Wexford TDs bid to save rail network

Wexford’s five TDs are to meet with Transport Minister Seamus Brennan in an effort to avert the closure of parts of the rail network in the south-east.

Mr Brennan is expected to inform the TDs that the line between Rosslare Harbour and Limerick Junction will be closed for passenger services, while a decision has yet to be taken on freight services on the line.
The minister is expected to announce an upgrade of the Rosslare - Dublin line in the near future.

Meanwhile the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has called on EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio to block the likely closure of parts of Irish Rail’s freight business.
ICTU wrote to the Commissioner last week stating that plans to close unprofitable elements of the freight network were based on figures that were at best ‘opaque”.

The CIE Board will meet tomorrow, 6th November and it is understood it will endorse the decision to close unprofitable freight lines.

ICTU has stated that Irish rail’s position flies in the face of the approach adopted in a recent Commission White Paper on transport and the Department of Transport’s policy and research.