[article] Full steam ahead for rail link 40 years after closure

NavanJunction1

Irish Independent, Tuesday May 2nd 2006


THE first step in re-opening the Dublin to Navan rail line closed for more than 40 years gets underway this week.

A total of €6m is being spent on designing the line from Clonsilla as far as Dunboyne.

The work will take place over the next 12 months, to ensure the line can be reopened during 2009, it was learned yesterday.

The recent announcement of the development of Docklands Station, due to open next year, ensures capacity for additional rail services from Dunboyne/Pace will be in place in Dublin's city centre.

The 7.5km line will branch off the Maynooth-Dublin line at Clonsilla.

Three stations will be provided: Hansfield (site of a new Strategic Development Zone), Dunboyne, and a major park and ride station at Pace, adjacent to the proposed M3 motorway.

The park and ride site will allow commuters from the wider Co Meath area to avoid congestion and avail of a fast, frequent rail link to the growing Docklands area and the wider city centre.

The design, tender preparation and railway order submission phase of the work will establish the final costs of the project, estimated at over €120m.

Completion of a detailed design, and Environmental Impact Statement will allow Iarnrod Eireann to make an application for a railway order.

This is the equivalent of planning permission for new rail schemes, targeted by mid-2007. Barry Kenny, Iarnrod Eireann spokesman, said yesterday that subject to the granting of the railway order they anticipated construction would begin during 2008, to ensure the line re-opens in 2009.

© Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/

NavanJunction1

• Dunboyne is 4.7 miles of railway, 9/10's of which is in Dublin.
• Park & Ride at pace located after 2nd M3 toll
• Commuters will have to pay up to 2 M3 tolls, Park and ride charges as well as train tickets
• Design for remaining 21 miles to Navan should be carried out now rather than in a few years

murphaph

As Thomas Sheridan always said (and still says!), this is no more than a long siding. It doesn't serve Meath at all really. It is needed for the burgeoning areas around D15/Meath border (Hansfield, Ongar Clonee, Dunboyne) but the level of dishonesty wrt how much this siding will benefit greater Meath really annoys me. Pure spin.

I took a stroll down by the Royal Canal yesterday, where the old Navan railway crossed over. I always assumed it was an opening bridge at grade with the waterway, but it most certainly wasn't-they built it properly way back when. It was fully grade separated over the canal and even the remnants of the bridge abutments are impressive today. Lots of solid granite!

I do look forward to seeing trains rumbling over a new bridge deck here, but Navan should have been included from the beginning. It's absolutely scandalous that crazy parts of the WRC are even being contemplated when Navan gets longfingered like this. Just scandalous.

MarkoP11

Its all very well built I know of only one level crossing on the entire line everything was bridged, Meath CC took out some of the bridges down the years

They will reuse the old abutments at Clonsilla but a new bridge is needed clearly

There is a surprise at Clonsilla Junction if you explore

Transport21 Fan

The National Toll Roads siding out of Clonsilla. That's all this is.

NavanJunction1

Transport21 Fan wrote:

The National Toll Roads siding out of Clonsilla. That's all this is.

Well Barry Kenny has just said on Newstalk that the tolls can be off-set against train tickets and that the scoping study will sort that out.

he also said that "hundreds" of workers were killed whilst building the Navan railway line originally to get it built in 3 years.

And he also said that there are no plans for an Ashbourne deviation.

Now as far as I know, tolls cannot be reclaimed in tax like other costs and scoping has nothing to do with the M3 tolls operator.

Crazy

dowlingm

It *might* work if NTR and IE had an agreement that IE could prove the number of toll users using the rail link (receipts?) and NTR would provide an offset to keep fares down or to fund the Navan extension. NTR could play ball because it would mean people would have an incentive to use the toll road to access P&R rather than use alternative longer routes to Dublin.

I think I read NTR are easing out of tolls for other business areas - I imagine they are pretty sick of getting the blame for stupid government policy (tolling roads you have the money to have for free).