An Oireachtas sub-committee has visited a railway crossing in Co Roscommon today as part of its inquiry into the cost over-run on Iarnród Éireann’s new signalling system.
Committee members will visit the Knockcroghery railway crossing where the new mini-CTC Signalling Project was to have been prototyped.
The system was to have been operational in December 1999 and was budgeted to cost £15 million, but it has still not been installed and costs have risen significantly.
In November 1997, 13 people were taken to hospital after a train derailed on the line at Knockcroghery between Athlone and Roscommon.
A Review of Railway Safety in Irelandwas commissioned by Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, after the derailment which reported that there was a "predictable risk" of a fatal train derailment unless immediate action was taken.