Iarnród happy with rail figures despite failure to reach target

Date Published: 14-Mar-2011

By Denise McNamara

Iarnród Éireann has reaffirmed its commitment to the Western Rail Corridor despite figures showing passenger numbers are well below initial projections.

Figures provided by the Department of Transport in response to a Freedom of Information request show that passenger numbers between May and September last year averaged 4,800 a month on the route between Ennis and Athenry, which is the first phase of the corridor which opened nearly a year ago at a cost of €106 million.

“This translates into an annual figure of between 62,400 and 67,158 which is well below the 100,000 trips assumed in the business case,” an Irish Rail official wrote according to a report in the Irish Times.

Figures provided by Iarnród Éireann show passenger numbers from October to the end of December dropped, with a monthly average of 4,330 travelling on the route.The business plan anticipated the service would require an annual subsidy of €2.4 million to operate.

Iarnród Éireann spokesman Myles McHugh said the company was happy with the number of passengers who were travelling.

“So much so that we’re putting on an additional service, making it six trains on the Galway to Limerick route, to facilitate commuters in the evening,” he told the Sentinel.

The business case referred to in the documents was one compiled almost five years ago, which assumed there would be seven services a day and in a very different economic climate when there were thousands more workers in the region. It also assumed there would be a station at Oranmore, which has yet to open.

Read more in this week’s Connacht Sentinel