Transport

Pedestrian crossing in Blessington completed and progress made on footpath scheme at Russborough – Doyle

graham 2013, Transport, Wicklow - East Carlow

FootpathConstructionWicklow Fine Gael TD, Andrew Doyle, has welcomed the progress made on two National Transport Authority (NTA) projects in Blessington. Deputy Doyle received an update from the NTA regarding the competition of new pedestrian crossing scheme at Blessington Community College and work getting underway this month on a footpath along the N81 between Russborough and Blessington.

Deputy Doyle said, “I’m delighted to see both these badly needed works taking place. Firstly, I welcome the development that construction of a new footpath along the N81 between Blessington and Russborough is to begin. This project, funded under the NTA’s Sustainable Transport Measures Grants Programme will make the area much more accessible.

“The current road was very dangerous for pedestrians and I am glad that this is now being addressed. This road has long suffered from difficult accessibility due to a lack of footpaths and I hope these works help to remedy this problem.”

Deputy Doyle continued, “Furthermore, I’m glad that the NTA have confirmed the pedestrian crossing scheme at Blessington Community School has been completed. Construction began in July 2012 and was completed by Wicklow County Council within its allocated budget. This was an issue that many residents in the area had raised with me, given the nature of the road before the works began. I’m very pleased to have seen this addressed.”

“Sustainable transport measures continue to be important for regional areas of the county. The Blessington area has benefitted directly as a result of these accessibility and safety works funding being drawn down from the NTA. Credit is due to the officials in the Council who effectively sourced this funding and I’d like to thank them for their continued efforts.”

Deputy Doyle stated, “Both of these projects have been good for Blessington and Russborough, advancing the needs of the community. It is vital that funding continues to be provided from central government to meet the continuing demands by residents for community connectivity measures.”

“I will continue to work with the local authority and the NTA to ensure accessibility and safety are key priorities in our towns and on our roads in County Wicklow”, concluded Deputy Doyle.

Doyle seeks clarification and review on Irish Rail policy of shorter carriages at peak and off-peak times

graham 2013, Dáil Éireann, Transport, Wicklow - East Carlow

DART-Greystones_StationWicklow Fine Gael TD, Deputy Andrew Doyle, has sought clarification from Irish Rail regarding their recent policy change of reducing the number of DART carriages on Wicklow services. Numerous complaints for DART users have been made that shorter DARTs are operating at peak times, and overcrowding is occurring. Deputy Doyle has requested Irish Rail review the new policy and make amendments to ensure that peak-time DARTs operate with an adequate number of carriages.

Deputy Doyle said, “The new energy saving utilisation initiatives by Irish Rail are to be commended in order to reduce costs. All public sector bodies have had to scrutinise their expenditure to target savings that can be made. A projected €3.2 million saving over a calendar year is to be welcomed, but carriage reductions must be on services that have few passengers, as opposed to times when public transport is in high demand.”

“There are thousands of commuters in the Bray, Enniskerry, Greystones, Delgany, Kilcoole and Newcastle areas that use the DART every day to travel into Dublin. This energy saving measure means that carriages numbers have been reduced in recent weeks from 8 to 4 and sometimes even 2 carriages. Irish Rail said when this policy of reducing the number of carriages on services was introduced; it was to focus on off-peak DART services. However, commuters are not seeing this. Instead, they are seeing a reduction in carriages at peak-times, both in the morning and in the evening at times when more are required to meet the level of demand.”

“As a result, overcrowding is occurring and causing significant inconvenience for commuters. At the time of implementing these changes, Irish Rail undertook to continually monitor the changes to ensure congestion would not occur. Now that the initiative has been in place for a number of weeks since the summer, it is time for Irish Rail to review the carriage arranges for services departing and arriving in Bray and Greystones to ensure that all commuters are catered for.”

“Given the cost of DART fares for single, return, weekly, monthly or annual tickets, Wicklow commuters deserve better. I have sought clarification from Irish Rail to detail their new policy in full, to state which services from County Wicklow have been affect by this carriage reduction, and ultimately, to carry out a review to ensure that an adequate number of carriages will be put on for every scheduled departure.”

“I look forward to hearing back from Irish Rail in the near future to ensure this issued raised by commuters who are affected by this reduction are addressed”, concluded Deputy Andrew Doyle.