Mr. Richard Logue:

I welcome the chance to speak to the committee. Thanks to the extensive network cuts of the 1950s and 1960s, large parts of Ireland are entirely without a railway service. The western half of Ulster, including Donegal and Tyrone, and much of west Cork have not had a railway service in more than 60 years. Other areas have a very infrequent timetable. Experience shows, however, particularly on the Belfast-Derry line, that if a better service is offered, passengers will use it. That particular line was under threat of closure in 2004 due to low passenger numbers. It had an infrequent timetable and the trains on the line were dilapidated. Following a major campaign to save the line, led by Eamonn McCann, Jim McBride and the late Colm Joyce, it was saved. The investments subsequently made to date in new trains and better track on the Belfast-Derry line have produced a sixfold increase since 2004 in passenger numbers of up to more than 3 million annually. This increase has far exceeded the conservative forecasts NI Railways made in its initial investment plan.

There are a number of quick wins we could apply to improve the existing rail service. The railway needs to run on all lines from early in the morning until late at night and, in some cases, all through the night. Intercity passengers should expect to be able to arrive at any destination across the island before 9 a.m. Timetables need to be designed for 21st century needs, ensuring there is a train service available when passengers need it. Journey times must be quicker than their equivalent by car. The existing rail network must be updated to allow higher speed running on all existing lines, up to 125 mph, and all speed restrictions need to be eliminated. Ideally, all tracks should be double, but more and longer passing loops would significantly ease current restrictions on single-track sections. Understandably, this will require significant investment. A change that requires less investment is ensuring bus and railway timetables are aligned such that bus services connect with railways to allow seamless transfers. It is worth pointing out that the modal shift from private cars to public transport will not happen if bus-only public transport is offered. Buses must complement the rail service, not wastefully compete with it.

There also is a need to link the railway to the runways. Despite being the busiest entry point to the island of Ireland, Dublin Airport has no railway connections and is entirely dependent on the road network. If we compare Dublin with Manchester, which has a similar-sized airport to Dublin, Manchester has both a tram or light rail link to central Manchester and an intercity heavy rail station taking passengers from all over England to the airport. A similar heavy rail connection at Dublin Airport, branching off from the Dublin-Belfast line and going towards the city centre, would not only allow intercity trains from all over Ireland to serve the airport but also would have to resolve the notorious bottleneck on the railway between Malahide and Connolly, where intercity trains must travel slowly behind the frequent DART services, causing significant delays.

The DART tunnel is regarded by many as the key to unlocking Dublin's rail network. The DART underground line would link Dublin city's badly connected railways into a coherent network. Not building it or putting it even further on the long finger does not make any sense. The route linking the Belfast and Cork lines is already part of the EU's TEN-T core network. Putting the tunnel in place and linking it into the network would allow for a reconfiguration of DART routes, allowing new Malahide-Kildare services, for instance, or Kilcock-Greystones services.

The mothballed Atlantic rail corridor, also known as the western rail corridor, is one of the most strategic links on the island of Ireland as it offers the most direct rail link possible between the west and the north west and allows for a direct connection to the increasingly important southern ports of Rosslare, Waterford, Cork and Foynes. The corridor should be used as the basis for a major railway linking the island, including Shannon and Knock airports, and would be the second major cross-Border railway on the island. A further new line linking Sligo to Derry via Donegal town and Letterkenny would add immense benefits, particularly for the north west. The Atlantic rail corridor is a strategic route for the whole island and must be designated as part of the TEN-T core network.

I turn now to organisational issues. From an organisational point of view, the National Transport Authority, NTA, only has a statutory role for the greater Dublin area. Furthermore, my understanding is the authority does not currently have anyone at board or executive leadership level with rail expertise. There would be a massive benefit if it were to bring somebody on board with that experience. The railway services that start and finish outside Dublin should be managed by a dedicated regional railways undertaking, with a specific remit to develop services and increase passenger traffic.

Finally, the reason that I am putting this forward is not about the trains. The reality is that we are facing an increased growth in the population of Ireland over the next 20 years. Do we continue as we are, and cram more and more people into the greater Dublin area, or do we take the opportunity now to rebalance Ireland to allow that population growth to be absorbed across the country? Providing a comprehensive and electrified passenger rail network provides a backbone of infrastructure that allows businesses to be based away from Dublin. We have the chance to develop Ireland in a balanced way, to resolve dereliction in our towns and to give our citizens a place to live with a good quality of life over the next 20 years. Let us take that opportunity.