Iarnrod Eireann needs £650 million in Government support over the next eight years to update Ireland's aging railway network, its chairman has said.
Mr Michael P McDonnell, who is also group chief executive of CIE, told the Oireachtas Committee on Public Enterprise and Transport yesterday that his organisation needed the investment to upgrade rail tracks, signalling systems, level crossings and carriages.
Some of the major rail terminals, including Heuston, Cork, Limerick and Waterford, have signalling systems dating from the 1920s which are in urgent need of renewal.
The average age of its locomotive fleet is 23 years and several level crossings need to be upgraded to improve safety.
Between 1994 and 1999, Iarnrod Eireann will have invested £393 million to improve rail tracks on major routes.