Environmental Sustainability
At Iarnród Éireann we are transforming our business to minimise impacts on and maximise benefits to the environment. There are a number of ways we will achieve our goals:
Decarbonisation of the Railway
Our corporate Climate Action Plan 2023 to 2030 lays out the pathway to Iarnród Éireann achieving emissions reductions of 51% by 2030.
The ambitious plan will be delivered while rail services are expanded to support modal shift under the Government’s Climate Action Plan, with passenger journeys of 80 million per annum targeted by 2030, up from a pre-COVID high of 50.1 million journeys, and a doubling of rail freight volumes anticipated.
The 51% emissions reduction will be achieved through:
- Reduced reliance on diesel through alternative fuels on existing fleets
- Transitioning to electric-powered fleet
- Green energy generation and corporate purchasing power agreements
- Fleet and building works to reduce our energy consumption
You can read more details on our decarbonisation initiatives in our Climate Action Plan 2023 – 2030.
Climate Change and Rail Resilience
The heavy rail network is susceptible to disruption during weather events which have been increasing over the last decade. Our teams are working hard to increase the resilience of the network. Some elements of our infrastructure climate adaptation include; development and delivery of our East Coast Railway Protection Programme to ensure our scenic east coast rail line is resilient to the impacts of climate change; measures to prevent and alleviate flooding, annual infrastructure maintenance and renewal programme and back up electricity supplies for DART and signalling
Environmental Management
There are areas of our business and operations that have significant environmental impacts. Two departments, the Chief Mechanical Engineering (CME) and the Chief Civil Engineering (CCE) Departments, hold the largest environmental aspects. These departments are certified to the international standard for Environmental Management (ISO 40001:2015). It is our responsibility to minimise, as far as is practicable, the impact of our activities on the environment and to reduce our consumption of natural resources.
Some key ongoing environmental initiatives include:
- Remediation of historically contaminated sites
- Improvements in train engine fuel efficiency
- Use of alternative fuels such as biofuels, AdBlue, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), and Hydrogen
- Improvements in building energy efficiency
- Noise mitigation measures
- Improving air quality within stations
- Reducing pesticide usage
- Improvement waste segregation systems
- Circular Economy and waste reduction programmes
- Water management plans for our locations
Our Environmental Policy outlines our commitments to reducing our environmental impacts. More information on our environmental management actions can be found in Sustainability in Motion our sustainability strategy to 2030.
Waste Management and the Circular Economy
We are committed to our 2030 target of 70 percent recycling of all waste, general and construction. It is also our goal that 25 percent of raw material purchases will come from recycled sources and that all contracts for concrete sleeper disposal will prioritise reuse of the material.
Our sustainable procurement practices ensure that all contract specifications for major materials request green alternatives with weightings at tender evaluation stage favouring the more environmentally friendly option.
You can read more on our sustainable procurement practices and circular initiatives in our Sustainability in Motion Strategy 2024 – 2030.
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Protecting and Enhancing Biodiversity
With the boundary along our rail network spanning more 4000km throughout Ireland, protecting the diverse landscapes and waterways we operate through is of the greatest importance to us.
There are several programmes in place focused on biodiversity enhancement and the protection of the natural environment.
- Vegetation management where invasive species are present & species protection.
- Investment in reforestation. 300 native trees were planted at Ballykilty, Co Wexford as part of a carbon mitigation plan for our Net Zero Work Site project.
Figure 1 Native Planting at Carrick-on-Shannon in 2021
- Pollinator plans at all stations as part of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, one-third of our stations now have this in place.
Figure 2 Pollinator Plan at Thurles station
- Vegetable gardens in Castlebar & Westport stations
Figure 3 Herb & vegetable garden at Westport station
Figure 4 Vegetables growing at Castlebar station
Our Biodiversity Guidelines, is a reference handbook created for our infrastructure colleagues to guarantee all essential work carried out on our network considers the complete ecosystem at any location and is carried out without interfering with or having impact on the surrounding environment.
Here is our ecologist Jayne Ryan with an excellent example of how we protect the water eco-system during bridge works.
