THE introduction of Leap cards has nearly doubled the number of passengers travelling by rail from Mallow to Cork City, a TD has learnt. The cost-saving measure means adults can now buy a one-way rail ticket from Mallow to Cork for €3.90, down from €9 to €10 last year, while young adults can avail of the service for €1.95.

Passenger figures have swelled as a result: 77,343 passengers made the half-hour journey during the period from May 9 to September 2 this year, up from 44,943 passengers during the same period last year.

The figures were revealed to Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan during Dáil parliamentary questions by Cork Labour Party TD Seán Sherlock, who had made inquiries with Irish Rail chief executive Jim Meade.

Mr Sherlock told The Echo that it is proof that extending commuter pricing to towns like Mallow works. “If you price it correctly, people will use the service. This is a great model now for how this could be rolled out across bus services, and rail services. I’d love to see it extended to Buttevant, and even on to Charleville. Mallow was the Trojan Horse for me.

“If we could get the pricing done at Mallow, then we could establish the principle that you could have commuter pricing on an intercity line, then why not logically extend that to Buttevant?”

Mr Sherlock says if a Dart station can be provided at Lansdowne Road in Dublin, and at Booterstown, “then why can’t you have a similar type station in Buttevant?”

As Cork City and outlying towns grow, and if the M20 motorway is built, towns such as Buttevant “will become attractive for people to live and settle in in the future” he said.