on which 23,000 vehicles per day travel between Tuam and Galway. The next photograph shows Tuam, which is a hub town under the National Spatial Strategy. As members can see, the development of the station is well under way as part of the strategy and the grass is growing nicely along the tracks and the platforms. The next photograph shows a three-mile tailback on the N17, which is normal during at least three periods of the day, north of Claregalway. All of the cars pictured are travelling on a one-lane road into Galway city, carrying commuters from as far north as Claremorris and Kiltimagh. The next photograph shows a road north of Claremorris, which was known as the "Burma Road", on the Claremorris-Sligo line at Murneen, which was closed in 1975. The next photograph shows Kiltimagh station, which is closed but which is a shining example of the desire of people in the west to have their railway back. The station is in mint condition and a train could roll in there tomorrow, but it could not get far beyond the gates.
The next photograph shows Sligo and a gantry which was built in 1994 and which is to be dismantled and sold off. There has been a major downgrading of freight out of Sligo recently and we find this disturbing because we are promoting the concept of freight.
The next slide shows a map of the National Spatial Strategy and if members look carefully they will see a line from Sligo to Limerick through Ennis. There are two gateways and four hubs that would be served by the western rail corridor. This was an economic argument that was ignored in the strategic rail review. The next photograph, happily, shows timber being carried on the line after three years. That should be travelling directly down the western rail corridor to Waterford, but it must travel via Dublin.
The next slide shows a couple of examples of the timetables we have drawn up for Sligo station, Charlestown, Swinford, Kiltimagh, Claremorris, Tuam and all the way down the line. We have a timetable for every area.
The final slide shows that there is a balance of €322 million due to the BMW region between 2003 and 2006. Thanks to the Indecon mid-term review, we now find where the resources are to fund the western rail corridor. On the right of the slide, members will see, in red and green, the balance due to the west. The western rail corridor will cost €215 million, listed in red, and there will be €107 million for visits to the committee and various other similar bodies.