Friday 6 April 2007

East Cork railway to reopen in 2009

HE tannoy operator will apologise that due to a number of ‘signalling failures’ the train arriving in Midleton railway station is a small bit late... two years in fact.

The latest in the saga of signalling errors concerning the reopening of the multi-million euro Cork-Midleton line came yesterday when Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, announced he had finally signed off on the Railway Order, which will allow work on the project to proceed.

That was the good news, but the sting in the tail came at the end of his official press release with the line that ‘the first commuter trains are expected to enter into service in 2009.’

Signalling error number one came from Seamus Brennan, when he was minister for transport, with the announcement that trains would run on the track by 2007.

Signalling error two was at last November’s public inquiry into the project, when Iarnród Éireann officials repeatedly said that the trains would roll in July 2008.

Signalling error three was last week when Iarnród Éireann backtracked and said it would be October 2008 before the trains arrived. Signalling error number four occurred yesterday and many expect further errors, especially as Mr Cullen refused to give a date in 2009.

Mr Cullen’s announcement ironically came as hundreds of people started to sign a major petition in East Cork designed at getting him to speed up the project.

Many reacted with anger last night to the unexpected news, and among them was a Fianna Fáil councillor who was highly critical of his own minister.

Cllr Billy Buckley said he couldn’t understand how it had taken Mr Cullen so long to sign the Railway Order.

“We were told 2007 first, then it was 2008 and now it’s 2009. It’s a further slap in the face to the people of Cork. It’s very disappointing, especially after all the promises which were made. What I want to know is when they (the Government) are going to start sticking to promises. Judging by the press release it could be January 2009, or December 2009. He’s the minister and he should know the answer,” Mr Buckley said.

Kathleen Woulfe, who organised the petition, said she was also shocked by the news and echoed Mr Buckley’s sentiments.

“A number of people who signed the petition said they were really angry by the delay. The Government is getting a lot of stick over it in East Cork. Lots of people have paid huge development charges to build new houses in the area. These charges were levied to raise part of the money to build the railway and they feel let down,” Mrs Woulfe said.

Deputy David Stanton (FG) said it might be coincidental that Mr Cullen signed the order the same day as the petition got started.

“The fact that the project is now delayed even further is totally unacceptable,” Mr Stanton said.

Seán O’Riordan
Irish Examiner

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