This article is from page 4 of the 2006-09-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE TD, Pat Breen has received an estimate for the cost of reopening the disused Ennis to Sligo railway line.
An analysis, undertaken by transport consultants Faber Maunsell in 2005, puts the cost of a three phased reopening of the line between Ennis and Collooney at €336m.
Mr Breen says Transport Minister Martin Cullen had refused to disclose the cost but he was given the estimate, after submitting a Freedom of Information Act enquiry.
The Faber Maunsell report finds that the Ennis to Galway leg of the project will be its most successful section, generating nearly half, or 43 per cent, of the total new business projected. A total of 234,000 new trips annually, or 750 new trips daily, would be made on the Iarnrod Éireann network as a result of the re-instatement of the Western Rail Corridor, the report states, rising to 945 trips per day by 2020 due to an expected 35 per cent increase in the population of Ennis and other towns in that time. Additional revenue of €2.15 million would be generated “based on the current fare structure”.
Deputy Breen said that, “the public disclosure . . . has brought a welcome measure of transparency to the project.
“So far the Western Rail Corridor has been big on headlines but short on detail which is a disservice to the taxpayer who will ultimately pay for this essential infrastructure. I am urging the Minister to immediately announce the first phase of the project so that its deadline of 2008 will be met.
“These projections reveal what has long been suspected, that at relatively little capital cost the transport infrastructure in the Mid-West can be developed significantly, and that it will be a resounding economic success. The €366 million price tag amounts to a little over 1 per cent of the €34 billion capital outlay for Transport 21.
“Before the first anniversary of that Transport 21 announcement in November, I am urging Minister Cullen to stop sitting on his hands and move ahead with this critical rail infrastructure plan immediately.”
The section of line north of Ennis has been closed to passenger traffic for almost 30 years although it was used for some time afterwards for freight.