John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A number of weeks ago, I raised the issue of train delays, particularly on the Enterprise service between Dundalk and Belfast where there were 21 individual delays over a 13-day period. I did some research about what happens on the Continent and discovered that the Danish system is really effective in the context of train delays, travel guarantees and the money given back to customers. In Denmark, if a train is delayed by 30 minutes, passengers get a 25% discount on the value of their tickets. If it is 60 minutes late, the discount is 50% and if it is 90 minutes late, the discount is 75%. If the train is 120 minutes late, passengers get the full value of their tickets back. In Ireland, if the delay is one hour passengers get a certain amount in travel vouchers. If the delay is between one and two hours, they get 50% in travel vouchers. If the train is two to three hours late, they get 100% in travel vouchers. The difference is vast. I accept that Scandinavian and continental European countries have had more of a train culture than there has been in Ireland, but we are trying to get more people to move in that direction and out of their cars.

One of the barriers to getting the train that I see every day in Dundalk, where I come from, is that people are not guaranteed to get into work on time. They may be getting trains an hour or 90 minutes earlier in order to get to work on time. If we put a bit of accountability on Irish Rail such that there would be financial penalties for the company and financial reward for consumers if trains are delayed, it would go a long way towards encouraging more people to take the train. They would know that if there were exceptional delays, there would at least be value for money given back in the context of their tickets. If I buy a €28 return ticket from Dundalk to Dublin but am standing the whole way, that does not make sense either. I will bring this matter up in the House again in the autumn in order to see if we can move it forward.