I have a relatively short statement to make. I thank the committee for the invitation and we are very pleased to attend this meeting. Mr. Dick Fern, chief operations officer and Mr. John McCarthy, chief mechanical engineer, are with me. This is their first time to attend this committee.
The committee has invited Iarnród Éireann to speak about the Sligo and Westport lines. Iarnród Éireann currently provides three passenger train services per day in each direction between Dublin and Sligo. Additional services between Dublin and Sligo are operated on Fridays and at weekends and there are additional services to Longford and to Mullingar for commuter services. In total 550,000 passenger journeys were recorded on these services in 2003. A daily freight service is operated between Dublin and Sligo, primarily for Esso oil. Two trains per week to carry pulp wood from Sligo to Waterford are operated for Coillte. This traffic has recently increased after a decline and Iarnród Éireann is very anxious to be in this sort of freight business.
Iarnród Éireann has invested €90 million of capital investment in recent years in the renewal of its rail infrastructure on the Dublin to Sligo line. The full length of track has been upgraded to modern continuous welded rail, in line with best international practice. Station platforms are currently being renewed and lengthened at all stations along the route to provide for the operation of higher capacity trains. The signalling systems will be upgraded and commissioned in the second half of 2005. The target date is November 2005. At that stage the line will have fully renewed track and a new signalling system the full length of the line to Sligo. As part of these works an additional cross-over point will be installed at Carrick-on-Shannon to reduce a long single line section and to improve operational flexibility. The Sligo line is single track all the way from Maynooth to Sligo with very limited crossing points. If a problem arises with one train, it generally affects a number of trains. More crossing points on the line will improve flexibility.
While Iarnród Éireann endeavours to minimise disruption to customers during planned renewals of the infrastructure, some disruption is unavoidable over the next 12 months. Weekend services will continue to be restricted until spring 2005, because of the closure of Connolly Station and the commissioning for the re-signalling of the line will require a ten day closure of the line in August and in November on different sections of the track. Substitute bus services will be provided during those closures. Sections of the line were closed during renewal of the track and bus services were provided and worked very well. During re-signalling on the Waterford and Galway lines, this practice worked well.
Plans are currently being prepared to provide quite a change in the level and standard of services along the line from December 2005, just a year away. Current rolling stock consists of both locomotives and coaches that are more than 30 years old. Some stock in use for weekend-only services is in excess of 40 years old and causes many problems. This stock will be replaced with modern railcars that have multiple-engine units and will provide a higher level of service reliability, passenger comfort and enable improvements in service frequency. Iarnród Éireann would have preferred to have replaced the rolling stock sooner because of the condition of the stock. Such was the condition of the infrastructure and track that for safety reasons we were forced to prioritise that renewal. Replacement of the rolling stock was therefore put into the second phase of the investment programme. That is happening now and it is getting nearer the time when the rolling stock will be replaced.
Iarnród Éireann is deliberately using railcars on this line because railcars are comfortable and multi-engined. If a locomotive fails on a single line such as the Sligo line, one is snookered because nothing else can be brought to the line in the event of a failure. Railcars with a number of engines offer a much better opportunity for keeping the service moving. Service frequency will be enhanced from three to five services a day in each direction, offering customers a service every three hours. Those enhancements will be implemented in the timetable change from mid-December 2005, just over a year away.
Despite the ageing rolling stock, punctuality performance along this line for the year to date has been at 97% of trains arriving within 15 minutes of schedule, which is the normal international standard on single track lines. This is consistently at a standard in excess of the agreed service targets of 90%. While in-service failures occur very infrequently on average, they have a high impact on customers when they occur, especially along the Sligo line, which has long sections of single track making service recovery difficult to effect without incurring long time delays. This underlines the importance of putting railcars on the line.
The plan is to replace the current locomotive and coach type rolling stock with modern diesel multiple unit railcars. This initiative will provide a significantly higher level of reliability from December 2005 onwards. In the meantime, the show must go on and Iarnród Éireann must provide the best possible service. Enhanced maintenance routines are currently being implemented to improve the performance of rolling stock currently deployed on these services and additional maintenance personnel will be based in Sligo. The objective of these actions is to immediately improve the reliability of locomotives operating on the route and address passenger comfort issues such as heating and lighting, which have recently impacted on customers using these services.
Iarnród Éireann has experienced difficulties with locomotives. The fact that Connolly Station has to be closed at weekends limits our ability to move locomotives to and from Inchicore and that has impacted on the Sligo line. We have been forced to make a change in the arrangements to ensure improved maintenance. In terms of heating and lighting on the trains, I mentioned that our rolling stock is 40 years old with old steam heating and lighting systems. They may be familiar to some people and are known as Craven carriages. They work quite well during the summer but difficulties can arise in the winter. For the coming months, the Monday morning service will have the services of a skilled engineer in Sligo who will be on duty on Monday mornings when the train begins its journey. This is the best measure to ensure the train is properly heated and lighted. It is an old system that is prone to failure.
In summary, the Sligo line will see a considerable investment over the next year, with renewal of both track and signalling completed, platforms extended to provide for the operation of higher capacity services, the introduction of modern, more reliable railcars and enhanced service frequencies. In the interim, Iarnród Éireann will implement an enhanced maintenance regime to improve the reliability of locomotives and address passenger comfort issues to ensure the service maintains a high level of performance until proposed enhancements are introduced in the December 2005 timetable.
I will now speak briefly about the Westport line. The Sligo line is of primary interest for this meeting. Iarnród Éireann currently provides three direct passenger train services per day in each direction between Dublin and Westport, with connecting services to and from Ballina which meet each Westport train at Manulla junction. An additional direct service from Dublin to Ballina is operated on Fridays. Nearly half a million passenger journeys were recorded on these services in 2003. A daily freight service is operated between Dublin and Ballina for container traffic. Four trains per week are operated to transport pulp wood from Westport and Ballina to Waterford for Coillte. The estimated tonnage for 2004 is 75,000 tonnes. Iarnród Éireann operates a major keg distribution business in Claremorris. Five trains per week supply approximately 650,000 kegs annually for onward distribution in western counties.
The entire railway between Athlone and Westport-Ballina has been upgraded to continuous welded rail. It is the most recent route completed. This has resulted gradually in important timetable improvements introduced in 2003. Upgrading of the track has improved the reliability, speed and comfort on the route. In excess of €55 million has been spent on the Westport-Ballina to Athlone route alone.
Iarnród Éireann is currently in the planning phase to replace the existing signalling system on the Westport-Ballina route. This has not progressed as far as on the Sligo line but the board has approved it. The funding is in place and the work will be done over the next two years. We intend to commission the system in early 2007. Track and signalling will then both be totally renewed to both Westport and Ballina. Existing semaphore mechanical signalling will be replaced by CTC signalling similar to that installed on the Galway and Waterford routes and currently being installed on the Tralee and Sligo routes. This project will include lengthening of platforms on the route to accommodate new carriages and will improve access to and from trains on the route.
The majority of rolling stock on the Dublin to Westport route is of Mark 3 type carriages hauled by diesel locomotives and are approximately 20 years old. They are in reasonable condition. Some older carriages are being used at weekends and older carriages operate between Ballina and Manulla junction. Plans are being prepared for an increase to five services per day each way between Dublin and Mayo from 2007. This will be achieved by the introduction of new InterCity railcars on both the Galway and Mayo routes. These railcars are currently in the process of being procured and it is anticipated that a contract for these vehicles will be let by the end of the current year. This rolling stock will make a step change in the quality of service being offered on many routes, not just Westport and Galway.
The Westport route, because of its long section of single line between Portarlington, Athlone and Westport, and its interaction with the Galway trains at Athlone, provides little opportunity for service recovery in the event of any incident or delay. The difficulty is caused by single track used by both the Westport and Galway trains. If a mishap occurs on any train or on the main line, there can be the melodeon effect on crossing points. The re-signalling will give us the opportunity to add some crossing points for more flexibility. The current situation has been so for the past hundred years.
The current punctuality performance on the route over the past six months was 85% of all train services arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled arrival time. This falls short of the target of 90% but it has partly resulted from temporary speed restrictions associated with the track renewal works and ballasting. Following completion of the track works, a timetable review has been undertaken and will be implemented in December 2004. We expect punctuality to improve as a result because the work has been completed on the track.