RAIL LINES COULD CLOSE DUE TO IARNRÓD EIREANN FUNDING CRISIS - A number of rail lines may be forced to close as Iarnród Éireann is threatened with insolvency, a confidential report has warned.
The draft report given to Minister for Transport Shane Ross shows the country’s rail infrastructure has deteriorated to such a degree due to funding shortages that there are now increased safety risks. It states the rail network needs more than €600 million investment over the next five years. The report, seen by The Irish Times, says in the absence of any additional Government funding, large chunks of the rail network will have to close to eliminate the funding gap, leaving only the Dart, Dublin and Cork commuter routes and inter-city services from Dublin to Cork, Belfast and Limerick. The review was compiled by the National Transport Authority and Iarnród Éireann to examine possible solutions for the financial sustainability of the State-owned rail operator. It says that even with some additional Government funding, the routes from Limerick- Ballybrophy and Limerick Junction-Waterford could close. It also suggests that part of the Limerick-Galway route from Ennis to Athenry, which only came back into service in 2010 at a cost of €100 million, and the Wexford line south of Gorey could be shut, leaving Wexford town and Rosslare without a rail service.
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OUR BUSIEST MOTORWAY AT 'BREAKDOWN POINT' - The country's busiest motorway is now at the point of "breakdown" due to the sheer number of vehicles using it every day.
Almost 159,000 vehicles are using Dublin's M50 on a daily basis - up 6,300 on the same period of last year. Rush hour traffic now lasts a full eight hours each day, with the morning peak 7am to 10am, and evening peak 3pm to 7pm. Commuters are being forced to leave for work an hour earlier because there are so many cars, trucks and buses using the road. Several incidents caused traffic chaos in the morning peak last week, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that the system is unable to cope. New data from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) shows that every month there are 120 'incidents' including breakdowns. Of these, 50 are collisions. An analysis of traffic data supplied by TII for the Irish Independent gives a snapshot in time on how the M50 is faring as the economy shakes off the recession. It based the analysis on volumes on the first Wednesday of October in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and shows numbers are steadily growing year-on-year. On the first Wednesday of October in 2013, just over 133,345 vehicles used the road. The figure has increased by 19% for the same day of 2016.
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AGRI-FOOD FIRMS TAKE CLIMATE CHANGE LEAD, SAYS ABP MANAGER - Agri-food companies are already playing a lead role in reducing Ireland’s carbon footprint, said John Durkan, sustainability and environmental manager with ABP Food Group.
The leading meat processor was the first food processing company in Ireland to be fully ISO 50001 accredited due to its energy efficiency initiatives in all six sites in Ireland. This initiative was accompanied by an energy reduction of 1,500MWh and an associated carbon emission reduction of nearly 600 tCO2e across the six sites. This reduction equates to around 2% of ABP Ireland’s energy consumption. A further reduction of 5,500MWh has been identified through ISO 50001, another 7% energy reduction and an emission reduction of over 2,000tCO2e, says the Irish Examiner. “This is part of our ‘Doing More With Less’ programme, a resource management initiative where we look at consumption of resources in our organisation right along the supply chain,” said Mr Durkan. “There is a growing population in the world. Water and fossil fuels are important resources that we must strive to protect. We are also looking at what we consume off-site.” ABP’s approach is to test each sustainability feature in one location and then introduce the learnings to the rest of its estate.
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ROLLS-ROYCE BOLSTERS RETIREMENT BENEFITS - Rolls-Royce is boosting retirement benefits for 86,000 UK workers and pensioners, even as fellow blue-chip companies claim they have no option but to cut retirement promises which they say are now unpayable in full.
A result of decisions taken more than a decade ago to address funding concerns, the move by the UK’s premier engineering company comes as the UK government is under increasing pressure from business and the pension industry to change rules to allow so-called defined benefit schemes to water down promises made to millions of members. Deficits have ballooned at companies with such schemes, where pension income is salary-related and increases with inflation, after bond yields dropped sharply in the wake of Britain’s vote to quit the EU, writes the Financial Times. Just 16% of the UK’s 6,000 defined benefit schemes are in surplus, according to the Pension Protection Fund, and the parliamentary work and pensions committee is considering whether defined benefit schemes should be allowed to suspend inflation-linked increases. Rolls-Royce is bucking that trend with a reform of its myriad defined benefit pension funds made possible by the merger of four schemes into one, leaving the overall pension fund with a £1 billion surplus. The changes will allow more than 35,000 pensioners and workers yet to receive their pensions to receive annual increases of 2% a year on benefits accrued before 1997. Previously there was no guaranteed annual increase on this portion of benefits.
