JOINT COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 10 Nov 2004

Sligo and Westport Rail Services: Presentation.

Chairman

To discuss Iarnród Éireann services on the Sligo and Westport line, I welcome Mr. Joe Meagher, managing director of Iarnród Éireann, Mr. Dick Fern, chief operations officer and Mr. John McCarthy, chief mechanical engineer. I draw members' attention to the fact that Mr. Meagher and others have facilitated the committee by deferring their presence at a company board meeting. I ask members to facilitate the witnesses by finishing the meeting by 10.30 a.m.

I draw attention to the fact that members of this committee have absolute privilege but this same privilege does not apply to witnesses appearing before the committee. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that members should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I invite Mr. Meagher to make his opening statements. I apologise that I must leave the meeting. Deputy Peter Power will be Acting Chairman. I thank Mr. Meagher for supplying me with a brief with regard to today's meeting. The brief is positive in the long term but not as positive in the short term as some members would wish.

Deputy P. Power took the Chair.

Acting Chairman (Deputy P. Power)

I invite Mr. Meagher to make an opening statement.

Mr. Joe Meagher

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.

Deputy Shortall

I welcome the delegation from Iarnród Éireann and thank them for the information provided to the committee. I wish to ask about the funding for these works. Mr. Meagher spoke about the introduction of modern railcars on the Sligo line. Will they be new railcars and have they been procured? He said they would be available from the end of next year and I assume they have been procured. How was their procurement funded and has it been signed and sealed at this stage? Is Iarnród Éireann confident they will be introduced at that time? Will the delegation detail the plans for improvement of the commuter service between Dublin and Mullingar because of the increased demand caused by housing development along that route? On the question of the freight service on both lines, is there potential for developing that business further?

Mr. Meagher

On funding, Iarnród Éireann has 144 railcars currently in the fleet with another 36 due to be delivered which were ordered just less than a year ago when some money became available and it was possible to put in a late order. Those railcars will be available for service at the end of the next year. Their availability will enable us to provide a railcar fleet for the Sligo line. That arrangement has been signed, sealed and delivered. We are happy that those railcars will be delivered. It may not be exactly those railcars that will be used on that route, it may be some of the type that came in last year but it will be modern rolling stock. We can say for certain that the rolling stock will be upgraded on the Sligo line from December 2005.

On the Dublin-Mullingar line and Maynooth-Dublin line, we are very conscious of the increasing demand and we are aware of the population forecasts. We have clear plans over the coming years to increase the frequency of service on that line. We plan to introduce, broadly speaking, an hourly service to and from Mullingar within the next two or three years as more rolling stock becomes available. That service will be included in the new timetable to Sligo. For instance, a unit might come from Sligo to Dublin and go from there and back to Mullingar, which would ensure best flexibility.

Deputy Shortall

Has Iarnród Éireann secured the funding?

Mr. Meagher

The funding has been approved and is in place. The Exchequer is funding it. It is money that became available late last year from elsewhere and Iarnród Éireann put in an order quickly and took advantage of it. There is no issue about the funding.

In terms of freight, Iarnród Éireann believes the best way forward is to have full train loads from point to point. Business such as the Coillte business that uses those routes is very good for Iarnród Éireann and we hope to expand that type of business.

Deputy Carty

I am not a member of this committee. I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak. I welcome the representatives of Iarnród Éireann who have given a comprehensive review of the situation. I wish to ask some questions about the Westport line, the line of most concern to me. The company is introducing new routes in 2007. One of the problems for Mayo passengers is that the time of arrival in Dublin is quite late, usually about 11 a.m. or 11.15 a.m. Would it be possible to provide a service from Ballina-Westport that would meet the Galway train that arrives in Athlone at 6.16 a.m. in order that passengers would arrive in Dublin at a reasonable time?

My other beef with the company is that trains leaving Dublin on Friday evenings for Westport are packed. There is standing room only and the same goes for the return journey on Sunday evening. I would appreciate it if Iarnród Éireann examined the possibility of adding extra carriages on those days.

Mr. Meagher

I will ask Mr. Fern, chief operating officer, to deal with that as he has been very involved in timetable development.

Mr. Dick Fern

One of the things we will be able to do with the introduction of the new rail cars in 2007 is offer much more choice to and from Mayo. We will do that in the manner described in the Deputy's question. Some of the trains will continue to be through trains, running all the way through from Westport to Dublin. However, some of them will be feeder trains into Athlone, linking with an increased frequency with trains from Galway. We want to increase the frequency across the network with the new rail cars, particularly across the west of Ireland network. This means that if we have more trains from Galway, and additional trains from Westport and Ballina feeding in at Athlone, we can offer more choice.

To answer the Deputy's question as to whether this would give earlier possible arrival times in Dublin in the morning, it would. We would have a shuttle service into Athlone from the stations in Mayo, prior to the first through train. That is part of our strategy.

Our strategy also helps provide an answer to the second part of the question. By having a more flexible fleet, we can spread the burden of the Friday crush more easily over more trains. Currently, people have a relatively limited choice on a Friday. We run one extra train to Mayo, the Ballina through train, which runs on a Friday and does not run the rest of the week. That takes some of the additional load. However, the Deputy is right. Like many of our routes, the Westport-Ballina route on Friday evening and back on Sunday evening or Monday morning is very heavily loaded as a result of people returning to the west for the weekend and so on.

What we propose to do with the new rolling stock is to offer a wider choice of services and to spread the load. Some people will continue to choose a through train, if that is what they want, but others will go on Galway trains and change at Athlone. Overall, we will give a much better service. There will be more seats in total which means more capacity. Just as importantly, there will be more choice of departures. That is our strategy for 2007.

Deputy Carty

We have two and a half more years to wait for that. Can anything be done in the interim?

Mr. Fern

Nothing can be done in the meantime in terms of offering additional departures, because we do not have the trains to do that. There are always occasions where we can review the number of coaches on a train. Mr. Meagher talked about the new carriages coming at the end of the year which will go on to the Sligo line and we have also got new carriages coming for our inter-city mainline operation between Dublin and Cork. These too will be delivered during the second half of next year. There are also some good carriages on the Dublin-Cork line which we will then be able to use to supplement our fleet for things like the Galway and Westport lines.

I do not rule out a situation where we can look at the total number of carriages. However, one thing we cannot do, and I must be straightforward on this, is offer the timetable improvement, the additional trains and the shuttle services to Athlone and so on, until we have got the new trains. However, as soon as we get them, we will be able to offer timetable improvements.

Deputy Connaughton

I welcome the CIE personnel to the meeting. I am a fairly regular train commuter on the Galway train. I will begin by praising the great change I have seen in the service over the past couple of years, in particular on the Galway train and the Westport train from Athlone. I will not go back over the matters covered by Mr. Meagher, but the trains are more often on time than they used to be.

One significant problem that irritates every commuter, including me, is that when the slightest thing goes wrong with any train on the line, the whole show is out. Unless Iarnród Éireann can manage to do something about this quickly, it will remain the greatest impediment to changing the culture and getting people out of their cars and on to the trains. If people get stuck on the train, they have nowhere to go. They are in no man's land as the train can neither go forward nor backward. They are stuck in the middle of the country away from the station. That is bad enough, but every other train behind on the line is also stuck. This means there is a significant problem on that line for that morning or evening.

To return to what Deputy Carty said with regard to the Westport train, Iarnród Éireann has been very unfair to the public who travel to or from Ballina on Fridays and Mondays. Most of the passengers are young people who go home to Galway and Mayo for the weekend. They are the commuters of the future. They are, we all hope, the people who will leave their cars at home. However, their experience on the train is the worst possible recommendation to commute by train. They are on top of each other. The toilets are full most of the time. We hope that in the future these young people will travel by rail, which has a huge future provided Iarnród Éireann plays its cards right. However, the young passengers are not getting the best image on these occasions.

Why is it not possible to provide another one or two carriages? The engine has the strength to pull several more carriages. Why can the company not manage to add another rail car or two to the train every Friday and Monday on that route, when it knows there will be an overflow? I understand the figures show there is not a week in the year when there is not overcrowding on that train. Why, if it has the rail cars to do it, can Iarnród Éireann not provide what appears to us such an easy solution? Can we have some indication as to why it cannot manage that logistically?

Mr. Meagher

I thank the Deputy for his comments on the improvement. That everything is upset if there is a failure reflects the fact that we have only single track from Portarlington through to Galway and from Athlone through to Westport. We have only limited crossing points and if a train fails mid way along the line and is late when due to cross another train, everything gets messed up. This causes a hell of a problem for us. I referred to trying to improve the number of crossing points. We did that, for example, when we resignalled the Galway line.

Deputy Connaughton

What does Mr. Meagher mean when he speaks about a crossing point? We are not as mechanically minded as he might be. Does it mean that there is another set of tracks on to which the train can pull?

Mr. Meagher

Yes, they are mainly at stations where we move from one track to two tracks so that trains can cross. If one train arrives on time and the other is running 20 minutes late for some reason, the one that is there on time must, inevitably, sit and wait or decide to try to get to the next crossing point. We are into that type of situation. We are dependent on the locomotive and if it fails we are in trouble.

The key to improvement is our plan to put rail cars on all of those lines where we are dependent on single track. We have a number of engines and we believe that adding rail cars places us in a more solid situation where, if something fails, we can at least keep moving and get there. We believe that when we add those rail cars, the situation will improve.

I accept the point made regarding the weekend situation. In the first instance, we have old stock which we would be happy not to have.

Deputy Connaughton

The people waiting on the platform would not mind whether they were new or old, as long as they arrived.

Mr. Meagher

I will ask our chief engineer to come in on this. The way we have organised maintenance is to try to do it all during the week in order to maximise the number of carriages available on Fridays. The Deputy can take it that not one carriage that could be used is left sitting anywhere on a Friday.

Deputy Connaughton

In other words, Iarnród Éireann has not got the carriages.

Mr. Meagher

We have not. The Deputy must remember that carriages cost in excess of €2 million each. Our plan for the future is to provide a more frequent service on all of the routes, to spread the load and give people more choice. Mr. McCarthy may be able to quote the figures in terms of the number of carriages he retains during the week and how he makes them available. We put great pressure on the mechanical engineering section to have everything possible available because we are so terribly conscious of the demand at weekends.

Mr. John McCarthy

We have a maintenance arrangement where we have a number of depots around the system. The work is done during the night and mid week, Tuesday to Thursday. The depots release everything for the weekend. We have another location in Inchicore where we do heavy repairs. These are jobs that are scheduled and that take several weeks to complete. We must continue with those.

There are two aspects to the work. What is in our running depots is released for the weekends but work on what is in our heavy repair shops continues through the weekend. It is our policy to minimise the number of heavy repairs every Thursday evening for Fridays.

Deputy Connaughton

Iarnród Éireann is telling us that no matter how many young people turn up on the platform for Ballina on a Friday evening, it does not have any more rolling stock for them. It has no more space than what is there. Is that it?

Mr. Meagher

We provide all the capacity we can on a Friday evening. That is the case.

Deputy Connaughton

I will not dwell on it.

Mr. Meagher

We continually examine routes and make switches. We will certainly re-examine the situation and see whether another route could afford to do without a carriage that we could put on the Ballina train. We do that all of the time because demands change from year to year and there may be an upsurge in one route and not quite such an upsurge in another. We do that all the time. On foot of the Deputy's comments, we will certainly go back and see if there is anything we can do.

Deputy Connaughton

One thing that baffles people concerning mainline trains is how one carriage can be so warm that people want to have their heads out the window, if that was possible, while the next carriage can be so cold that people must wear their coats. In the context of maintenance, how could a mainline train in that state be let out on a morning? I assume rocket science is not involved. Why does this happen? It is a cause of great irritation.

I compliment Iarnród Éireann's catering staff whom I have always found excellent on the train on which I travel. How is it Iarnród Éireann can manage to have evening meals provided at 5 p.m. on the Galway train when nobody is hungry, but when passengers get on the 6.40 p.m. train, when they would be most likely to want a meal, there is no service at all? Why are matters not organised to suit the travelling public? For example, many business people would travel from Galway to do business in Dublin and return on the later train. How is it that an evening meal cannot be available for them on their return journey?

My final question is on freight. Why has Iarnród Éireann lost out in this area over the years to road transport? The company has been beaten on all angles from a competitive point of view. Would it not have been desirable and possible for Iarnród Éireann to offer a national freight service to compete with the best?

Mr. Meagher

The Deputy's questions relate to three different areas and I will ask Mr. McCarthy to deal with the one on heating and Mr. Fern to speak about catering later. On freight, we want to develop the freight area on the basis of full train loads point to point. That is the only way we can operate freight economically because the road freight haulage business is very competitive. Somebody must deliver a container to our rail head from a port or wherever, and then at the other end deliver it to the customer. When we compare the cost of those two road links and look at the cost of a direct road link from the port to the customer, there is unfortunately little left for the railway. That is the fact. The future for us in freight is point to point business and full train loads. We are not unique in that respect. The same goes in the case of the United Kingdom and elsewhere generally.

I will ask Mr. Fern to take the question on catering. However, I make the point that the main train was traditionally the later train, as the Deputy will probably recall. We introduced a commuter train at 5 p.m. primarily to Athlone, but also going on to Galway. That train became outloaded by people from Galway and we got strong representations from them to switch the main train with the catering facility to the earlier time. We responded to public comment by doing that. Perhaps Mr. Fern will be able to provide more detail on the second train and our plans for the future.

Mr. Fern

Our catering services are trying to be flexible. We can be flexible and change. We do not have to stick with our current offer, if that is not what people want. We look carefully at what we are selling and at the total number of people on the trains because if the train is more popular there is more chance of selling catering. The breakfast is still popular and we are keen to keep it going. It is a worthwhile business and good for customers.

The evening meal situation is quite different. On all the routes, not just Galway but on the Cork and Limerick routes and so on, the take up of evening meals, at any time early or late, is much reduced from what it traditionally was. People's eating patterns when travelling have changed. Therefore we must consider whether people, on the earlier or later train, want a full sit down evening dinner or would prefer a wider range of lighter food. We have been trying this on the Belfast service, the Enterprise, where some of the lighter choices have been more popular. We are considering changing the evening offer on the services to Cork, Limerick, Galway, etc. We are looking at changing the offer from the heavier full evening dinner to a lighter choice. In that situation, we are able to offer it not just on the one main train but on the others.

Mr. McCarthy

On most of the trains operating in the west each carriage has an independent heating and ventilation system. Each carriage is independent from the next so there can be small variations. For example, there is a thermostatic temperature control which is set between 18 and 22 degrees. While that is a small variation, it is nonetheless a variation and part of the automatic system. If the difference is significant, as appears from what the Deputy said, there must be a defect of some sort, a thermostat or relay defect or something of that nature.

Deputy Connaughton

Believe me, it happens.

Mr. McCarthy

It can happen. The arrangement we have is that all our trains visit the depot once every 48 hours. The 48 hours is to cover for situations where there are trains away from base. When they get back to Dublin they can visit the depot and such matters will be checked out. Other than coming across a defect in the check at the depot, we depend on reports from crew or on somebody else reporting a specific defect. The defect will then be dealt with on arrival. That is the arrangement.

Senator P. Burke

I welcome the delegation from Iarnród Éireann and congratulate it on putting on such a brave face with regard to the Dublin-Westport-Ballina routes. It seems that the Galway passengers have a luxury service compared to the Westport line. In most cases there is no dining car and breakfast is not served on the Westport route.

It is seven years since I tabled a motion to the then Minister for Transport, Senator O'Rourke, calling for an early bird service from Westport and Ballina. At present, three trains serve the town each day. I cannot understand why we must wait for new carriages to arrive in 2007 to feed into Galway. Some 460,000 passengers travel annually on the Westport and Ballina routes. If a better service is provided more people will use it and there will not be any need to feed into any other service. Is the only impediment the non-availability of carriages?

The Westport-Ballina routes are treated as second class. It is well known that if a carriage with a dining car is required for the Cork or Limerick service it will be taken from the Westport route. Similarly, if a better class of carriage is required for any of the southern routes it will be taken off the western route. There is no doubt passengers on the Westport route are treated as second-class citizens. Deputies Carty and Connaughton referred to trains being packed on Fridays and Sundays. We cannot even get an extra carriage for the busiest times of the week.

I am delighted there appears to be a U-turn on freight. Coca-Cola fought hard to get Iarnród Éireann to carry freight from Ballina. That company requires 11,000 containers annually, which is 220 containers per week going from Ballina to a port or wherever else. Coca-Cola would like to continue to do business with Iarnród Éireann.

I cannot understand why we cannot have an early bird train service from County Mayo to Dublin.

Deputy Carty

I seek some assurance that Iarnród Éireann will go ahead with the western track and open the line from Sligo right down to Athenry. There is great support for it in the western counties.

Deputy Shortall

I hope it gets Government support as well.

Senator Norris

As a Dubliner I wish to show solidarity with my country cousins. Senator Paddy Burke and Deputy Connaughton made a very strong case. I am glad to say I do not have experience of the Westport line and nothing that was said would encourage me to take that particular train. However, I do have experience of a similar situation, from Limerick Junction to Limerick city. Everything that was said about the kind of conditions which prevail in the carriages on the County Mayo service is also true of this service.

If thermostats exist, they need to be looked at. I have been stuck in a sealed train where it was not possible to open the windows. Carriages are boiling hot when it is warm outside and freezing cold at other times. That is my regular experience on the Limerick Junction to Limerick city line. I can only imagine what it is like on the Westport line which requires a much longer journey time.

Acting Chairman

While I can personally testify to what the Senator said, being from Limerick, we are dealing with the Westport and Sligo lines today.

Senator Norris

I was addressing the principle of the thermostat, which I do not believe is efficient. I am sorry. I do sympathise with the rail authorities who have difficulty because of a lack of investment and problems with equipment, but it appears passengers have a very unpleasant journey.

Mr. Meagher

Over half of our inter-city carriages are over 30 years old and some are over 40 years old. No other railway company in western Europe is in that situation, following many years of lack of investment. In phase 1 of investment, which was from 1999-2000 to date, we had to concentrate on getting the infrastructure right. Within the next few weeks all of the radial lines will have been fully renewed. We concentrated fully on that. In the next three years we will concentrate on sorting out the situation regarding rolling stock. If our plans are fully implemented by this time in 2007, which I accept is two and a half to three years away, we will have only modern rolling stock in our fleet. That will mean improved reliability, punctuality, comfort — including suitable heating — and will also enable us to give better frequency and better choice of service. This will provide flexibility to introduce an early bird service, as referred to by Deputy Connaughton and Senator Burke where there is sufficient demand.

We are working towards achieving a better service but it takes a long time to get everything completed. Orders have to be placed and it takes time to deliver rolling stock. Our emphasis in the coming years will be to modernise the fleet of rolling stock and enable us to do the kind of things committee members have said we should be doing, which we fully accept. There is no argument between us on that.

We certainly want to develop our freight service. I do not agree that we have done an about-turn; it is a question of reshaping it. In defence of our freight management, it has been very active with Coca-Cola from the start. I do not wish to go into detail but if the committee were to speak to that group separately it might give a particular aspect that has not previously been heard in terms of the availability of business. We are where we are and we want to develop full trainloads. The Coca-Cola business is one we would like to see develop. We would like to see more business from it coming to Waterford, Dublin or wherever.

Regarding the western track, a review group is in place at the moment looking at all of the issues, including the costs, benefits, demand levels, etc. We await its findings and will then look at where it fits in the priority listing in the future. There is a great deal to be done across the network in the near future.

Acting Chairman

I thank Mr. Meagher and his colleagues for coming in at relatively short notice to facilitate this discussion.

The joint committee adjourned at 10.30 a.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 17 November 2004.