Concerns grow over closure of local rail service
The Irish Examiner revealed yesterday that the company had informed the Department of Transport last year that it was considering the closure of the line, which includes a commuter service between Limerick and Nenagh, due to low passenger numbers.
The National Transport Authority board was told last summer that Iarnród Éireann had “alerted” the Minister for Transport that they may seek closure of some of the country’s “lightly used rail lines”.
However, a spokesperson for Iarnród Éireann said there were no current proposals to suspend any services on the line, but that all routes were constantly under review.
The Nenagh Rail Partnership yesterday said it was concerned at fresh speculation about the line’s future which has been under threat for several years.
Group chairwoman and local Labour councillor, Virginia O’Dowd, said they were “more worried now than ever before” about the continuation of rail services between Limerick and Ballybrophy.
Ms O’Dowd said the group had been established to work in tandem with Iarnród Éireann to promote the potential of the route.
Although she praised Iarnród Éireann for making positive changes to rail timetables in recent years to facilitate passengers, Ms O’Dowd said there was frustration at the failure to improve journey times.
“Money has been spent on improving the line to allow faster speeds. However, the failure of engineers to sign off on the improvements means lower speed limits still operate on the line,” she explained.
However, Ms O’Dowd conceded that opening the full M7 motorway presented strong competition for rail commuters.
Official figures show that a total of 14,000 people travelled on the line between January 1 and September 11 last year — a daily average of 55 passengers.
The Nenagh Rail Partnership claims the line’s future is linked to developing tourism in the area, while it would also like to see direct Dublin-Limerick rail services via Ballybrophy and Nenagh.
“We have a situation where lots of people from Nenagh are driving to Thurles everyday to catch trains to Dublin,” said Ms O’Dowd.
The Government has acknowledged that austerity measures are likely to result in “significant” reductions to public transport services over the coming years.
The CIÉ group is to have its annual subvention reduced by €21 million next year to €242m with further cuts expected up to 2014.
Iarnród Éireann has admitted that on occasions the scheduled service between Limerick and Nenagh was cancelled after trains were empty of passengers by the time they reached Birdhill or Castleconnell.
The company maintained that travelling on to Nenagh in such circumstances was a waste of fuel.
Fears over the future of the Limerick-Ballybrophy line come just over a year after the NTA approved Iarnród Éireann’s decision to cease services on the Waterford-Rosslare route.
