Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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685. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason there is a reduction in the number of carriages on trains throughout Ireland; and if his attention has been drawn to the safety concerns due to overcrowding as a result of this decision. [50585/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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 While the issue raised is a matter for Iarnród Éireann in conjunction with the National Transport Authority, I have been in contact with the company in relation to the matter. Iarnród Éireann has indicated that it is in the process of implementing new energy saving fleet utilisation initiatives on its DART and Intercity services to generate fuel savings, which will reduce fuel and maintenance costs by €3.2m per annum. Concerns about overcrowding have been raised with the Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann and I understand that the company has already responded and re-introduced larger carriages to accommodate passengers where this has been considered necessary.  The Chief Executive has agreed to continuous monitoring of carriage levels on both DART and Intercity services to ensure they match passenger demand. It should be noted that carriages were only reduced at off-peak times. Overcrowding which has occurred at peak times was caused by other issues including technical faults, industrial relations and leaf falls.