Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Irish Rail has requested capital investment in its carriage and train infrastructure. A host of other infrastructural works is needed to upgrade lines, provide further electrification and improve signalling junctions, but extra carriages can be provided now. This would help to provide solutions to our overcrowding now and make commuting more reliable and comfortable. Transport in Dublin is at breaking point. If the new fleet is not ordered now and we do not find a solution along the lines alluded to by the Minister, there will be no additional capacity by 2021. Irish Rail is seeking to lease 70 new carriages, which would provide 5,500 extra journeys. It also needs to expand the existing fleet of 629 carriages with the national development plan sanctioning investment in 300 new vehicles. The first order of 100 vehicles is likely to be in place by next year but they will take up to three years to deliver.

Decisions need to be made now as otherwise the Minister will store up problems that will lead to disaster only two years from now. I acknowledge underinvestment has been an issue in the years of the downturn and it is necessary to catch up.

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