Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of manual road crossings still in place on the rail network; and if he plans to phase these out due to negative effects on traffic congestion and public safety concerns. [15424/13]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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This question relates to manual road crossings on the rail network. As has previously been outlined to the Deputy, matters relating to upgrading works at individual level crossings on the rail network are operational day-to-day matters for Iarnród Éireann. My Department is fully aware of the importance of railway safety and continues to provide for substantial Exchequer investment in railway safety measures, despite the significant financial challenges. The overall investment in railway safety measures is in excess of €1.5 billion since 1999 when the railway safety programme commenced. Investment in railway safety measures this year alone will be approximately €90 million. It is a matter for Iarnród Éireann to prioritise the use of these funds, based on appropriate risk assessments.

I understand from Iarnród Éireann that in the past 12 years, with an investment of in excess of €150 million, it has reduced the number of level crossings on the rail system from over 2,000 to just over 1,000 today. The total number of manually operated level crossings on the Iarnród Éireann network, defined as those where the operation of the crossing gates is the responsibility of the crossing user, is 814. The vast majority of these, 649, are field to field crossings, generally used for agricultural activities. There are a further 117 level crossings on private roads, with the remaining 48 on public roads. There are an additional 72 crossings on the network on public roads where operation of the crossing is manual, but this operation is conducted by Iarnród Éireann staff.

Iarnród Éireann is committed to an ongoing risk reduction programme at all manually operated level crossings. This programme is achieved through level crossing upgrading and improvements or the closure of the crossing, where practicable. The allocation of limited available expenditure on these level crossings is prioritised on a risk evaluated basis. Iarnród Éireann is actively looking at technological solutions for the improvement of safety at these manually operated level crossings as a means of optimising funding across the broad range of user operated level crossings on the network.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I know the Minister of State is aware that there are approximately 1,000 railway crossings that are manually operated across the State. This is a problem. While there has been progress, I am concerned when I hear the Minister of State say this matter is the responsibility of Iarnród Éireann. It is the responsibility of the Department and the Minister of State should tell Iarnród Éireann that the situation with regard to manually operated crossings is unacceptable. Let me give some examples. I am aware a bridge is to be built over the railway crossing at Reilly's Bridge in Cabra in the near future, but in the meantime we have traffic jams one mile long, at a cost to the State in terms of people and workers being delayed. There is also an issue of health and safety. I cannot pinpoint a major incident in recebt years, but we need to ensure such an incident never happens. There is an automatic crossing in Athenry which runs to a schedule, but a problem arose there recently. If an automatic crossing is scheduled and the train service is delayed or something else happens, this could lead to a serious problem. I have mentioned Reilly's Bridge, but just up the road at Ashtown there is another manually operated crossing. Approximately 2,000 apartments were built in the area, but we allowed a manually operated crossing at the site. The failure to provide for a flyover or other means of crossing the line represented bad planning on the part of the local authorities.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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There is merit in what the Deputy says about level crossings. When I took up my role in the Department, one thing that struck me straightaway was the volume of funding going towards railway safety measures. A substantial amount, €1.9 billion, has been invested since 1999. There is probably just cause to say priority should have been given to particular crossings during the years. I am aware of some of the crossings to which the Deputy referred. The completion date for the Reilly's Bridge crossing is the end of 2014. That said, in the past two years Iarnród Éireann has been prioritising areas where crossings need attention on a risk basis. It will continue to be active in that regard and ensure it prioritises those crossings where there are safety risks or greater efficiency can be achieved. The Deputy is aware that improvements have been made under our work programme in improving speeds on various lines throughout the country. Some of these improvements are due to a number of crossings being dealt with.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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I mentioned Athenry, but there was also an issue because there was no manual override of the automatic system. This is another problem in terms of health and safety. This was promised at Athenry, but it has not yet been delivered. In a situation where a train service is delayed or some other unforeseen event occurs, there should be a backup system to help resolve the issue. I accept that there have been huge improvements and that there is an ongoing programme in palce. However, we must take cognisance of all of these crossings and assess whether they can be dealt with. It is more important to deal with some of them rather than others, as there are very heavy volumes of traffic on main routes. The Minister of State needs to push this issue with Iarnród Éireann, particularly in cases in which it is clear there are serious problems. Fortunately, there have been no incidents reported, but we must prevent any such incident happening.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The work is ongoing and we meet the NTA to discuss this crucial issue. The Deputy is aware that a serious volume of work has been done on heavily used lines. Speeds and journey times have improved considerably in recent months. The work will continue and we will ensure that where work is necessary from both an efficiency and a safety point of view, it will be prioritised.