HC Deb 14 June 1894 vol 25 cc1080-1
MR. T. CURRAN (Sligo, S.)

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he has received a Memorial from the Corporation of Sligo urging him to sanction the running of passenger carriages with goods trains by the Midland Great Western Railway Company in the interest of the travelling public; whether he is aware that no person on the Sligo line can reach home from Dublin after 4.15 p.m., although a train leaves Broad-stone at 7.30 p.m. carrying passengers and mails as far as Longford, and, also, that no person can travel from Sligo after 4 p.m., although a train leaves that town every evening at 7.30; and whether he can take steps to remedy the public inconvenience and annoyance occasioned by these defective railway arrangements?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. BRYCE,) Aberdeen, S.

I have received the Memorial referred to by the hon. Member. Since the passing of the Regulation of Railways Act, 1889, it would be improper to permit Railway Companies to attach passenger carriages to goods trains; that is, at the end of a goods train. That Act was passed in the interest of public safety, and the Board cannot take the responsibility of so relaxing its requirements. The time table quoted by the hon. Member certainly shows that the train service is inconvenient, arid the Railway Company should be pressed by the Memo- rialists to give proper facilities to the travelling public. This they could do under the Schedule of Mixed Trains sanctioned by the Board of Trade for the Company.

MR. BODKIN (Roscommon, N.)

Is there any objection to placing a passenger train or two between the engine and the goods trucks?

MR. BRYCE

If I understand it, there is no objection to that. What is objected to is putting the passenger carriages at the end of the train, because the provisions for safety are thereby rendered very imperfect, and the brake cannot be applied.

MR. M. AUSTIN (Limerick, W.)

Is it not a question of expense, which the Companies say they are unable to bear?

MR. BRYCE

That may be so, but that is a question as between the Company and the Memorialists.

MR. BODKIN

Has the Department any discretion at all in the matter? If it is satisfied that this is the only train running on the line, and that there is nothing with which it could come into collision, could not the Department relax the Regulations?

MR. BRYCE

We certainly have no discretion to prefer the convenience of the Company to the safety of the public. Convenience may be great, but the safety of life is much more important.