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Rail Network

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 March 2022

Thursday, 3 March 2022

Ceisteanna (7, 19, 29, 32, 59)

Niamh Smyth

Ceist:

7. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Transport if the strategic rail review has considered the feasibility of reopening the Kingscourt rail line; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11987/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

James Lawless

Ceist:

19. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Transport when he expects the strategic rail review to be completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12097/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Darren O'Rourke

Ceist:

29. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Transport the number of submissions received for the all-island rail review; the next steps in this process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12131/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Ciaran Cannon

Ceist:

32. Deputy Ciarán Cannon asked the Minister for Transport if he will provide a progress report on the All-Island Strategic Rail Review; and the likely publication date. [11837/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Matt Carthy

Ceist:

59. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Transport if a rail line through County Monaghan will be considered as a part of the strategic rail review. [11297/22]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí ó Béal (15 píosaí cainte)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Can the Minister make a statement please on the reopening of the Kingscourt rail line?

The Deputy was just in time.

Unfortunately, probably, for the Minister.

The Deputy was no doubt moving on full steam from LH 2000.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 19, 29, 32 and 59 together.

As I mentioned in my earlier response to Deputy Canney, the strategic rail review is being undertaken in conjunction with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland. It will inform the development of the railway sector on the island of Ireland over the coming decades. The review will consider the potential scope for improved rail services along various existing and potential future corridors of the network, and that scope will also include the potential afforded by disused and closed lines such as the Kingscourt line.

Separately the Deputy will be aware of the work under way by the National Transport Authority in its review of the transport strategy for the greater Dublin area. The draft review is recommending the development of a rail line to Navan by 2042. I understand that this rail line will utilise the old Kingscourt line over a short distance to connect the proposed Navan central station and a proposed Navan north station.

More generally, I can assure Deputies that as well as looking at issues relating to inter-urban and inter-regional rail connectivity and the potential for high and higher speeds, the rail review will also consider improved connectivity to the north west and the Border region.

I have already stated my belief in the potential of rail. It is essential that we identify current constraints in the rail sector, then balance decarbonisation priorities, economic growth and rural connectivity objectives to achieve a strategy which allows rail to fulfil its potential as a resilient and sustainable mode of transport and generator of economic growth for people across Ireland. The strategic rail review will assist in and inform this debate, including, I hope, on the reopening of the Kingscourt line, and I look forward to the completion of the review later this year.

I thank the Minister very much. I was always very struck by the Minister when in opposition, and when I was also an opposition Member, because he always admired the ambition that I had for that rail line coming to a county along the Border in Cavan. If one looks at the map of Ireland to see where the main arteries and infrastructure are, one can draw a line from Dublin to Galway. North of that we have, as a State, neglected that part of this island. I am very hopeful for this project with this Minister in post. I am aware Meath County Council is doing terrific work in ensuring that the rail line comes to Navan. We need to be ambitious for the whole Border region and to start to look at that.

Great work has been done with the greenway on the existing rail line but alongside that, we need to have the ambition and to encourage our local authorities to do this, with the support of the Minister's Department in the relevant areas, to ensure they have this kind of ambition and these kinds of plans are put in place.

I thank the Minister for his response. There is a great opportunity here and we have made submissions to the overall rail review. The Joint Committee on Transport and Communications is looking at various aspects of this. I will mention two of these. The Minister has already discussed the western rail corridor, WRC, and some of the opportunity this presents. This is an ambition that needs to be realised.

There is the focus on the Navan rail line extension, which is very significant and has the potential to be the first step in a series of steps. Communities further up the line would also like to see this development.

I will also make the point to the Minister that it is important that we act early, including on the planning process, as there are prominent figures in the region who are receiving national media attention already in their opposition to that project and how they intend to frustrate it and that needs to be overcome.

I thank the Minister. It is utterly shameful that the western rail corridor connecting Athenry, Tuam, Milltown and, ultimately, Enniskillen, if it is extended all of the way, a vital piece of public infrastructure, has been left to rot for the past 40 years. It is bringing no economic benefit whatsoever to the west of Ireland and to my constituency.

What we simply need to do here is to make a decision. Every report that has been published over the past decade has concluded that there is no economic case to be made for the reopening of any rail service on that line. The Minister's Department arrived at the same conclusions. Irish Rail published a report last July outlining its rail freight strategy for the next 20 years to the year 2040 and there was not one single word about the western rail corridor. The Minister referred the most recent WRC report to JASPERS, the Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions partnership body, and the most respected think tank when it comes to the economics of developing transport infrastructure, and its conclusion, quite simply, was that: "... there is no evidence of specific transport or social constraints, nor of clear objectives that any investment in this corridor is required to meet."

I ask that the Minister finally make a decision to build a railway with a greenway alongside it or to build a greenway. I ask also the Minister, who has done extraordinary work in this area of active transport, not to leave this line to rot for another 40 years.

There are two or three different issues here but they all have one connecting issue in that they involve increased connectivity to the north and west. The Navan rail link, north and west of Dublin, has been assessed as part of the draft greater Dublin area strategy and I agree with the assessment that the case has been made and that it will be included once the greater Dublin area, GDA, strategy becomes fully legal in our plans. It will take time. In respect of the constraints, there is not a lack of ambition or urgency here but there is one reality we have to face.

There are already approximately €70 billion worth of projects within the existing transport projects in the planning process and we have a €35 billion budget for this decade. That is a real constraint and difficulty. However, it does not undermine the case for that line to Navan. If that proceeds, it raises the question of whether one could go further. Could one go from Navan along the old route towards Kingscourt? One could even consider, if one was massively ambitious, that this was an original line up through Monaghan, Omagh, Strabane and into Derry. Part of the strategic rail review recognises that the north west of the island has been neglected in terms of transport connectivity and in that really big long-term context it makes sense. However, it is much more challenging because that rail line has not been used for a significant period. There is quite a lot of quarrying, industrial and other activity in that part of the country and perhaps we could look at whether that would be a way of reopening the line, holding the reservation, getting trains back and then seeing if passenger services can follow on.

When it comes to the north west and the western rail corridor, as Deputy Cannon said, it could potentially run up to Sligo or Enniskillen. Again, that is a very long-term prospect. Once one goes north of Claremorris, the line is not extant. Everyone is agreed that the section north towards Collooney and Sligo is highly unlikely in the immediate future to be considered for rail services. I believe there is broad agreement that it should be a greenway, except I am not certain whether Mayo County Council, Galway County Council and Sligo County Council are in agreement as to how and where that route should be devised and designed. From my perspective, that is one of the biggest obstacles to providing a greenway in that area. The section from Claremorris to Athenry is a different issue. From Claremorris one can join onto the existing rail network towards Ballina or Westport. There is a strategic question in a much wider national context which the original rail reviews did not look at in that section of line. If one looks at it in a narrow context, is there a demand for commuting from Claremorris or Tuam into Galway on rail? The answer is clearly "No", as JASPERS said. However, is it potentially a part of a strategic western rail corridor which extends all the way from Ballina down the west coast through Limerick towards Waterford? That is a different question which neither JASPERS nor anybody else has asked yet and which the strategic rail review is now looking at.

I take this opportunity to invite the Minister to walk the stretch of rail line with me from Navan to Kingscourt, although perhaps not in its entirety. As I said, there is incredible work being done in developing it as a greenway, but I believe we must be ambitious. We must have a vision of reopening that as a rail line to Kingscourt because the potential it has to open the Border region is huge. A large proportion of the population in Cavan and Monaghan commutes to Dublin. If we are serious about getting traffic off the roads, that is the way to do it. I know the Minister wholeheartedly believes that, but the local authorities and Iarnród Éireann need the support of the Government to have that imagination and ambition and lay down the plans. Let us not allow these rail lines to rot into dust. We have a real opportunity. There is a climate emergency. There is no need for me to tell the Minister that because he has been preaching it to us for long enough. Let us do something about it. Let us have that ambition and reopen that rail line.

The Minister is hearing this from all quarters. The opportunity is available. If one maps our rail infrastructure and our forced car dependency, there has to be very significant development if we are to achieve a modal shift. Much of that will be to an improved public bus network, but rail has a very important role to play. I am speaking about Navan but also about the west and north west. Communities are chomping at the bit for this. They have their hands up and they want to see this delivered. I believe that if it was built, it would be used very extensively. I raised the question of funding with the Minister during climate questions last week. That is going to be a continuing challenge, not just at the Irish level but also at European level. We need to look at the window that is closing in the climate context.

There is no case to be made for rail freight in the west of Ireland. The west of Ireland is not the Ruhr valley with steel mills pumping out tons of steel every day or coal mines pumping out tons of coal. The west of Ireland is securing its future in technology, pharmaceuticals and in medical technology. It has no, and will have no, demand for rail freight to any great extent for the foreseeable future, if ever. The EY-DKM report drew the same conclusion. Research by the EU suggests that rail freight only makes financial sense when the distances involved are greater than 150 km. Almost all of Ireland falls within 150 km of a port and, as such, the demand for rail freight is anticipated to be muted.

The Minister has done incredible work in putting in place a budget of €1 million for every day of the lifetime of this Government for investment in active travel and sustainable travel infrastructure. We need to see that investment being made in the west. Please do not be the Minister who does nothing and leaves this crucial piece of public infrastructure bringing no benefit to the communities that urgently need such a benefit, not in the future but now.

To add to the debate, the Limerick to Foynes rail line is a project the Minister knows well. I believe this is one of the low-hanging fruit pieces of rail infrastructure. We can get that open if we wish in a matter of just a few years. There is talk of trying to get it open in time for the Ryder Cup, but I believe we can do it sooner than that. If we open that rail line in the next 24 to 36 months, we can connect Limerick city, Patrickswell, Adare, Rathkeale, Askeaton and Foynes. There is a freight reason for this particular line in the west because of the nature of the industry around the Shannon estuary. There is also a passenger case to be made for it. It would also feed into the wider plans to develop a suburban rail network around Limerick. I ask that this be raised in the Minister's priority list and that we get it open sooner rather than later.

Deputy Niamh Smyth is right. We have a real challenge in that the number of Cavan and Monaghan people commuting to Dublin is very significant and they are coming into a city that is not going to have the same road capacity. When we introduce the BusConnects scheme, all the cars commuting from long distances, as well as vans and trucks, will be meeting a Dublin road network that is at capacity and restricted in terms of access. The remote working that will occur post the pandemic may help in that regard. It may help towns and villages in Cavan and Monaghan see a big revival. What my colleague, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, is doing with the new hubs is an opportunity to rethink the way we work and commute. Rail can provide a massively useful component in that. It would help us meet our climate targets as well as address commuting.

However, I return to the fact that there is a constraint here, which is capital. Even if we do for the next decade what we do in this decade, the existing projects will eat up all that money. Every part of the country is looking at rail projects. There are also rural bus projects that we have to fund, and the Connecting Ireland plan is the most significant and important investment we have to prioritise. There is a challenge, therefore, in how we prioritise or how we do it, but I would not rule it out. I would go further in terms of reallocating more of our roads funding towards public transport that might help us overcome some of that difficulty, but that is something we have to agree on politically and that will be a challenge, as the Deputy knows.

To respond to Deputy O'Rourke regarding the Navan rail line, it is now very much in train as part of the series of projects that we will fund over the period of two decades. The route validation exercise for that route has been completed. There are two routes. Route A is 34 km as per the draft railway order completed by Iarnród Éireann in 2011.

Route B is similar to route A but with a section to the east side of Dunshaughlin. It is in planning and is being considered. Cost estimations for each of these route options is expected to be completed soon. It gives a clear picture of how it fits in with the real challenge we have in meeting all of the capital we need.

To come back to the north-west rail corridor and the future of freight, Deputy Cannon is right there are real challenges in Ireland because of the shorter distances and because we have developed road dependency. We have put tens of billions of euro over the years into closing our rail freight system and opening up alternative road-based systems. It is not a surprise the economics are challenging with regard to the shunting yards and all of the other equipment that would help make rail freight possible. I do not believe it is completely finished, however, or that it will not be part of the solution in meeting the climate challenge and having a vibrant modern economy. In Europe and throughout the world people are looking again at sustainable solutions.

Forest products are still moved by rail. A number of products from the north west are carried from Ballina by rail freight at present. As Deputy Leddin said, we will reopen the Foynes line. One of the reasons we will do so, as well as to get golfers to the Ryder Cup in a sustainable low-carbon way and benefiting the communities he mentioned with stations along the route, is that we expect new mines to be developed along the existing rail lines. It would be insanity to ship mine ore by road. It will go by rail. Once we start to have some products moved by rail, the economics will begin to make sense because we will cover the main line costs and the incremental costs will begin to decrease. Earlier we were speaking about big industrial investment in Oranmore close to the rail network and on the rail network.

It is on the rail line. That is where we need the investment.

Then we will start to have nodes that attract international investment. This is where we will have industry. This is where we will connect to deep-sea ports and renewable power. It is not an impossible equation to start to make rail freight work.

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