Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First of all, I was very interested in the matter of the battery trains. It is like going back to the Drumm battery trains of the 1930s which ran on what is now the green Luas line. I note in the statement that the rail strategy is to support balanced regional development. I presume that, if this is an all-Ireland strategy, this big black hole will be a big focus. Mr. Meade might confirm if I am correct in that. Can Mr. Meade give us some ballpark figures as to the cost of reopening a kilometre of Iarnród Éireann-owned disused railway line as compared to building railway lines on greenfield sites or on totally new alignments? When answering, he might give me the relative cost of doing that.

Mr. Meade mentioned dramatically increased demand on lines where frequency has increased. He also mentioned the benefits of higher frequency on the network. Has Iarnród Éireann modelled what might happen if the frequency were to be increased significantly on the Limerick to Galway line, the Ballybrophy to Limerick line, which Deputy Lowry mentioned, and the Waterford to Limerick line, particularly the section between Waterford and Limerick Junction because you cannot get from Waterford to Limerick without travelling that section of the line? I am interested in that because they are three least serviced lines in the whole country. On the last two I mentioned, I believe there is one train in each direction twice a day.

Mr. Meade said that Iarnród Éireann would do the required works at Crusheen and Ballycar if it got the funding. I presume he is talking about dedicated funding. That is fair enough. Urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, funding for the passing loop in Oranmore for Ceannt Station is mentioned in the documentation. Mr. Meade will know I know about this because it is near where I live in my constituency. If an application was made under category 2 of the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, which provides money for planning and developing projects, to carry out the first steps, it would be 85% funded by the RRDF with a contribution from the local authorities as well. This could allow a detailed physical survey of the western rail corridor from Athenry to Claremorris to be carried out. In other words, we could get on the ground and find out exactly what physical work would need to be done. All the physical surveys could be done, allowing for the design work. What would Iarnród Éireann's attitude be to such an approach and to funding like that coming into the process sideways so that it does not compete with its other alternative? If you are given a ball of money, you will spend it where the people are.

In that connection and on a second parallel issue, an undertaking was given by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, that it would fund the reinstatement of Ballyglunin bridge. As a parallel process, could design work to reinstate that bridge, on what I believe is a slightly different alignment, not be undertaken at the same time and that project actioned? We know where the money is going to come from in that regard because there is a written letter from TII absolutely guaranteeing that money is in the bag and should be drawn down to resolve that issue once and for all.