Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 4 March 2015
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications
Western Rail Corridor: Discussion
9:30 am
Mr. Don Cunningham:
Our policy on freight is that business must be sustainable and profitable and not worsen our critical financial position. As seen over the past five to seven years, new opportunities have been few and far between, but we are extremely pleased with the nature of our freight business. It has grown by a few percent year on year, and we are now recording approximately 100 million freight tonne kilometres, with revenue of approximately €9 million per annum. It is certainly an area in which we are interested. Last year, 2014, was our first year of applying the track access charges. We are actually reviewing the charge. It is a financial position that we must try to balance but we are certainly very supportive of increasing freight traffic because we have to sweat the asset and use our system more. Freight has great potential in that regard.
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