Vol. 536 No. 1
23 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the moneys invested by the State in mainline rail each year since 1990, the impact of such investment in terms of passenger carrying capacity and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13269/01]
Capital investment in mainline rail services prior to 1999 was provided from EU sources and CIE's own resources. There was no Exchequer investment. In 1999 Exchequer funding of £76 million was made available for mainline rail investment and almost £100 million in 2000. The national development plan provides for the investment of £500 million in the mainline network to upgrade the infrastructure, rolling stock and facilities over the lifetime of the plan.
Iarnród Éireann informs me that passenger journey numbers have grown on all its services since 1990. The figures are as follows: 1990 – 7,787 million; 1991 – 7,742 million; 1992 – 7,630 million; 1993 – 7,903 million; 1994 – 7,850 million; 1995 – 8,312 million; 1996 – 8,393 million; 1997 – 8,906 million; 1998 – 9,831 million; 1999 – 10,219 million; 2000 – 9,695 million.
The company informs me that the capacity of the mainline rail network was as follows: 1990 – 253 carriages with 16,197 seats; 1995 – 234 carriages with 14,419 seats; 2000 – 250 carriages with 15,277 seats.
Question No. 24 answered with Question No. 10.
