Mr. Jim Meade:

I do not know off the top of my head but we can get that for the Deputy. There is a cost per mile. We have to look at it from the point of view of installing 100-year infrastructure. When one builds rail infrastructure or any other infrastructure, one is building an asset that outlives several generations of politicians and managers. It is national infrastructure that is there for the long haul. The current infrastructure we are working on was built in the 1840s. Some of it is on the same alignment and will be there for 100 more years. We have to look at our costs over the life of the asset. We also need to look at electrification from the point of view of where technology is taking us. We may not need to electrify as much as we think. We can have discontinuous electrification. As we move towards electrification for Cork, we are considering just having charging points. We put an order in for trains last December with a battery capacity for about 100 km. They would travel from Mallow to Cork, Cobh and Midleton on batteries that would be charged at each station.

The technology is evolving and catenary may not be needed everywhere. Catenary is needed for a high-frequency service that runs every five or ten minutes like the DART at peak hours. There is a point in the level of frequency and with the size of trains where it is cheaper to have catenary doing the work. Electrification is the way forward. It is better at accelerating or decelerating. It is much more efficient. There is less maintenance involved on the units. The new trains are all electric. The battery pack is put on them. If we want to take it off or add more, we can. It is proper technology for the future.