Transport system to get billion euro boost

Ireland’s transport infrastructure received a massive boost today with the announcement of huge investments in the country’s rail and road systems.

The Government is to make almost €1bn available to update trains and upgrade roads across the nation.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen announced the state’s biggest ever rail investment of €460m to place 223 new carriages on tracks over the next three years, while the Intercity fleet will be the newest in Europe by 2008.

His Cabinet colleague, Environment Minister Dick Roche, meanwhile, announced a record level of funding for non-national roads with the allocation of €495m for the network in 2005.

Minister Cullen said the new customer-focused rail package agreed between Government and Iarnrod Eireann will benefit 15 million rail passengers annually.

“Quality, comfort and frequency of service will be improved. Existing customers will benefit and passenger numbers can grow,” he said.

The €460m package includes:

:: 120 new intercity carriages costing €260m which will enter service in 2007.

These will service the Dublin – Westport/Ballina, Dublin-Galway, Dublin-Tralee and Dublin-Waterford routes, carrying over 11m passengers annually.

:: A new "clockface" timetable on intercity destinations with hourly and two hourly departures on all main intercity routes.

:: 67 new carriages costing €117m will enter service later this year and the start of 2006. These will operate on the Dublin-Cork line, which will allow for the redeployment of a more modern fleet on the Dublin-Sligo route.

:: 36 new carriages will commence service at the end of this year costing €83m. These will service 3.5m passengers on the Commuter routes (Kildare, Naas, Maynooth, Leixlip, Castleknock, Drogheda, Balbriggan and Skerries).

Mr Cullen said the new rail investment package was facilitated as a result of the €650m upgrading of the signalling system and the rail track network over the past six years.

He said the combination of new carriages, upgraded track and modern signalling meant more trains would depart on time and arrive on time.

“This package underlines in the most concrete way the Government’s commitment to rail transport and our determination to fully exploit the potential of our rail resource,” he added.

Minister Roche said this year’s record funding for the non-national road network was provided without the need for an increase in motor tax rates.

“The allocation of almost €500m is up 4% on last year’s allocation, it’s double the 1997 level and more than four times the allocation that was made in 1994,” he said.

“Yet again the Government is demonstrating its commitment to improving the local roads which are vital to the economy of the local community.

“The record funding which I am allocating will allow for continued improvement of the local road network which has seen dramatic transformation over the past decade.”

Mr Roche said he was refocusing priority investment to areas of most need as shown in the preliminary results of his department’s study on road pavement conditions.

“The targeting of certain counties, which were shown to be substandard in the original study in 1996, has worked,” he said.

“The roads in these counties have improved significantly as a result of the extra funding which they attracted.

“Some other counties have not benefited to the same degree. I am therefore providing an additional 9m euro in restoration grants to the 14 counties now at the bottom of the list.”

The 2005 allocations include:

:: €234m for the Restoration Programme.

:: €90m for specific non-national road projects which promote employment and economic activity under the EU Co Financed Specific Improvement Grants Scheme.

:: €53m for Strategic Non-National Road projects, which will assist housing, commercial and industrial development.

Strategic Non-National road schemes which will receive allocations in 2005 include the Naas Ring Road, the Clane Inner Relief Road, the South Dublin Outer Ring Road, Wicklow Town Relief and the Port Access Road, the Trim to Kilcock Road, the Outer Ring Road in Waterford, the Balbriggan Inner Relief Road and the Corbally Link Road in Limerick.

The minister also announced that for the first time he is introducing a new grant category for the provision of footpaths and repairs to footpaths in areas served by town councils who are not road authorities – former Town Commissioner areas.

He said he was very concerned about the condition of footpaths in a number of smaller towns.

“Poor maintenance, or indeed the absence of footpaths, impacts on residents and visitors, on the urban fabric, and on local authorities themselves in terms of the costs of accidents,” he added.