All-island rail plan ‘makes the case’ for more road projects, Taoiseach says

An all-island rail plan aimed at significantly increasing passenger numbers actually “makes the case” for more investment in roads, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has suggested.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan unveiled the plan after Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, saying it would usher in a “new age of rail” that would see passenger numbers double and new and enhanced routes emerge across the entire island.

However, Mr Varadkar, the Fine Gael leader, said the figures contained within the plan actually present a stronger case for investment in road projects.

Shifting the balance of investment from new road projects to public transport and active travel modes such as walking or cycling has been a matter of tension between Fine Gael and Mr Ryan’s Green Party since the formation of the Coalition.

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“The programme for government says that there should be a 2:1 split in favour of public transport over roads when it comes to investment in new projects. But that still allows for both to happen. The all-island rail review is really interesting,” Mr Varadkar said.

“A lot of detailed work went into that, done by really senior people who know their stuff. When you see the map you’ll see the enormous railway expansion that they believe is possible between now and 2050, with lots of new lines, for example, around the country.

“But if you read into the detail of that, even if we do everything they say we could do by 2050, the amount of freight going by rail will go from 1 per cent to 10 per cent. So still 90 per cent of freight will go by road. And the percentage of people who get around by train – commuters, passengers – will go from 3 per [to six per cent]. So this still leaves 94 per cent of people travelling by road or by footpath, even if we did all of these things that are in that plan between now and 2050.”

Mr Varadkar said the “case for further investment in roads is really strong” given such a high proportion of freight and passenger journeys would still be by road even if the rail strategy is realised by 2050.

[ All-island rail review: What does it recommend and when will it happen? ]

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He said that given the figure, “if there was a ever a case for more road investment and the need to electrify vehicles ... it is made by this really ambitious plan”.

The rail review said that despite recent growth, passenger rail travel remains low at about 1 per cent of all trips or about 3 per cent of passenger kilometres, which is lower than most European countries, which have an average of about 8 per cent. Rail freight is also “at a historical low of less than 1 per cent of total tonne kms”, the report said.

Speaking after Mr Varadkar made his comments, Mr Ryan said the “world is burning” and transport emissions need to drop.

“Look what is happening Rhodes in Greece. Our world is burning. We need to make a transport shift to lower our emissions from transport,” he said. “They went up last year. They have to start coming down, radically. Those indicative figures, 10 per cent of rail freight, were just set out as a starter as to what we could achieve.

“I am absolutely confident that when we provide the service, the business community, who know they have to decarbonise, will row in behind that. I’m actually convinced when we provide the better public transport services, the numbers using it will go way beyond that. We have to take climate seriously now.”

He said the 10 per cent for rail freight “is ambitious” but that “I don’t believe that will be the limit of our ambition”.

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Under proposals in the plan, upgrades to the intercity rail network could allow top speeds of 200km per hour on routes connecting Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford – making train journeys significantly faster than travelling by car.

The plan will cost €36 billion between now and 2050, with €9.2 billion to be funded via Northern Ireland. The strategy has also recommended reinstating the Western Rail Corridor between Claremorris and Athenry. A rail line connecting Rosslare to Waterford will also be reinstated. The review also proposes extending the railway into Tyrone, from Portadown to Dungannon, Omagh, Strabane and Derry, and on to Letterkenny.

Under the plan, some 700,000 more people would live within 5km of a railway station. Rail journey times between some major cities could be halved. Services on busiest intercity routes could run every 30 minutes in some cases.