Mr. Jim Meade:

It is a state-of-the-art fleet but because it is so busy, the experience of the travelling public is not good. I accept that. We have to be honest with the travelling public and tell them that it will get worse before it gets better because more people are migrating to public transport. In many cases it is the quickest way to get between two key locations. Our patronage is growing. The morning peak for us, particularly in the greater Dublin area, is very busy. We are telling people openly and honestly that we have a plan. We are working with the NTA and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, which are putting in place the funding, but there is a lead time on that.

The national development plan, NDP, programme was announced only early this year or late last year and it is only in the past couple of weeks that we have gone through the process and they have given us the green light to start procuring the intermediate cars. There is a longer-term plan to put a framework order in place for 600 new vehicles over a ten-year time period. This would all add capacity as we go. I have to be clear with the Chairman and the committee, however, that it will get a little bit worse before it gets better in that regard because we just do not have the capacity at present.

On the issue of speeds and times, now that we have reached a fully funded state it is our intention to continue to upgrade the infrastructure. That is what we have done on other routes. The Cork line is not getting priority; it just happens to have the oldest infrastructure. The Sligo, Galway and Kerry lines were all relaid in the mid-noughties and it is all new track compared with the much older track on the southern half of the Cork line. This is why the relaying programme is going that way; it is all based on the condition of the asset not on the frequency of the line.

We will work through a plan for all the branch lines to reduce the journey times. Our long-term target is to bring the Cork services to two hours and 15 minutes in duration for all services. Currently they are two hours and 30 minutes or two hours 35 minutes in duration. The target also is to bring the duration of the Galway services to two hours and those of the likes of the Westport and Sligo services nearer two hours and 30 minutes than the current three hours. That will be done through improving works on the track and increasing line speeds. The two go hand in hand. If the condition of the asset, on which the train runs, improves and we can run at faster speeds, then we will run at faster speeds. Sometimes they can trade off. If we want to bring a key business train out of Sligo, Cork or Limerick for example, the more the train stops the more it is slowed down. When stops are added the train is slowed down. We have offered services as more frequent over time. The Maynooth line is very busy from Maynooth inwards and it is about having the slots to get everyone into the city centre in Dublin. The plan is very much to keep moving with the programme and to keep reducing journey times.

As for the refurbishment of stations, we started a programme last year to go through all of our stations. We had stopped doing this during the bad years. We were able to live without keeping up some elements there but we did keep up with the safety aspects. We have started a programme and we have put more money into station refurbishment, which we term "business facilities" this year and last year. We are investing more in that area and the programme will run for the next several years.

Reference was made to the review on the western rail corridor. Consultants are appointed - they start in January - to work on a 20-week programme, which will then go to the Department for a peer review. We will stick to those timelines.