Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

That status is fast disappearing because this Minister is one of the few who has come into the House. I compliment him on doing that because, sadly, it is a dying practice.

I urge the Minister to enhance the feeder bus service too because if we are serious about dealing with global warming and road traffic congestion, we must be serious about the alternatives. Trains are the most effective and efficient form of passenger service. Transport 21 will encompass this entire area and meet its needs well into the future. However, several modifications could be made now to enhance and improve the health and safety factors in the service, making it possible for more people to avail of the rail service and thereby take traffic off the roads.

A parking area of six or seven acres at Maynooth local rail station was sold some years ago for a housing development. It happened before this Minister was in charge of transport. It was a daft idea. Enhanced parking is needed there now. Some effort has been made to create extra parking in Leixlip-Louisa Bridge but this is insufficient to meet the requirements of the number of passengers likely to use it. Kilcock has limited parking and is likely to need much more because of the development taking place there. People from the hinterland will need a place to park there too.

Every town along that route is introducing parking restrictions because people in a hurry abandon their cars when they have nowhere else to put them. They might have already travelled 20 miles. The train does not pass every house. The same applies to Sallins and Hazelhatch. There is plenty of parking space at Hazelhatch but it is a mile or so from the village. It is an area that could provide a better service and this also applies to Sallins.

The Minister has several options. For example, he could increase the size of the trains by adding more carriages, although that raises health and safety factors. It is not necessary, however, to open the trains all the way from end to end. It is possible to meet the safety requirements. The Minister should consider increasing the frequency of the service and provide an upgraded feeder bus service to ensure the maximum number of people can get to the train, and come away from it, as quickly as possible. That has the potential to become a very attractive service but it needs to be enhanced with all the improvements required to make it easy for the commuter to use it.

Standing throughout the journey is not a great idea. People say that if one travels on the Tube in London, one might have to stand all the way. It is not necessarily a great idea there either as the British have found to their cost more than once.

It would be greatly appreciated if, in anticipation of and prior to the inauguration of Transport 21, a number of modifications could be undertaken along the rail lines in question. Such modifications would have major benefits in terms of alleviating the congestion with which we must deal on our roads.

See this speech in context