Poll: Would you like to see other operators running passenger trains?

Can’t see why anybody would say no.

Because its a myth that prices or quality of services will improve all its doing is taking responsibility away from the govt. ! Train services and prices have improved over the past few years new companie will prevent any further improvements as profits of irish rail and therefore investment from govt will shrink !

If it means prices coming down then yes.

I said no buy it doesn’t seem to have registered, look at the Uk, flogged British rail to virgin trains, EWS, first etc. they bought all the profitable routes leaving the unprofitable routes to be run by government. If Varadkar sells the routes to private companies than Irish rail will not be able to subsidise other routes and so a quick few quid will cost the government heavy subsidies to Iaronrod Eireann while some private company makes a fortune on an already profitable route

Train prices in Ireland are dirt cheap already if you plan ahead and don’t leave your travel plans until the last minute. If you insist on booking late then you will pay more which is no different to any form of travel.

Ireland is not big enough to have several rail companies. The Government subsidises Irish rail what happens if they bring in Private operators. Who will sort out the rail services if any of the private services went into financial difficulty. For now I think they should be left as is until we sort out the overall financial situation in the country.

The open market model has not worked well in the UK. We have a small rail system here that is best suited to a monopoly/single operator. There’s no reason why we can’t set service levels and targets for the IR.

LUAS is not a good example of a private sector operation. The operator was handed a brand new system paid for the taxpayer and all they have to drive the trams up and down two lines. Hardly a huge achievement. IR is a legacy system with infrastructure that has it’s origins in Victorian times.

I don’t think it is a good idea to privatise our rail service. The rail network and train stations are not big enough. I don’t think our fares are too bad either, it’s only €25 for me to go Dublin-Enniscorthy, which I’m happy to pay as it saves my overall fuel cost. As for UK train fares, they are extraordinarily expensive, with internal flights to different parts of the country being cheaper than train tickets.

I actually like our rail services. It would be good to see the Western corridor opened up again and maybe other routes across the country, e.g. non stop Cork to Belfast without having to go via Dublin.

Look at the luas vs dublin bus,

Which has a better service,

Which is private and which is public,

This can only be good plus i hate CIE with a passion,

€60 to travel to Clonmel on a Friday.

Private operators will not operate loss-making routes.
The network will become reduced in size.
Rail prices in Ireland are INFINITELY cheaper than on British railways.
Once the novelty period is over, private operators’ prices will soar. Look what happened in Britain.
Maintenance of track and rolling stock will be less than optimal.
People may die because of corner-cutting in maintenance.
We need to get freight off our roads and back onto the rail network

You must be joking … one of the safest railways in Europe , let the private operators in and there be cut backs on everything including safety . Ya not see a DART operate after 20.00 hrs in the evening , once the numbers drop after rush hour , they wont be running trains to accomodate a handful of passengers.

Privatisation has been as disaster in England as far as prices go – rail fares are through the roof. I commute by train daily and have done so for over 20 years, and have very few complaints. Overcrowding is a problem at peak times, but it’s hardly Irish Rail’s fault that such unrestricted building went on along the lines during the boom, which caused the population to soar (unfortunately,due to the recession, overcrowding is less of a problem than it was).

If you have an annual ticket, commuting by rail is excellent value when the tax savings are taken into account. I really wonder how many of these armchair experts commenting here actually use the trains on a daily basis – if they compare rail fares here to those in the UK and whinge about them then they really are talking through their hat.

All very well of Varadkar to suggest this when he has a driver bringing him into work every morning. For the rest of us, Irish Rail is a very good alternative (and no, I don’t work for them).

And while we’re at it how about Bus services too. I would fully encourage competition

about time. such an under utilised and ignored service for years. they should also consider bringing trams to cork, limerick and galway. as a service and a tourist attraction.

Potential problem: If one company had a monopoly on the service, due to a lack of competition prices could go up.

As long as that is not allowed to happen, its a great idea.

We 100% should. Irish rail prices are beyond a joke. Compare it to prices per mile in UK, there is no match!
People who are saying no probably don’t even use the train!

Only if it meant that the stranglehold of the rail unions was reduced.

For example, there are no late night darts because the unions wanted too much money and wouldn’t allow subcontractors to be hired to do it.

Cross border rail routes?
I’m sure the people of Cavan, Monaghan, Donegal, will acknowledge that private companies will……………no wait, aren’t they the only 3 counties within the Republic who share a hinterland with the north without an actual rail service?

Minister Varadkar in the news again???? For something actually pertaining to his Job title??? Holy sweet mother of Cheesus!!!!!!

on topic, i reckon it could be better to privatize some of them but not all.

Alot of talk about how Englands system is horrid.
Well, what do you do when you make a mistake? You learn from it.
Ireland just needs to put the steps in place to ensure that the system doesn’t turn out the same way.

Competition is good.

Our rail track record is extremely high in comparison to Britain and prices are also way lower in price
In Britain the problems are far greater than we have ever experienced here Leo get of the track of privatisation

If it means getting more freight off our roads then I’m all for it. However, the more private operators there are the more I’d worry about safety issues.

Public transport in Ireland is improving, slowly perhaps. Credit where credit is due.

‘RYAN-RAIL’
Just €1 Rail tickets and €50 for carry on luggage…

Public transport is a disaster in Ireland.

All changes are welcome.

Its not like this is the first time in history we could have multiple rail operators in the country. There were a number of operators in the country up until the 1950s (I’m not 100% sure about the exact dates). I have a Grand Aunt who remembers traveling from her village in Leitrim up to Derry City on the train every day to her place of work.

The network is not there for other operators to come in. In reality this is likely going to lead to the privatisation of Iarnroid Eireann so we will have a Greyhound like situation where we replace a public monopoly which provided a public service with a private cmapny which is only after profit.

Would it be possible that these private companies might invest money into reopening routes that have been closed?

I have no problem with the idea in principle, but I’d like to see how the minister reckons such a system would work in practice. While I think its interesting to see whether providers might be forthcoming I would think that the Minister should set out a structure as to how the system might work and then look for operators. There are a lot of questions that would need to be answered first.

Who would own and maintain the network (track, points, stations, etc)?
Would the company that owned the track also be a service provider as well, in which case would other companies have to pay to use the network putting them at a competitive disadvantage?
Would providers actually compete against each other on the same routes to provide direct competition or would routes be parcelled off and sold to one provider?

One week after the Irish Rail 2030 report recommended cuts if not full closure of the Nenagh railway line due to huge losses and tiny ridership, Irish Rail inaugurated a direct service to Dublin via Ballybrophy. The fact that Minister Alan Kelly is from Nenagh is COMPLETELY UNRELATED.

Incidentally, after a week and a half of service it has been on time once and up to 25 minutes late some days, which is messing around the Kildare/Laois commuters which this train is also supposed to serve. This is for the most part because IE put forward an unrealistic timetable which safe speeds on the decrepit track cannot match.

This kind of nonsense would be harder to pull on a private company. However, in the short run disconnecting IE trains from the track maintenance would mean that there would be more accountability when for instance a train is late because a maintenance crew allotted too little time for the work, or when new track is laid on a line about to be closed (Rosslare to Waterford)

The one service that could be privatised immediately is the Enterprise from Dublin to Belfast. As it stands this service runs too infrequently and too slowly. This is in part because any increase in service must be approved by NIR and IE and they’re both broke. Privatisation should ONLY be entertained if it brings extra money into the system, not a vehicle for the State to feed more family silver to the Troika.

it works in england, why cant it work here… i know in terms of passenger numbers, more frequent trains that are smaller would be better than long trains that are every half hour on commuter routes

Yes ! – it would be a blessing ! – Irish rail are an awful crowd because the Darts are dirty, slow and not on time … was only on the Dart yesterday when we stopped for about 15 minutes and the driver tells us “we are delayed due to an unexpected delay” ha ! the Dart is pure S**te in comparison to european public transport. It should be renamed DAST = Dublin area slow transport.

Irish Rail sucks. CÍE sucks… love to see a private operator replace them.

I don’t think that ireland should be open to several operators because yes it is small in comparison, but we should definitely boost competition, and to ensure there is no neglect of certain lines we should add packages of highly used lines with rural lines to ensure they are not neglected. iarnrod eirann should run the lines and maintenance of tracks and stations, dart and commuter services should be independent from these and then in years to come we will have a first class rail system. the fact of the matter is at the moment because darts and trains are only against themselves they don’t NEED to meet targets and SLA’s. private companies could also increase revenue through advertising more than the current system is doing, and in provide trains and commuters of higher standards than there are now. I resent getting a train across the country. services are awful.

Dublin Bus as well. It’s a shambles at the moment

As a lot of people have said already, lessons should be learned from the privatised British Rail system. I travel long distances across England on a regular basis for work and it is in a lot of cases a very frustrating experience. Currently, Network Rail is the company that runs and maintains Britain’s rail tracks, signals, bridges, tunnels etc. Private train companies then run their trains on Network Rail’s lines and charge the customers for the service. The private train companies sole interest is profit and they do shirk all responsibility to their customers. If a train is delayed or cancelled in the UK, it is my experience that the train companies have a very hands off approach and will instead just blame Network Rail. Recently I spent, 4 hours on a train getting from London to Northampton when the journey should only last an hour. London Midlands [train company] blamed signalling problems on Network Rail and Network Rail’s twitter account blamed delay on a fault with a London Midlands train. Either way the customer loses.

Most of the trains are of a very poor quality with cramped seating, little luggage space and overcrowding. Some private rail companies here have a very Ryanair-esque attitude and will add on extra charges for a number of things.
For example a standard class 2 hour journey from London to Norwich this Friday 16th March at 18.10 will cost you £58.70!!! If you sit on that train and turn on your laptop you will see that there is then a £4 an hour charge for use of wifi!! In the UK you could book 2 nights accommodation at a hotel with breakfast and as much wifi as you can handle for the same price. Currently Iarnrod Eireann offer a free wifi service.
Another money making ploy that train companies use in the UK is to charge people a £10 charge to cancel an already booked ticket. They put this down to the “administrative costs” and Network Rail charges. The cynic in me wonders how much money these private companies make from this.

So yes, privatising the Irish rail network will increase competition but may not necessarily make rail travel more competitive. Privatising the Irish rail network will let private companies into the market and those companies will need to make profit at any cost to cover the annual fees they would have to pay. Privatising the Irish rail network will mean that holding any company responsible for delays or cancellations will become much more difficult. This means that the customer will get a poorer experience all round.
In the UK, if you engage in conversation with any rail worker one of the most common sentiments you will here is : The worst thing that ever happened to British Rail was deregulation.

Its hard to argue with that.

While privatisation may lead to cheaper, more efficient service, it would also sound a death knell for smaller, less profitable lines.

I can’t think of one business that was privatised and is cheap correct me if Ian wrong .when a company is privatised they have share holders who always want more profit. can’t see how this will work at some point fares will rise and service become less.

DART is €4.80 one way to Greystones from Dublin Grand Canal – what a rip off.
DART should be sold off to a Veolia or whoever who might do a decent job. Can’t be any worse.

Anybody who wants to play with trains in Ireland can already .just lease a train from CIE and see if you can make a profit .Outside of a few special occasions they will make a loss.

I think that it could work in a limited fashion.i mean Matthews coaches run a great bus service between bettystown and dublin.only for them we would have use the train and have to pay ridiculous fares on Irish rail.so there is merit to having private operators run routes