Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

8. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will give positive consideration to the reopening of Cratloe and Crusheen railway stations in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10271/23]

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister positively consider the reopening of Cratloe and Crusheen railway stations in County Clare?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have responsibility for policy and overall funding of public transport, including the rail network. The operation, maintenance and renewal of that rail network and stations, including the former stations at Cratloe and Crusheen, is a matter for Iarnród Éireann in the first instance.

The Deputy will be aware that the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future commits to a fundamental change in the nature of transport. Rail has an important role to play in achieving that change. It is important that we address constraints in the rail sector and deliver a network that allows rail to fulfil its potential in pursuit of decarbonisation priorities, rural connectivity objectives and as a generator of prosperity for people across Ireland. My Department has commissioned the all-island strategic rail review with the Northern Irish Department for Infrastructure. The review will establish the strategic context for investment in rail across the island in the coming decades. Work on the review is now at an advanced stage and a key consideration of the analysis is how the rail network can support regional and rural connectivity, including in the west.

Iarnród Éireann has advised that it will keep the case for a railway station at Crusheen under review in line with future passenger demand trends but that, at present, there is no provision for a station within the current funding profile. Similarly, a reopening of the station in Cratloe has not been included in the recently published Limerick Shannon metropolitan area transport strategy. In both cases, the local passenger demand is not deemed to be at the level that would warrant the opening of a train station in the immediate future. However, I will keep these issues under review given the importance of rail, to which I have referred. In this regard, I was pleased to read that passenger numbers on the Limerick-Galway line increased by more than the numbers on any other intercity service between 2019 and 2022.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am an avid user of the rail system. Shortly, this morning I will get on my bike, I will go on the train and I will return to County Clare.

The railway system is linear, as the Minister will be aware. It only benefits certain communities that are on the railway line or approximate to it.

In the case of Cratloe and Crusheen, it is frustrating for these communities to see the train pass them several times a day. The station in Crusheen was built in the 1860s. Cratloe was built in 1859. Crusheen closed in 1976 and Cratloe in 1963.

Both communities are very populated. They have become spillover communities, for the nearby towns of Ennis in the case of Crusheen, and Cratloe would have a lot of people from the Limerick and Shannon area.

There was €1.5 million allocated for the reopening of Crusheen in 2010. It got planning in 2011, but we have not seen it materialised. If Iarnród Éireann come out with this recommendation that we reopen Cratloe and reopen Crusheen, I would like to know will Deputy Eamon Ryan, as Minister, back that with Government funding.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There were stations at Cratloe and Crusheen. Reading the background on it, they were used right into the 1980s, and 1990s even, mainly for freight or if there was a big match day, or whatever, to get to Thurles. That is in living memory. It is not as if there is not a station there. We would need to upgrade, obviously, and put in proper platforms. It is not that expensive.

The big question is whether there would be demand. The population of both villages is not that large. According to the census, both are under 1,000. The question would be: what sort of demand would there be from neighbouring villages, etc.?

I think particularly of Cratloe in terms of the Limerick metropolitan rail system because we need to develop on all four lines going into Limerick. If we do regular services, and when we start to increase, put in stations in Moyross, etc., we will keep it under review.

Cratloe also depends to a certain extent on where the rail might connect to Shannon. Should it go via Sixmilebridge or via Cratloe? Indeed, a previous study looked at where you would go on a circular route via Sixmilebridge and back via Cratloe to Limerick.

We will keep it under review. The key issue is probably the population density and the closeness to the station to justify it.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is quite a large population in the area when looking beyond the immediacy of both of those villages. There is significant demand for this service. This service, pre-Covid, was Ireland's fastest growing railway line in terms of usage, edging close to 600,000 in late 2019.

One of the two factors that I suppose deters some people from using it is the line speed. There are commuter trains on this. They do not have Wi-Fi. They are rather slow. If people get in their car, they can get from Limerick to Ennis far quicker than the train will get them there. Line speed is a factor here. People would like to see intercity trains, acknowledging that this is Limerick to Galway and merits something better than a commuter-style train.

Of course, the other big important issue there would be Ballycar, which is a section of the line that frequently floods. That has been spoken about quite a lot. Could the Minister give any positive indication that something will happen with that in alleviating that flooding problem? Too often, that keeps the train off the line and then no one can travel on it.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The latter is a complex issue and I do not have details of it here. I do not have an update but I will try and come back to the Deputy with more information with regard to that.

With the introduction of the assembly up North, and even if that does not take place, we will have to look at some mechanism of advancing the strategic rail review. It sets out recommendations in respect of line speed across the range of different type of routes that we have. Deputy Crowe will have heard, as will Deputy Ó Cuív who is beside him, this concept that we do the western rail corridor right the way from Rosslare to Ballina-Westport. We need to look at that as a whole. It is not only for passenger traffic; it is also for freight traffic.

I do not know if line speed is the key issue there. First, we need to connect up the missing pieces and also develop frequency. If passengers were given a choice between a more frequent service - earlier and later trains - versus investing in faster ones, frequency might be what we would go for first and foremost because it is very popular. Even though, as the Deputy states, it can be quicker to drive, people get stuck in traffic, they have to park, they have to pay for the parking and they have all the inconvenience of that. People are answering with their feet. When we put in public transport service, the demand goes up. The frequency and the length of the service is what we should invest in.