THIRTY five years ago it seemed that Ireland's railways were being consigned to the scrapheap.

The fervour of Todd Andrews ill flailing them to virtual skeletons knew almost no bounds; as a "slightly constitutional republican", he regarded the railways as part of Britain's colonial legacy and appeared to enjoy closing them down.

Nothing symbolised their decline more than the fate of Medhbh, the sleek green powerhorse of Great Southern Railways handbuilt by craftsmen at Inchicore Works. This awe inspiring steam locomotive now stands proudly in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra, Co Down, but it ended 22 years of service in 1961 hauling beet wagons out of Wellington Bridge, Co Wexford.

Last Monday, the opulent mid Victorian head office of Great Northern Railways, on the corner of Amiens Street and Sheriff Street - another symbol of the golden era of rail travel - was chosen as the most appropriate venue to announce what CIE excitedly billed as the latest tranche of the largest investment package in Irish railway history, at least in recent decades.

Already, £90 million has been spent upgrading the Dublin Belfast line. Extra DART rolling stock is being ordered add two new stations are planned for Fairview and Barrow Street, at an overall cost of £17 million. And there's £220 million available for Dublin's light rail project. Altogether, including the latest injection, the railways will end up richer by £400 million.

In the boardroom from which Presbyterian gentlemen ran the GNR, even the monotone of Michael Lowry reading his script could scarcely put a damper on this momentous occasion. A sum of £73 million had been allocated for major works to improve the Republic's "appalling" rail service, which the Minister conceded had suffered "gross under investment" over the years.

Mr Lowry said he knew what it was like to wait for a Cork Dublin train at Limerick Junction and then have to stand all the way to Heuston Station because it was so overcrowded. The Minister hardly has this problem nowadays, but many others do, especially at weekends, when buying a rail ticket is a fatuous act of faith that there will be a seat available.

Many of the trains are clapped out, with 30 year old carriages pulled by equally ageing diesel locomotives. And though some stations have been repainted recently, the majority - including Heuston and Connolly, the two principal stations in Dublin remain quite decrepit.

NOT too many years ago, Iarnrod Eireann gave serious consideration to axing the Dublin Sligo line, terminating the lines serving Galway and Mayo at Athlone, and making several other surgical cuts in its already skeletal network. Such retrenchment would appeal to some of our more hard hearted economists, not to mention bus operators - including Bus Eireann.

It proved politically impossible, how ever. There was an outcry from the west, and the plans were shelved. Yet if more people from Sligo, Ballina, Westport and Castlebar made more use of the rail service, it would be much easier to justify keeping these lines open.

Overall, however, the number of people travelling by rail is increasing. Annual passenger figures have doubled to 8.5 million since 1972 an impressive growth rate which the Minister acknowledged was almost unique in Europe. The main reason is that Irish people have become much more mobile, racking up more travel miles on all modes of transport.

Mr Lowry talked about the vital importance of making the railways more attractive, to counteract competition from private cars, and even about the notion that Ireland was now "setting an example" to other EU member states in this respect.

However, it is clear that there would have been no rail investment programme at all if it wasn't for the availability of 85 per cent EU funding, so let's not lose the run of ourselves. To put the £7.3 million figure in perspective, it is less than CIE's annual deficit and considerably less than its level of borrowings, currently standing at £200 million. It also amounts to less than 34 per cent of the £215 million in grants disbursed last year alone by the National Roads Authority for improvements and maintenance of the main roads.

Nonetheless, the programme will reduce journey times. Instead of taking three hours and 15 minutes, the Dublin Sligo train will take two hours and 45 minutes. Similarly, the Dublin Waterford journey will be cut by 25 minutes to one hour and 50 minutes, Dublin Tralee by 20 minutes to three hours and 15 minutes and Dublin Galway by 15 minutes to two hours and 15 minutes.

All of these savings will be made possible by replacing jointed track on old wooden sleepers with continuous welded rail laid on concrete sleepers, as well as introducing new rolling stock to replace diesel locomotives and carriages which have passed their use by date.

Where railway tracks have been replaced and there are no impediments such as level crossings, new diesel locomotives all built abroad - are able to achieve cruising speeds of 100 miles per hour. This applies on certain sections of the Dublin Cork line and will also be achieved on the Dublin Belfast line. They may even break the 103 mph record for Irish railways, established by a steam locomotive in the 1930s.

FOR several years now, passengers on the Dublin Cork line have been getting the benefits of an upgraded service, including relatively fast journey times and, for those who wish to pay the premium, proper first class carriages. An even better deal is promised from October onwards on the Dublin Belfast line, when travelling time between the two cities will be reduced to just one hour and 35 minutes.

This major cross border project has been co financed by the British and Irish governments, the European Union and the railway companies, North and South. One of the largest elements in the package is a fleet of new locomotives and carriages, with a common livery. According to Mr Lowry, they are as good as anything in service on railways abroad.

It would be a mistake to imagine that the other lines earmarked for major upgrading will get new rolling stock. Railway companies have a word for what will happen. It's called "cascading". Thus, the locomotives and carriages currently in service on the Belfast line will be passed on, as virtual hand me downs, to less prestigious routes when they are replaced by the new fleet.

In October, CIE will unveil its plans to transform Heuston and Connolly stations, giving them the sort of ambience and facilities associated with airport terminals. This is a pet project of Michael McDonnell's; the group's chief executive used to be an assistant secretary in the Department of Transport and wants to roll out the red carpet for rail passengers.

Last Monday, he went even further than the Minister in describing the level of service many of them currently get as "absolutely appalling" - an extraordinary admission from any transport boss. But he insisted that the latest investment programme would "make a huge difference in the quality of the product" and promised it would be delivered within budget and on time.

Not every route will benefit. Even though CIE itself has developed Rosslare as a major port, the European Commission was not convinced it should contribute towards upgrading the old Dublin South Eastern line. Neither is there money available for the Rosslare Limerick route nor for the lines running from Athlone to Ballina and Westport.

However, no doubt with an eye on such marginal constituencies as Mayo, Wicklow and Wexford, Mr Lowry made it clear that CIE would be expected to finance improvements to these lines from its "own resources". Given the groups massive borrowings, it is not clear what these "resources" are, though a firm of accountants has identified savings of £30 million in its cost base.

D&spite these drawbacks, CIE officials repeatedly expressed their gratitude to the Minister and his department for their work in levering the funds from Brussels for the mainline routes targeted for assistance in the 1994-1999 Transport Operational Programme. "We've given an assurance that it will be money well spent," Mr McDonnell said.

The investment programme represented "a major new era for public transport" and would deliver the type of service people were entitled to expect from the railways, Mr McDonnell said.

In the meantime, long before the promised improvements take effect, he had to admit that the group was seeking a 10 per cent fares increase "across the board" for all of its bus and rail services.