This article is from page 8 of the 2008-03-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
under the Freedom of Infor- mation Act show that the proposed link had a benefit to cost ratio rang- ing from .13 to .17, pointing out that a 1.0 benefit to cost ratio is normally required.
The report points out that the link would allow a 25-minute journey to Limerick and a 65-minute journey to Crea
A note for the Minister for Trans- port, Noel Dempsey points out, “The poor outcome to the economic evalu- ation reflects the high specification of the line which is necessary to ensure an attractive service and the small benefits to users in time savings due to the relatively good road-based services serving the airport.”
A separate note for Minister Demp- sey concluded, “In essence, there is very significant capital outlay for a minimal return for passengers in terms of time saved.”
It continues, “There would be sig- nificant capital expenditure and on- going increase in subvention to ena- ble passengers to save very little time on their journeys.”
The report recommends that an ‘all bus’ option would give the same ben- efits at a much lower cost.
A separate memo concluded that the cheapest option of €245 million would involve an irregular service every 75 minutes at a cost 1n excess of that for the whole of the Ennis to Tuam Western Rail Corridor and would not achieve journey-time sav- ings. The report forecast that the most basic service would result in 260,000 journeys in the first year, while the full service, including fast trains to Galway, would provide one million journeys in the first year.
Apparently ending any hope of a rail-line into the future, the consult- ant’s report states in relation to popu- lation projections that “even the most optimistic projections do not materi-
ally alter the financial and economic analysis of the project”.
The report forecast that 15 per cent of airport users would use the rail- ihe
A separate memo points out that the “economic case for the rail-link is poor and that road-based public transport offers the best short term solution for public transport access to the airport”.
It goes on to state that at this stage, Irish Rail will be taking no further action on the issue and that it should be noted that the project is not in- cluded in Transport 21.