Economic Sustainability
The third pillar of our Sustainability Strategy 2021 - 2030 is Economic Sustainability. At the heart of this is getting more people and more goods to move by rail. There are three key parts to this goal:
Moving more people and goods by rail means we can greatly decrease our emissions.
Our Passenger Network
We have set a goal of 80 million rail journeys per year by 2030. Before COVID, the most was 50.1 million in one year. Our passenger network is at the heart of sustainable transport in Ireland. A number of programmes support our goal.
DART+ Programme which will add the most sustainable fleet in our history to our current fleet.
Cascading Intercity trains to build capacity and frequency on our Intercity network.
More frequent and faster journeys on Dublin to Belfast Enterprise services.
One key to our goals for the passenger network is developing our rail network outside Dublin. There are many parts to this; we aim to:
Build a Cork Commuter network with trains every 10 minutes.
Improve Oranmore and Ceannt Station in Galway.
Relocate Plunkett Station to create a transport hub in Waterford.
Make sure that rail is at the heart of the Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy.
Protect our rail line on the East Coast through the ECRIPP.
Build new stations.
Our Freight Network
Iarnród Éireann's Rail Freight 2040 strategy aims to transform rail freight in Ireland. We plan to add over 100 weekly rail freight services. This would be a 5x increase in both frequency and volume. It is a key part of reaching our economic and environmental goals and to moving more goods on rail.
Rosslare Europort
Rosslare Europort is Ireland’s Gateway to Europe. There are new services to and from Europe with many providers. It is the main RoRo (Roll On, Roll Off) port in Ireland for services to Europe and Britain.
We will build on Rosslare’s role for the Irish economy. The port must be efficient and sustainable for the future. We will make it so through the port's Master Plan. This 4 phase plan will see major upgrades to the port to make the most of its location.
Rosslare Europort can serve the Offshore Wind (OSW) sector. It is in a great location to do this for the Irish and Celtic seas. This will help with our environmental goals. We must do large infrastructure works to make sure that the port can serve Rosslare Europort as an Offshore Renewable Energy hub.
