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By C.I.E. DECENTRALIZATION GIVES THE REGIONS RESPONSIBILITY, AUTII ACCOUNTABILITY By Ashley Taylor,
Assoe.Inst.T.
NY study of traffic statistics in relation to the Republic
of Ireland quickly shows that the activities of Coras
Iompair Eireann are substantially linked to an agricultural economy, and this means that the organization's operating problems are vastly different from those in an industrial country. During the 1960-61 year the road goods department produced an operating profit of £132,548, tonnage increasing by .18 per cent. during that . period, receipts by 14 per 'cent. and mileage by only 10 per cent. These figures covered increased revenue from general merchandise, from ferry containers and from a rise in the volume of workfor the county councils. The departmental revenue represented just under an eighth of the total receipts of the organization.
Not so long ago; on February 1,1961, the powers that
govern Coras lompair Eireann came. to the conclusion that responsibility, authority, and accountability should be moved several steps nearer to the customer. The principal object of this move was to ensure that in contact with the transport user should be regional officers who could solve difficulties on• the spot, could settle important deals and, within a reasonable framework, give the quick answer on rates and availability Without having to refer back to Dublin. Obviously there still had to be planners and co-ordinators at headquarters but each of the regional managers now has facilities—road and rail, freight and passenger—that he can use to the best advantage for customerswithin his territory.
The top management say that the first year's work has produced encouraging results and it has been found that local supervision is more effective since decisions affecting customer service are being made more rapidly. An endeavour has been made to produce an image of transport in the wider sense, including both road and rail, whilst integrating all operating functions to meet the overall public demand.
B24 For the purpose of the decentralization scheme the Republic of Ireland was divided into five areas with Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway as their centres, the five area managers having the support of 25 district or depot managers located throughout the country. In a recent report the deputy general manager (operation), Mr. Daniel Herlihy, said that for road freight the first year's operation under the new plan had been one of boom during which they had been hard pressed to carry all the traffic on offer to them.
Old vehicles that were really due for scrapping had been retained whilst arrangements were being made for the purchase of new machines of greater carrying capacity in order to meet the growing demand. From this statement it will be seen that the fully effective deployment of the
C.I.E. goods fleet has become absolutely essential. On the other side of the account, it may be remembered, C.I.E. have in recent times been able to divest themselves of an uneconomic surplus of vehicles which they held in order to meet, for instance, the heavy seasonal demands of the beet traffic. These needs are now being supplied largely by hiring from independents who are more numerous than many transport people outside Ireland really appreciate them to be.
So it is seen that the aim is to produce a co-ordinated and economic transport service that can offer either roadrail carriage or transport by rail or road alone. Any transport system requires a regular flow of traffic in order to facilitate orderly administration and with this commercial aim in mind C.I.E. have completed some 1,100 " package " deals under which they agree to handle all the deliveries of a trader's goods, or all deliveries for some specific section of a factory or other enterprise. At the present time this section of the C.I.E. activities is bringing in revenue at an estimated rate of over £800,000 per annum. As previously stressed, the livestock trade is an important element in Irish transport, so livestock traders are offered a rebate scheme under which they receive a 50% discount on all traffic above 70% of a total previously agreed
)etween the parties as being the normal expectation for an ;nsuing period.
Despite the various changes that have come about the lumber of road freight vehicles of all kinds in the Twenty;ix Counties has varied relatively little over the past few rears. The total of goods vehicles licensed in the Republic a August, 1957, was 43,233, slight fluctuations in the :nsuing years occurring until in August, 1961, the figure vas 43,838. Of the 1957 figure 39,115 were in the hands )f ancillary users, 27,726 being under one ton unladen veight. During that year licensed carriers owned 4,118 fehicIes, of which 3,178 were above two tons unladen. Zeturning to the 1961 figures, the ancillary users' vehicles otalled 39,069, of which 8,791 were over two tons. The inder-one-ton figure had dropped to 24,707, whilst the internediate class had risen by over 2,000 to 5,571. The total )wried by licensed carriers was 4,769 of which 3,660 were wer two tons. There was some rise in the number of rehicIes licensed to draw trailers, the total being 627 in .961, of which 279 were in the hands of licensed haulage ;ontractors.
Of the more recent total, CIE. owned 797 goods vehicles ind 483 trailers. The former were divided into 595 lorries, 72 vans, 104 tractors and 26 horse-boxes, whilst the latter
comprised 241 articulated trailers, 195 four-wheeled platform trailers and 47 special purpose trailers. The C.I.E. set-up is unusual in that very few specialist vehicles are owned, the greatest possible flexibility being given to the fleet by the process of employing specialist containers on platform vehicles. Between 1960 and 1961 the container stock increased from 400 to 506. Of this latter figure 211 were designed for livestock, 184 for general merchandise, 54 for meat, 24 for tar and oil, 21 for cement and 12 for grain.
An unusual feature for a large transport organization is that C.I.E. still employs 200 horses in addition to motor vehicles--100 are located in Dublin with the rest distributed in various parts of the country. What future there is for the horse in the transport world, even in Ireland, is an Open question and it is quite possible that in days to come such work as they are now performing will be transferred to the sphere of the agricultural tractor.
In round figures, the powered operating fleet can now be taken as being 900, a considerable increase on the April, 1961, figures. and under the new organization each area in the country takes its allotment from this total for the whole undertaking.
There is an exception to the general rule in the case of tippers, some of which are assigned to each area, the pron25 portions being related to the amount of local work available to keep them fullyemployed throughout the year. Other tippers, both orthodox and dual-purpose (or contairier-carrying) are maintained in a pool from which vehicles -are supplied to the areas •to meet various peak tiaffic, such as that of the beet season from October to January, the ground limestone season which is at its height from February to April, and to help in the County Council work during the summer months:, . .A considerable amount of planning is necessary to ensure that the " fluid " section of this portion of the fleet is readily available to meet the differing demands. Altogether, some 800 units are specifically allocated to areas, leaving 100 as the floating reserve. An aspect that should perhaps be emphasized is that the pool already mentioned is built up to provide for the estimated extra requirements of the regions and is not just what was left over after the essentials for the region had been allocated.
Loan of Vehicles In estimating each area's basic requirements the headquarters planning department made the most careful calculations, it being appreciated that local holdings must be fully adequate to the potential of the territory or otherwise there would not be the fullest incentive to search for traffic. So far as temporary local deficiencies are concerned, if any area is in difficulty for a period of days a loan of vehicles may be obtained from a neighbouring area which -is not at that time under similar pressure.
As an example of area allotment one may take Galway where the basic fleet consists of 83 vehicles, including vans, articulated units and heavy haulage tractors, plus 40 tippers, half of which are dual-purpose. In addition to the basic fleet, Galway has an allocation from the pool which is spread over nine months of the year and varies from IS to 29 vehicles. With this fleet on hand the officials in the region know quite clearly what traffic can be accepted at any given time and what service offered to the public.
Mention has already been made of the C.I.E. action to integrate road and rail operation. When new sidings were opened in Galway last February extensive road space was provided alongside so as to permit completely free movement of lorries. The sidings have a capacity of 40 wagons or 400 tons of goods at a time and are intended to deal , with full wagon loads wherever possible, the main traffic being fertilizers, cement, sugar, and grain. Under the new layout, transfer between road and rail has been considerably expedited. Traffic to and from the city has been B26 expanding and the developments mentioned are sem indication of the increasing importance of Galway as at industrial centre. Great efforts were made to have the nev facilities available for the fertilizer season and, since the were in operation in early February, the deadline was met Similar facilities for other regions are planned.
Reference has already been made to the great importanci of livestock traffic in Ireland. In order to meet the ver] heavy movements of animals for internal needs and export C.I.E. may, on occasion, concentrate vehicles from ever] area in the country in a region where the current demanc is high. By close contact with potential customer's fill traffic staff will be able to forecast •with some degree o accuracy the general flow of traffic. Thus, if there is fair in the West of Ireland, but it is expected that most o the purchasers will come from the south-east, the supple mentary vehicles will so far as possible be recruited fron the south-eastern part of the country, thus keeping dem mileage to a minimum. Although to a very large extent ii the past C.I.E. has been able to employ local enthusiasm and local knowledge to good effect, the new set-up ha done much to combine these advantages with those enjoyet as a result of its national organization.
• Link with Independents When the operating barrel has been thoroughly scrapei but the necessity still arises to supplement the CIE. fleet the policy is to co-operate with the independent roai hauliers. The first category is provided by private operator who are "plated." by C.I.E. and they form the first choic when sub-contracting is necessary. If further vehicles ar required for a particular task the " free " Irish opera ton generally comprising those working within a-10or 15-mil radius of certain main towns, are called in to assist.
An examination of operational records shows that general C.I.F. favours the drawbar trailer, rather than th articulated unit, the reason being that,. except in th immediate area of Dublin, traffic conditions are relative' easy and in those circumstances the use of the independer trailer whenever required by traffic is undoubtedly the mor economical. Although the volume of the livestock traffi is considerable, all is carried by lift container, no complet livestock vehicles being employed.
Despite the fact that the traffic flow is generally rnuc less intense than in Britain, the various units of the flee may be observed to achieve a high utilization facto] Decentralization has certainly assisted in achieving thi desirable result.