Public Transport
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Seán Canney (IND), Galway East

I want to reiterate that the Government is not sitting on plans. It is very active at the moment, and the Deputy knows that as well. He also well knows that we are preparing to open the line between Athenry and Claremorris, which is something he supports, and we need to get on with that.
Next year, 2027, is when we will have additional carriages becoming available. The NTA is working with Irish Rail and the latter has been looking at other places across the world but it cannot just get carriages from some other place because the railway lines themselves may be of different configuration. It is not like getting a car from some place and putting it on the line. There is a lot more to it than that and the carriages have to be compatible with what is there at the moment. In fairness, what we have seen here, and it is something that we have to acknowledge, is the biggest growth in public transport in the west of Ireland. We have gone from 132,000 to 750,000 passenger journeys per annum on that line, making it the fastest-growing line. I agree that there is a shortage of carriages on it. We need to put more into it and I am working to make sure it happens next year.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24