Dublin motorists do not need to be reminded that gridlock has become the norm rather than the exception during the so-called "rush-hour". Throughout the State, roads have to bear traffic levels they were not designed to carry. And the situation is likely to worsen as a further 150,000 private cars are purchased this year. Projections for car numbers up to the year 2001 have already been exceeded. It is a recipe for disaster.
Successive governments have responded to the transport crisis by pumping money into the road system, particularly in the Dublin region. Much of that funding came from the European Union, which also provided money to build the DART system and to develop Dublin Bus. Outside of the capital, however, the role of public transport has been largely ignored. And an application for EU funding for the rail system was only included in the current National Economic Plan at the last moment. In spite of that, sufficient finance was made available to develop the Dublin/Cork and the Dublin/Belfast routes to a very high standard. By the end of next year, about £400 million will have been invested in these and in other projects.
Developing rail lines with the highest traffic densities made good economic sense for CIE in a climate of government parsimony. But neglect of other elements of the rail system has become chronic. The average age of locomotives is now 23 years; that of carriages 16 years; major signalling installations are in very poor condition and sections of old, jointed track are positively dangerous. Train speeds have been reduced to 25 miles per hour on sections of old track because of this. Earlier this year, CIE estimated - on the basis of a consultant's report - that it would cost £650 million over eight years to bring the entire system up to the standard of the Belfast/Dublin/Cork lines. Rather than accept this estimate, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, commissioned her own study. It found similar dangers and inadequacies to exist but concluded that an investment of £590 million over 15 years would meet the situation.
The CIE plan would require an annual investment of £80 million over eight years to provide a top quality, modern and safe transport service within the framework of the 2000-2006 EU cohesion funds. The one commissioned by the Minister envisaged an expenditure of less than £40 million per annum over a 15year period. Ms O'Rourke is known to have experienced resistance from the Department of Finance in her efforts to secure funding for the revitalisation of the rail service. By phasing investment over a longer period, the most neglected sections of CIE's track, between Dublin and the West, would still stand to benefit from EU funding after the year 2006. That might appeal to penny-pinching officials at the Department of Finance. But it would be cold comfort to the thousands of people who have to endure standing in overcrowded carriages on decaying track as they travel to and from the West of Ireland.
Ms O'Rourke is expected to seek Cabinet approval to spend £23 million on emergency refurbishing works when the Cabinet meets next Tuesday. The investment is required to avoid what her consultants described as a "predictable risk" of a fatal train derailment within two years. At a time when our European partners are investing heavily in modern train systems, this miserly approach to the Irish rail network is short-sighted in the extreme.