Mr. Colmán Ó Raghallaigh:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste as an gcuireadh teacht os comhair an choiste ar maidin.

I thank the Chairman and members for their invitation to appear before the joint committee. Let me introduce my colleagues Mr. Frank Dawson and Mr. Howard Knott, who is the director of logistics projects at the Irish Exporters Association. We have a brief PowerPoint presentation and Mr. Knott will follow with a few words. We will stick strictly to the text of the PowerPoint presentation in the initial phase.

West-on-Track is a voluntary community-based group. We work with local authorities and statutory bodies, including Iarnród Éireann to promote the redevelopment of the rail corridor that exists between Limerick and Sligo, through counties Clare, Galway and Mayo. West-on-Track was a member together with the local authorities of the McCann working group which recommended the phased re-opening of this route in 2005. The report also recommended further review of the Mayo to Sligo section.

This West-on-Track map shows the western rail corridor in red on the left hand side with the new section from Limerick to Galway clearly visible. West-on-Track has continued to promote the route and its services and supports Iarnród Éireann and Mayo industries in developing both passenger and freight business.

Though our formal role ended in 2005 on the completion of the McCann report and its presentation to Government, West-on-Track has contributed at every opportunity to public consultation by Government and its agencies on transport planning strategy. The section of the railway from Limerick to Ennis was reopened with a full passenger service as far back as 1988. In 2005 McCann recommended the re-opening of the Ennis to Athenry line as a first phase and by so doing to develop the Limerick to Galway intercity and commuter services.

Limerick-Galway trains were reintroduced in 2010 after expenditure of €96 million on the 35 mile Ennis-Gort-Athenry section. The Ennis to Athenry section was needed in order for the parts in the middle to be brought into service and to connect the cities of Galway and Limerick. The red route on the map is now open under phase 1 and the yellow route from Athenry through Tuam to Claremorris and Mayo should constitute the next phase.

After a sluggish start because of issues with scheduling, marketing and presentation, passenger numbers today have exceeded projected targets due to current management initiatives Passenger numbers on the Galway-Limerick railway for 2014 were in excess of 220,000, according to statistics published by Iarnród Éireann. This includes a 72.5% increase in passenger journeys through the Ennis-Athenry section of the line, which represents the largest annual growth on the rail network. It is worthy of note that the Faber Maunsell passenger projections prepared for Iarnród Éireann in 2005 anticipated 169,000 annual trips on the Galway-Limerick route.

Members may have heard about the one-day census of rail routes that takes place every year in November. According to the 2013 census, which was published by the NTA, boardings on the Galway-Limerick rail services were similar to the Dublin-Belfast Enterprise cross-Border services, although there were fewer trains on the Galway-Limerick route. It is highly likely that Galway-Limerick boardings could exceed Dublin-Belfast boardings when the results or the 2014 survey are published given the record growth on the route already reported by Iarnród Éireann. The Faber Maunsell passenger projections anticipated 540 daily boardings on the Galway-Limerick route but the 2013 census, which was carried out prior to the implementation of improvements, recorded 886 boardings. In 2014, 220,000 passengers journeys were made despite the fact that the Ennis-Limerick section was closed for almost four months due to flooding at Ballycar. Extra coaches are now required on peak time services due to this growth in demand and two international tour operators are planning to use the route in 2015 for heritage train operations. These operators are Rail Tours Ireland, which uses the route on a daily basis and is also developing an special intentional product, and Steam Dreams, which plan to make use of the route next year. This is a lucrative international business.

Apple made a significant announcement last week on an €850 million investment in a data centre in Athenry, which is at the heart of the southern section of the rail corridor. The new centre will be the company’s largest data centre project in Europe, providing 300 jobs during its multiple phases. The CEO of IDA Ireland, Martin Shanahan, stated, “This is an important strategic investment by Apple in a regional location, with significant local economic benefits". It is reasonable to expect that Apple's investment will have an impact across a 60 mile radius, which means the completion of the fourth radial rail route north from Athenry is even more justified. I will now ask my colleague, Mr. Frank Dawson, to speak about rail freight.