Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this issue and I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to the House.

I am a member of the Western Inter-County Railway Committee which has been campaigning since 1979 to restore the railway from Sligo to Limerick and on to Rosslare as an important transport infrastructure for passengers and freight servicing the west. Such a viable infrastructure would contribute to the balanced development of the wide area served by the cross-radial railway, often referred to as the western rail corridor. We are very fortunate to have a former Member of this House, Martin J. O'Toole, as chairman and Fr. Micheál MacGréil as secretary. I welcome Fr. MacGréil to the House this evening.

There is great support for this development in the west from the statutory voluntary bodies and county councillors, people who are interested in the quality and balanced development of the west. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, intervened in the past to stop the railway being lifted north of Tuam, for which I thank him. The Leader of the House, Senator O'Rourke, was very supportive of this line and put it on a study programme. I hope we will get positive action on this issue. We are very disappointed at the unilateral action of Iarnród Éireann in severing the north-south link line at Athenry. It has annoyed and disappointed members of the committee and community in County Galway.

The promise to reopen the Athenry turnout to Tuam in the event of a positive Government decision does not satisfy the committee. It is difficult for our committee to fathom the pre-emptive strike by Iarnród Éireann against the northern half of the western corridor. It is another blow against the proper development of the west and north west. We must never forget that the railway belongs to the people. In fact, we are not looking for a lot of money. Fr. MacGréil has often referred to it as "crumbs from the table". I hope the Minister will be able to help us in this regard.

As well as the action in Athenry, the railway committee is totally opposed to the phasing out of freight traffic on the railway. There are many plans to transport timber from the forests to the west and north west. It has been reported that private freight companies would be interested in developing the western rail corridor as a major route should the infrastructure be made available. It is the policy of our committee to promote cross-radial inter-city passenger and commuter traffic between rural towns in Sligo, Mayo, Galway and Clare and in and out of the three major cities of Limerick, Galway and Sligo. There is a huge amount of traffic and congestion on the N17 between Tuam and Galway. A railway line which is in existence can bring commuters right into Eyre Square. In fact, part of the film, "The Quiet Man" was filmed on this particular line at Ballyglunin.

The western rail corridor is in the Border, midland and western region, known as the BMW region. Objective One status was achieved because of the disadvantage of the region. If Objective One status means anything, it should mean extra resources for infrastructures such as railways, for example, the western rail corridor. I hope the Minister will be able to help us as other Ministers have done in the past.

Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Parlon, to the House and thank him for his recent very effective work.

Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)
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The issue of Irish Rail's removal of the crossover at Athenry was raised in the House on 14 November last when the Minister dealt with it in some detail. The situation is essentially unchanged since that debate.

As the Minister explained, Irish Rail advised him that Athenry is being resignalled as part of a project to modernise the signalling system on the Dublin to Galway line. Design work has been completed for some time and installation work is under way at various stations on the line and is scheduled to be completed in mid-2003. On completion, passengers on the Galway to Dublin line can expect a significant improvement in terms of comfort, safety and speed on the route. When lines are resignalled the opportunity is taken to simplify the track layout of the line based on present services and traffic. The Minister is informed by Irish Rail that there have been no services on the Athenry-Claremorris line for some considerable time. He is assured by the company that should a demand for services on this line arise, the connection can be restored quickly and easily. It stated that no other track work will be lifted on the Athenry-Claremorris line.

For Irish Rail to replace the crossover now would require a revision of the design and planning work that has gone into the project to date. The work would then need to be programmed into the existing work schedule. The Minister has no doubt that this will lead to slippage in both the financial targets and the delivery dates of the project. This project is being part funded by the EU. Senators may well recall that an earlier version of it was the subject of an inquiry. As a result, this current project is being very carefully monitored by the EU Commission.

The strategic rail review, which is nearing completion, is examining the future options for this and other railway lines throughout the State. The review will examine the long-term rail requirements for the country as a whole in light of the emerging spatial planning and regional development policies and local land use and transportation studies. The purpose of the review is to provide the Government with a basis for establishing a strategic policy framework and direction for the future development of the rail passenger and rail freight sectors in Ireland for the next 20 years.

The Minister understands that the submissions included proposals for the development of the western rail corridor which would link Sligo with Cork via Claremorris, Athenry and Limerick. This proposal, together with all the other rail proposals received is currently being assessed by the review consultants who, in finalising the review, will make recommendations in regard to them.