Commuters lift Irish Rail fortunes

Improving economic conditions are helping Iarnróid Éireann carry an increasing number of passengers this year, as more people return to work, particularly in the capital.

Close to 19m passenger journeys were made on Irish Rail services in the opening six months of the year, an increase of 3.5% on the same period in 2014.

The strongest growth was seen in the Dart, servicing Dublin, which showed 440,000 additional journeys in the first half of 2015 compared to last year.

“The Dart is where the strongest growth is happening, at just under 6%. It’s very welcome, obviously,” spokesperson Barry Kenny said on RTÉ Radio One. “When the downturn was there, there was an [overall] fall, but it is recovering now, is at just under 19m [passenger journeys] for the first six months of the year and, with the pattern of travel through the year, we would be coming close to 40m in the 12 months, if that pattern continues.

“It’s a good sign for the economy as well, particularly in the Dart and commuting side of things. If there’s more people travelling, it tends to mean more people at work and people with disposable income for leisure and business travel as well, and it’s being reflected on our intercity routes as well. We don’t want to see a situation where it’s just confined to the Dublin area, it very much is growth on the national routes, also.”

There were close to 5m journeys made on intercity routes over the six months, representing an increase of 1.5% from 4.88m.

Commuter services saw a stronger pick-up, with an increase of 2.1% to 5.78m passenger journeys.

Those numbers come in the wake of unemployment falling below 10% for the first time since the crash. CSO figures released this month pointed towards a slowdown in jobs growth as the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7% in June.

Nonetheless, the rate is much reduced from the same time last year, when it stood at 11.4%.

Irish Rail also attributed the growth in passenger numbers, particularly on the Dart, to the continued roll-out of Leap Card services. The Taxsaver programme run by employers, giving full tax relief on annual and monthly ticket costs, and promotion of intercity routes has also had an impact, the company said.

The increase in passenger numbers continues trends seen in 2014, in which an increase of 1.1m journeys (2.9%) on 2013 to 37.8m journeys for the full year was recorded.