Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 June 2005
22 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Transport if he has considered allowing private sector operators to tender for container rail freight services; if so, the actions which have been taken to facilitate this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21507/05]
View answerIn accordance with Directive 2004/51/EC the market for international rail freight services will be opened from 1 January 2006. This will enable any railway undertaking established in the EU, whether publicly or privately owned, to provide international freight services on the existing Irish rail network. From 1 January 2007, the domestic freight market will be opened. Under the proposed arrangements CIE, as the owner of the rail network, will be entitled to recoup the costs associated with allowing access to its network. In preparation for market opening, my Department is open to discussions with any interested operator.
Unfortunately there will be no rail freight in Ireland by the time we are open to international competition. It seems almost incredible in this day and age when we are so conscious of rising oil prices, the large number of deaths on our roads, growing traffic congestion and the increased cost of building roads, that we are closing down all our rail freight services. From June 27 we will have no container traffic whatsoever except where firms are willing to take an entire train at a time. Nothing will come out of Dublin Port despite the infrastructure there to provide a rail freight service. A large investment by the State will be run into the ground.
When we discussed this in committee the Minister maintained it is not economically efficient to use rail freight in this country unless it is for an entire train. Does the Minister accept he is getting his information from Iarnród Éireann which has done nothing whatsoever to develop the freight service? Several logistic companies told me that in 15 years CIE or Iarnród Éireann never contacted them to market or increase their business. It is clear Iarnród Éireann wants to get out of the business. It has gradually withdrawn services and now will take only full train loads. This smacks of a monopoly company trying to have the business suit it rather than it suit its customers.
Does the Minister accept it is extremely shortsighted to allow Iarnród Éireann divest itself of infrastructure such as freight wagons, rolling stock, freight yards and depots? It might be reminiscent of the situation regarding the Harcourt Street line as in ten years' time it may be critical to the country. This area has not been explored. Does the Minister have a role to play in ensuring the infrastructure is not deconstructed in such a way that it cannot be put back in place?
As Deputy Mitchell knows, I agree with her on this issue, and I find it deeply frustrating. We made a large investment in the rail infrastructure, and there is no question of decommissioning it. Perhaps Deputy Mitchell is referring to some of the rolling stock issues. I have engaged on this issue and many Deputies, primarily Deputy Mitchell, have contacted me on this issue. I have tried to impress my view upon the chairman of the CIE group, that it is in all our interests to have the maximum amount of freight carried on our rail network.
I do not take my evidence exclusively from Iarnród Éireann. As I may have stated publicly, I saw the experience of the substantial international container shipping company, Norfolk Shipping Line. It approached Iarnród Éireann and persuaded it to put on extra trains to deliver container traffic from the west of Ireland into Bellvue Port, which happens to be in my constituency, but that is beside the point. I encouraged this as I saw it as a precursor to the private and public sectors working together.
Recently the private sector company stated that, in spite of the good work done by Iarnród Éireann fulfilling all the criteria required, the project failed to succeed. Individual customers would not use rail services because it was more cost effective to use roads, which came as a great disappointment to Norfolk Line and Iarnród Éireann. There was no block to putting the system in place.
I make it clear to the House that my Department is open to discussions with any interested operator and we would like to hear from anybody who thinks they can make this work. It is simply not cost effective for an individual company to get a container to its location, load it, get it delivered from that point to a rail station, load it on to a train, deliver it to the rail head or shipping head and then unload it. The evidence I have been given is that rail freight works on huge numbers over long distances. I am not using that as an excuse. I am trying to convey to the Deputy that I have tried to acquaint myself with the problem. It is a nut we would all like to crack but I do not intend to decommission any of the rail line currently in place. The market opening may encourage some of the people in the private sector who said they would operate trains to come forth.
I understand CIE intends to divest itself of freight facilities and yards at both Limerick and Cork but I hope the Minister can stop that. While I accept it is difficult to compare head to head with road transport, there are externalities that operate and I believe road transport will become increasingly expensive. One container is the equivalent of 18 heavy goods vehicles on our roads. There is an enormous cost to all of us in switching from the container to the heavy goods vehicles. I ask the Minister to ensure that, at the very minimum, CIE does not divest itself of any of the infrastructure or lands currently in use or previously used for freight so as to ensure that in the near future, when I believe this method will become cost efficient, it will be available to us.
I agree with the Deputy. I have had discussions with the company and I will continue to impress upon it the points the Deputy makes. In fairness to all the CIE companies, whether it is Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann or Iarnród Éireann, they have all become much more efficient and have improved their productivity. Many of them have done a great job in transforming themselves in recent years. We cannot ask them to be commercially sensitive and maximise the moneys they earn on the one hand and expect them not to be an exceptional burden on the taxpayer on the other. The problem we will face is whether it is a good idea that the taxpayer should subvent freight movement throughout the country. That is a road I would be loath to go down in terms of the taxpayer subsidising the private sector for the movement of its goods throughout the country. That is a serious question that must be answered.
They made no effort whatsoever to——
I take the point. The Deputy has made the point publicly, and made it well. I would be on the same track — no pun intended — as would most people. I hope we can come to a decent outcome on this issue.
