Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 234: To ask the Minister for Transport the access and other charges which are or will be paid by operators, since the opening up of railways to competing operators in 2007, for using the network, the terminals and for the hire of rolling stock for any prospective freight service; and the location at which these charges are documented and available to possible service users. [21294/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The charging regime to which the Deputy refers, and which is a requirement under EU law relating to access by rail freight operators to the railway network, is currently under development.

Iarnród Eireann has carried out work on chargeable costs for the use of the infrastructure, and my Department has engaged consultancy assistance to examine these costs with a view to ensuring a transparent and equitable charging regime is put in place and made available as soon as possible to any prospective applicants for track access.

It should be noted that although the market for rail freight services has been open since 2007, no expressions of interest in running rail freight services have been received. Any such interest would be welcome notwithstanding the work to be completed in finalising the access charging regime.