CIÉ defers move to shut down freight services

CIÉ has deferred a decision to close down loss-making freight services and railway lines following a last-minute intervention by the Government.

The CIÉ board is to wait until a wide-ranging review of rail services is published early in the new year before making a decision, following a request from Transport Minister Séamus Brennan.

It is understood that the board was poised yesterday to rubber-stamp cutbacks which would have affected up to 600 workers. The plans included moves to shut down unprofitable freight traffic and railway lines linking Rosslare to Limerick Junction and Ballybrophy to Limerick Junction, via Nenagh.

However, Iarnród Éireann, whose unprofitable services are losing around €1.2 million a month, has effectively agreed to delay a decision on condition the Government compensates it for any losses clocked up in the meantime.

The delay will temporarily ease the anger of unions, who picketed yesterday’s board meeting. They claimed that a decision to close down services yesterday would have been in breach of agreements made to them by management.

The rail review was commissioned by Mr Brennan and is being carried out by independent consultants, Booz Allen Hamilton.

SIPTU has called for the resignation of the chairman of CIÉ for allowing services to deteriorate and failing to fully market the potential of freight traffic.

The union claims Iarnród Éireann and its parent company CIÉ have wilfully allowed sections of the rail and freight services to decline, without seriously trying to rescue them. The National Bus and Rail Union is also balloting for industrial action over the proposed closures.

Opposition parties such as Labour and Fine Gael have also spoken out against the proposed closures and say tax incentives can be used to attract more freight business back to the railways.

The closure of loss-making freight services will lead to a dramatic increase in road traffic with estimates that some 400 trucks a day will end up on the road. There are also fears that the planned closure of the Limerick Junction-Rosslare line would threaten the beet traffic carried on that line from Wellington Bridge, Co Wexford, to the sugar factory in Mallow, Co Cork.

Irish Railway News, an internet-based group of individuals campaigning against the closures, said the rail company seemed committed to abandoning rail freight in Ireland altogether. This claim is rejected by Iarnród Éireann which said it is committed to developing the profitable arms of its freight transport and has no plans to withdraw from the area. The company also said that transportation of beet on the railway lines is not in any danger.