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Irish Railway News - Journal 159

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CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

On Tuesday 1 November, An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD launched Transport 21, the transport strategy for the next ten years. The Taoiseach was joined by the Tánaiste Mary Harney TD, the Minister for Transport Martin Cullen TD and the Minister for Finance Brian Cowen TD. The Minister for Transport outlined details of the funding programme worth €34 billion. Of this €16 billion is for public transport with the balance for road improvements.

Rail investment approved by Government included seven Luas schemes and two Metro lines for Dublin, InterCity and regional rail improvements and major investment in suburban rail for the greater Dublin area as well as schemes previously approved. Some of these involved modification, alteration or dropping of previously announced proposals. Investments approved and timescale for completion were as follows:

Luas

Joining of the Tallaght (Red) and Sandyford (Green) Luas lines in the city centre by 2008

Extension from Connolly to Docklands by 2008

Extension from Tallaght to Citywest (subject to developer contributions) by 2008

Extension from Sandyford to Cherrywood by 2009

New line between the city centre and Liffey Junction (using the trackbed of the Broadstone line and connecting with the Maynooth line) by 2012

New line from the city centre to Lucan by 2013

Extension of the Sandyford line from Cherrywood to Bray by 2015

Metro

‘Metro West’ -- Tallaght-Clondalkin by 2010, Clondalkin-Lucan by 2011, Lucan-Blanchardstown by 2012 and Blanchardstown-Ballymun by 2014

‘Metro North’ between Stephen’s Green and Swords via Dublin City University, Ballymun and Dublin Airport by 2012. The city centre-Airport journey time is quoted at 17 minutes

Rail

Completion of the renewal of the InterCity rolling stock fleet involving the delivery of 187 carriages and railcars between 2005 and 2008

Introduction of hourly Dublin-Cork service in 2006

Opening of the new Laois Traincare centre in Portlaoise in 2007

Cork-Midleton commuter service in 2007/8.

Re-opening of the Western Rail Corridor on a phased basis -- Ennis-Athenry to allow a Limerick-Galway service by 2008, Athenry-Tuam by 2011 and Tuam-Claremorris by 2014

Dublin city centre re-signalling project completed by 2009

Opening of the new city centre station (Spencer Dock) in 2009

Introduction of a Galway-Athenry commuter service in 2009

Phased re-opening of the Clonsilla-Navan line -- Clonsilla-Dunboyne-Pace by 2009 and Pace-Navan by 2015Kildare line upgrade -- four-tracking Cherry Orchard-Hazelhatch -- by 2010

Completion of the railway safety programme by 2013

Completion of the underground Interconnector between Heuston and Docklands (Spencer Dock) via High Street, St Stephen’s Green and Pearse by 2015

Electrification of the lines to Balbriggan, Maynooth, Navan and Hazelhatch by 2015

There was no mention of rail freight in the plans.

Details costs of each scheme were not announced. The Minister said that associated with the Interconnector and electrification of the Northern, Kildare and Maynooth lines, there will be a significant investment in new rolling stock. The Minister predicted 75 million extra suburban rail passengers.

He highlighted that the Luas extensions also will facilitate better interconnection between transport modes. ‘The new cross-city link will subsequently be extended northwards to serve Broadstone and the new Dublin Institute of Technology campus at Grangegorman. Furthermore, it will connect with Maynooth suburban rail line around Liffey Junction. This means that, for example, somebody travelling from Maynooth to say Sandyford will be able to transfer from suburban rail to Luas at Liffey Junction’. He said that the St Stephens Green interchange between Metro North, Luas and the Interconnector would become a major transport hub for the city. He predicted 80 million Luas and Metro passengers per annum.

The Minister said that the population of greater Dublin is now 1.6 million and that the new schemes will allow public transport passenger numbers to increase from 200 million to 375 million. He said ‘I am convinced that … we need a new approach to transport in the Greater Dublin Area, delivered through a single authority, with real powers to ensure joined up thinking across all transport modes’. Subsequently, Professor Margaret O’Mahoney, head of the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Centre for Transport Research at Trinity College Dublin, was appointed chairperson of a team charged with establishing the new authority. She will be standing down from the board of the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) to take up the new post. The other members of the team are John Lumsden and Pat Mangan, Assistant Secretaries-General at the Department of Transport, and economist Colin Hunt, the Minister’s special adviser. The team is to report to the Minister on its structure, powers and membership by the end of January.

In referring to previously announced proposed frequencies on the InterCity network, the Minister said that the plan envisages ‘at least four services a day on other InterCity routes including Westport, Ballina and Rosslare’. This is a reduction from the previously announced two-hourly frequency on the Mayo routes. Not included in the current plan was the previously announced conversion of the Sandyford Luas line to Metro, the Metro from Tallaght via Crumlin and Kimmage to the city centre, the Luas line linking Kilbarrack with the airport, the Dundrum-Terenure-O'Connell Street-Whitehall Luas line and the Luas along the Grand Canal from Dolphin's Barn to Spencer Dock. There was no mention of additional suburban services in the Limerick area or of any plans for the Mullingar-Athlone line. However, the Minister referred to the completion of the feasibility study, which is examining linking Shannon Airport to both Limerick and Galway cities by rail.

The Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern, TD, said 'The railway network had been saved from a slow but terminal decline’.

IÉ 'warmly welcomed' the plan. ‘We welcome the adoption of long-term multi-annual planning for our transport systems by Government, an approach which ensures that we can plan effectively for the needs of commuters into the future’. IÉ said that the Interconnector is 'the single most important project in the state to deliver public transport capacity'. 'The endorse-ment of the Dublin Integrated Rail Plan, including the Docklands to Heuston Interconn-ector, will transform the frequency and capacity of all rail lines leading into Dublin, quadrupling the number of passenger journeys on DART and Commuter lines from 25m in 2004 to 100m on completion of the Inter-connector'. IÉ said that ‘We also look forward to developing the Ennis to Athenry to Claremorris sections of the Western Rail Corridor. By linking Limerick, Galway and Mayo on direct services, the Western Rail Corridor gives the country a truly national and inter-regional rail network, and will play a key role in the economic development of the West. The first phase between Ennis and Athenry will give commuters a strong rail link between Limerick and Galway, the country’s third and fourth biggest cities, and a key corridor under the National Spatial Strategy’.

The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Mr Éamon O Cuiv, TD, met representatives of the West on Track campaign at Claremorris station following the publication of the transport plan. He said ‘After 30 years of waiting, we now have a clear and unequivocal commitment on the Western Rail Corridor from Ennis to Collooney [Sligo]. The section from Ennis to Claremorris will open within the next 10 years. My Department will provide funding towards the work that will be carried out to preserve the valuable right of way north of Claremorris. It is hoped to start the latter work in 2006, which will consist of clearing the line and replacing or repairing all fences’.

IÉ also announced plans to undertake the Railway Order process for re-opening of the Midleton line early in the New Year.

Fingal County Council are proposing to remove the reservation for a rail line from Ashtown to Dublin Airport following the go-ahead for the Metro via Ballymun. The Planning Officer said that the rail link would be unnecessary in the light of the Metro West proposals ... ‘the heavy rail reservation included in the development plan prejudices the development potential of zoned lands through which it passes'.

Meath County Council passed a motion that the council should ‘lead a feasibility study on the proposed railway line from Pace to Navan and, towards this end, seek a commitment of participation and funding from central Government, other statutory agencies and, if necessary, the private sector’ to ensure this happened. Councillors said that the study was necessary to demonstrate the economic viability of the proposed line and was necessary for Minister for Transport to approve the line. It would enable Meath County Council to apply Section 49 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to all the development that would occur adjacent the proposed alignment of the railway, permitting a levy to be introduced.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 159, published February 2006.