The public transport priority in the economic and social infrastructure programme of the National Development Plan 2000-2006 deals with investment in mainline rail track renewals and upgrades under the railway safety plan, and with other improvements in public transport services. The public transport priority is being implemented not on a county-by-county basis, but through two measures, the DTI public transport and traffic management measure and the national public transport services measure. Investment is therefore not allocated on a county-by-county basis.
The level of expenditure over the past five years on rail routes serving the BMW region is €190 million. In addition, Irish Rail is in the process of conducting a study of all railway stations in the BMW regions to allow for decisions on further investment. This report is expected shortly. It is acknowledged in the strategic rail review, published last February, that continued investment will be needed to further enhance rail services in the region.
The BMW region has already benefited greatly from the investment in public transport under the current national development plan. In the past few years, track renewal has been almost completed on the railway lines serving the BMW region, that is, to Galway, Westport-Ballina and Sligo. Once the Ballina route has been completed by the end of 2003, all railway lines serving the BMW will have continuously welded rail over their entire route. This work alone has allowed Irish Rail to reduce journey times on trains to the BMW regions by up to 20 minutes. Further reductions are planned in the future with the introduction of newer more modern rolling stock and further planned work on signalling systems on these routes.
In addition to track renewal, considerable investment has also been made in bridges, fencing and level crossing upgrading. Resignalling of the Galway line was completed in June 2003. This will go towards providing a safer, more reliable service. Savings in journey times of over 20 minutes have already been achieved on the service with a reduction of a further ten minutes when all infrastructural works are carried out on the line. Platform upgrading work is under way at a number of stations and the programme will continue next year.
The BMW region will also benefit from projects undertaken in the eastern region such as the Heuston Station project. This project will enable Heuston Station to handle trains more efficiently than before and has already been instrumental in allowing the speeding up of journey times to and from the BMW region. Realignment and resignalling on the routes into Heuston will also allow for speedier more efficient handling of trains from all regions of the country. In addition to investment in railway infrastructure a total of €4.25 million will have been spent on bus infrastructure and accessibility projects in the BMW region in 2002 and 2003 alone. These projects include work on bus stations in Athlone, Sligo and Monaghan. New low-floor buses have been provided for Galway and Sligo.
Allocations to each of the regional airports since the establishment of the BMW Regional Assembly are as follows: Knock Airport, €2,400,100; Galway Airport, €2,004,100; Donegal Airport, €979,300 and Sligo Airport, €890,500. The regional airport companies have drawn down approximately 60% of this funding to date.
