Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Cowley for raising this issue. Deputies will recall that in June 2004 the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, set up the western rail corridor working group under the chairmanship of Mr. Pat McCann, chief executive, Jurys Doyle Hotel Group.

The establishment of the working group was primarily intended to provide a forum where those individuals and organisations who had long been promoting the idea of the western rail corridor could put their arguments directly to the chairman and debate the issues with Iarnród Éireann, CIE, the Department of Transport and all the other interested parties.

Within the past 48 hours I have received from Mr. McCann the report of the chairman of the working group. I thank him and the other members of the group for their work on this process. In the time available I have not had the opportunity to study the report in detail, but it is clear that Mr. McCann has a positive disposition towards the restoration of the western rail corridor; a position that I have always maintained.

The arrival of the report this week is timely as it affords me the opportunity to consider its proposals in the context of the preparation of the multi-annual capital investment framework for transport currently under way within my Department. I have already asked my departmental officials to urgently examine Mr. McCann's report to ensure that it is fully appraised in advance of the finalisation of the framework. It is in that process that decisions will be made on the future of the western rail corridor.

The Deputy refers to the western rail corridor in the context of balanced regional development and I am in agreement with him. The concept of balanced regional development is integral to the core objectives of the national spatial strategy and this Government is fully committed to achieving such development in the west through record capital investment in all sectors but primarily the transport sector. This is particularly the case with regard to investment in public transport infrastructure and services.

Some of the more significant rail projects carried out in the west in recent times or planned for the near future are as follows: the rail infrastructure improvements carried out under the Rail Safety Programme 2000-2004 have upgraded all key rail lines into the west to continuous welded rail on concrete sleepers; a new rail safety programme is currently being rolled out which will include improvements to level crossings, bridges and other track work on all lines; the rail re-signalling project, known as the mini CTC, on the Dublin-Galway line was completed in June 2003 with the immediate effect of significant journey time reductions on services; the Sligo line is on target for completion of its re-signalling project later this year and similar time savings will benefit users of that line; re-signalling work on the Westport and Ballina lines will begin in early 2006 with a completion date of 2007; because of the infrastructure upgrading, Iarnród Éireann is now in a position to concentrate on introducing better timetabling and more frequent services with new improved rolling stock; with the arrival this year of new rolling stock to replace old stock and to expand the fleet, rail passengers in the west can expect to see additional improvements in services; this year Iarnród Éireann expects to take delivery of 36 DMU railcars and most of these are due to be allocated to the Sligo route to replace life-expired rolling stock and to increase frequency and capacity; an order for a fleet of 120 new intercity railcars has been placed by IarnródÉireann. These will enter service from 2007 onwards and will operate on the Galway, Westport and Ballina routes. At that point Iarnród Éireann will be able to provide two-hourly services on the Galway line and increased frequencies on the Westport and Ballina lines.

All these investments testify to this Government's commitment to balanced regional development in the west and to delivering the infrastructure that will make such development a reality.

Mr. McCann' s report will be examined in the context of the Government's record on delivering balanced regional development in the west and as part of the process of finalising the multi-annual investment framework for transport. It is in that process that decisions will be made on the future of the western rail corridor.

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