Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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763. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans for investment in the western rail corridor from 2016 to 2020; if these plans include an expansion of the present line; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34176/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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​Over the lifetime of the new Capital Plan "Building on Recovery: Infrastructure & Capital Investment 2016 - 2021", the priority for heavy rail infrastructure is to provide the necessary funding for maintenance and renewal programmes to bring the level of funding on the network up to the required steady state level. In an environment where funding remains constrained, it has not been possible to make exchequer funding  funding available to reopen closed rail lines in the West, or anywhere else on the network. This does not however preclude a third party from providing finance for the development of a railway line or freight services.

The new Capital Plan includes a commitment that, in advance of the Mid-Term Review of the Plan, the Government will commission a feasibility study to examine options for expanding freight transport on the railways.   The potential for investment in rail freight in the west can be considered in that context.