The Republic's rail sector is growing at a faster rate than that of any other EU state, according to a new survey of the main national rail companies.
After years of under-investment, improved Government funding appears to have given the railway industry here a major boost. That is according to figures from the Paris-based International Union of Railways (UIC), an organisation which has been representing the rail sector since 1922.
The survey examines the passenger traffic figures of all the main rail companies operating in Europe. Despite positive news on passenger traffic, the Republic is suffering from a major erosion of rail freight activity, the survey also reveals.
The UIC annual survey shows the number of passenger journeys on Irish trains rising from 34.5 million in 2004 to 37.6 million in 2005, a jump of 9 per cent. This was significantly ahead of increases in the UK, France and Germany. The average increase in passenger journeys in the EU was 2.5 per cent.
The only state with growth levels near that of the Republic was Latvia, with an 8.8 per cent rise in passenger journeys. The biggest rail transport company surveyed was the SNCF in France which managed to carry 76.5 million passengers during 2005.
The provision of rail transport in the Republic falls to Irish Rail or Iarnród Éireann and a spokesman said yesterday: "These figures prove the benefit of investment and we fully expect to dominate the European passenger growth charts for years to come."
It is understood the company is forecasting the number of passenger journeys will reach 40 million in 2006. The 2005 figures will surprise some considering the Dart upgrade project occurred in Dublin over the first nine months of the year. This severely reduced Dart capacity at weekends.
Irish Rail is hoping to add significant capacity in the future, including a Docklands to Heuston interconnector in Dublin and an underground high capacity rail line through the city centre.
Over recent years it has increased the number of commuter carriages in its fleet from 44 to 180. The number of Dart carriages has risen from 80 to 154.
The UIC survey, which is distributed to all major rail companies, indicates that competition from road and air transport is taking a toll on rail freight.
In Europe rail freight traffic was down almost 1 per cent. However, in the Republic it was down 24 per cent.
Irish Rail has complained for several years that it is increasingly difficult to make money from freight contracts. This argument is also commonly heard elsewhere in Europe too, where the erosion of heavy manufacturing has hit the rail freight sector. However, the survey suggests this picture is not uniform.
"Some quite spectacular increases are to be found in some companies in south-eastern Europe where the opening up of borders is helping international traffic to grow," it reads.
It was reported last October that a private sector operator was planning to enter the rail freight business to provide competition to Irish Rail on the Republic's railways for the first time. The name of the company was not disclosed.
Competition will be allowed in the domestic rail freight market from January 2007. Under the plan to open up the market, CIÉ, which owns the rail network, will be entitled to charge new operators for costs associated with allowing access to the lines and other facilities.
