Rail firm urged to cut parking charges

IARNRÓD Éireann has again been urged to drop car parking charges along a busy commuter route after it emerged the company received €8,201,878 in development levies from Cork County Council.

Special development levies were applied to developers and private home builders along the Cork-Midleton rail corridor to help defray the costs of reopening the line.

Since 2004 the levies have been collected by the local authority at a rate of €26.88 per sq metre on residential development and €92.88 per sq metre on office developments within one kilometre of the rail stations.

Many of those householders who forked out to pay for the privilege of living near the railway are now faced with paying €2 per day to park in Irish Rail car parks adjacent to stations at Little Island, Glounthaune and Midleton.

However, the car parks remain virtually empty on a daily basis as people park their cars on nearby roads rather than pay the charge, which was introduced just a few weeks ago.

In Little Island commuters are parking in a nearby recycling centre operated by the council.

Cllr Gerry Kelly (FG) said Iarnród Éireann should withdraw the parking charges.

“They are looking for further money off local people who have already paid a tax which was used to fund the service in the first place. The approach taken by them is ridiculous in that they are frightening away commuters by imposing a parking charge. It is important that a critical mass of train users is achieved and slapping on parking charges which amount to almost 50% of the cost of the train ticket to the city is not the way to go,” Mr Kelly said.

County manager Martin Riordan has supported any move to get Iarnród Éireann to drop the parking charges, at least in the medium term, to encourage more people to use commuter trains.

The issue is likely to be discussed by commuters between 4pm and 6pm today when they get the opportunity meet local Iarnród Éireann managers.

The company has invited rail-users to discuss any issues of interest or concern they may have about InterCity, commuter or customer services.

“We find this type of feedback invaluable and it also allows us highlight any new improvements we have in customer service.”

Station manager Ray Foley said that the TVMs [Ticket Vending Machine] “have now been updated with new software and Iarnród Éireann is delighted to announce that you can now collect your reserved tickets, which have been booked online, through any of our six vending machines at Kent Station, Cork”.