Dunboyne Railway (Navan Rail Phase 1) Meeting

Navan Junction

Iarnród Éireann will be holding a public meeting in the Dunboyne Castle Hotel at 5pm on the 4th April 2007.

The meeting will be in relation to Phase 1 of the Navan railway line to Dunboyne (4.7 miles).

More info to come..

Victor

http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/news_centre/general_news.asp?action=view&news_id=254

Clonsilla-Dunboyne (M3) Rail Line - Public Consultation, 4th April by Corporate Communications


As part of the public consultation process for the proposed Dunboyne (M3) Commuter Rail Project, Iarnród Éireann will hold a public consultation evening on Wednesday 4th April in the Dunboyne Castle Hotel between 5pm and 9pm.

Members of the project team will be on hand to discuss the project and answer any queries.

All are welcome at any time during the evening.

For more information log onto our Dunboyne (M3) Commuter rail site.

For those that wish to make a written submission please email it to: meathcommuter@irishrail.ie

Or send it by post to: Dunboyne (M3) Commuter Rail Project Office Iarnród Éireann, Track and Signals HQ, Inchicore, Dublin 8

Chris_533976

Its somewhat disturbing IMO that they're calling it the M3 rail. Seems to me they're putting its entire emphasis on the M3 P&R thing and not the Navan extension.

dodgyme

Well Chris, as long as they start the flippin thing, the quicker the better, the more chance that the navan extension will happen and I hope it will considering the traffic I saw yesterday and the fact that the new motorways will be tolled. But I do get the point that you are making..... However even if/when it is extended to Navan I cant imagine the N3 park and ride having too many empty car spaces, as long as they have the cop not to rob people blind to park the cars in the first place. The charges for Stillorgan etc were steep although I now hear they have an integrated car/luas ticket.

Chris_533976

True

Tho the big question will be, if its offically called the "M3 railway", how much of a fuss are the toll companies gonna make when they try to extend it?

dodgyme

Well the toll companies should have nothing to do with it but this is good old ireland where a few envelopes talk alot. So I would make sure you remind your local TD in the coming months that you will be watching things as they develop. The navan rail is a no brainer and people from navan should go mental if it doesnt happen.

Navan Junction

Meath Chronicle, Saturday March 31st 2007

Mayor’s disappointment as Iarnrod Eireann timetable is pushed back

Ann Casey

SEVERE disappointment that the restoration of the Clonsilla to Dunboyne/Pace rail link - listed as one of the priority projects in the national infrastructural blueprint Transport 21 - has been put back to 2010 from 2009 has been voiced by local political figures.

Extreme unhappiness was expressed by the Mayor of Navan, Colr Tommy Reilly, in the wake of a transport roadshow, held in Naas last week that was designed to bring the social partners up to date on Transport 21 developments in the Mid-East region.

The briefing involved the Department of Transport, Iarnrod Eireann, Bus Eireann, and Dublin Bus and the presentations included details on the railways in the region, the current status of Transport 21 projects planned for delivery over the next five years; planning for longer-term projects due for delivery within 10 years, and a summary of high-profile national projects.

Attending the briefing were Colr Reilly, Navan Chamber president Eamon Gavigan and Meath County Council officials. The eventual reopening of the Navan-Dublin rail link is contingent on the first phase of the line - from Clonsilla to Dunboyne - being opened first.

Iarnrod Eireann’s service planning manager for south and western rail routes, Myles McHugh, described how the feasibility study for the Clonsilla to Dunboyne/M3 link had been completed. A detailed design was underway and a railway order/public inquiry would take place next autumn. The project was expected to be completed in 2010.

However, the Navan mayor said that he was extremely disappointed at the Iarnrod Eireann disclosure that Dunboyne/Pace had been put back by a year. “That is extremely worrying in view of the pressure that is there to get this whole railway restoration moving,” he said.

Although he recognised that the new Docklands station in Dublin had been completed before its scheduled time and within budget, he wondered why Iarnrod Eireann could not adopt some of the policies and practices used by the National Roads Authority which made it a priority that major projects would be completed on time and within the specified budget.

Colr Reilly said that when major road projects were underway, the NRA put teams from various government departments on site so that there was no need to travel back and forth between Dublin and the project in order to get sanction for changes.

He also wondered why the Western Rail Corridor had been scheduled for 2008. It was being pushed up the line ahead of the Navan project, he said. “I’m one of those who gets up at 6am in the mornings and I just feel sorry for the people who are stuck in long queues of traffic going into the city,” he added.

Mr McHugh replied that there was a significant difference in the delivery of railway services to Meath and to the Western Rail Corridor. “The Western Rail Corridor is entirely within our ownership and so the phasing of that project can be quicker,” he said.

He said that no major rail projects had taken place in the country since the 1850s. Iarnrod Eireann was now involved in four major projects. “I can understand people are impatient but I think they will be delivered,” he said.

In relation to queries as to whether the Meath connection or the Western Rail Corridor should have priority over the other, he said that it was all a matter of choices. “We are trying to get a regional balance in development,” Mr McHugh replied.

Meanwhile, Navan rail campaigners have reacted angrily to the Iarnród Éireann admission that reopening of phase one of the Navan rail link has fallen behind schedule.

They have also criticised the latest series of Transport 21 meetings which, they claim, are delivering spin but little else.

“It should be remembered that, in 1999, the government predicted reinstatement of the Navan railway by 2004. That date later changed to 2010 under Platform for Change, and changed again to 2015 under Transport 21.

“And the 2015 date seems likely to change yet again. Recent announcements from Iarnród Éireann do not bode well, as phase one of the project to Dunboyne has fallen behind schedule from 2009 to 2010,” said a spokesperson.


© Meath Chronicle
& http://www.unison.ie/

Chris_533976

Not surprised TBH... Glounthaune - Midleton has been put back by a year too.

Zebra3

Navan Junction wrote:

“It should be remembered that, in 1999, the government predicted reinstatement of the Navan railway by 2004. That date later changed to 2010 under Platform for Change, and changed again to 2015 under Transport 21.

“And the 2015 date seems likely to change yet again. Recent announcements from Iarnród Éireann do not bode well, as phase one of the project to Dunboyne has fallen behind schedule from 2009 to 2010,” said a spokesperson.


© Meath Chronicle
& http://www.unison.ie/

Well, make them pay in the summer!

dodgyme

What a shower???? FF out in the summer

SeanW

My thoughts exactly.

MarkoP11

dodgyme wrote:

What a shower???? FF out in the summer

And you think Oliva Mitchell will be better?, Just pray the greens get in

Cullen is currently sitting on the Midleton order, thats the delay

It should be obvious at this stage that the timetable in T21 was driven by political needs and not by the engineering and planning realities

dodgyme

MarkoP11 wrote:

And you think Oliva Mitchell will be better?

I have no opinion on Oliva Mitchell, all I know is what I see from this Gov and after such a length of time to have things like the navan rail link slip by a year on the year of the election means no way will I vote for them and I will vote for FG/Lab as a result. Likewise I dont want to hear an excuses when they get in either.

dodgyme

4.7 miles of railway cannot be delivered since 1999.

My god with a country we live in. TBH if you got offered a chance to leave and head somewhere else, probably should just take it hah?, maybe somewhere where 4.7 miles of railway is possible within 8 years,

Navan Junction

dodgyme wrote:

FG/Lab as a result.

Problem is Labour are making no commitments to any rail project. Thay have backed more buses, and have refused numerous requests to provide clarifiation.

These approaches were made to Dominic Hannigan candidate for Dunshaughlin and Meath East, and to Brian Collins for Kells/Navan and Meath West.

Roisin Shorthall has failed to even return email or telephone correspondence.

Labour is the only party refusing to give a position on the link.

dodgyme

Navan Junction wrote:

Problem is Labour are making no commitments to any rail project.

Labour is the only party refusing to give a position on the link.

What about FG. Rail is the only way forward. Buses are to be honest, a pain in the A*se for numerous reasons by comparison.

strassenwolf

MarkoP11 wrote:

And you think Oliva Mitchell will be better?, Just pray the greens get in

From what I've heard, it's unlikely that she will make the cabinet in the event of a change of government. On the other hand, a place would have to be found for Richard Bruton, FG's finance spokesman, and it won't be in Finance - Pat Rabbitte would be expected to get that.

I would think he'd be well disposed to expediting reopening of the line...

dowlingm

I'd go for Richard Bruton at Transport - Mitchell would be a disaster. Then again a Labour Min of Trans might be able to deal with the transport union in a "nixon goes to china" kind of way.

Navan Junction

dowlingm wrote:

I'd go for Richard Bruton at Transport

He's from Dunboyne - his family grazed cattle on the alignment after it closed.

Mind you having having his brother as minister for Finanace and Taoiseach didn't help, but it was a different time...........

joolsveer

A couple of shots I took yesterday while walking the dog along the canal at Clonsilla.

This is the view of the alignment from the canal crossing to Clonsilla Railway Station.


This is the view of the alignment from the canal towards Dunboyne.

Victor

Is the second photo taken from the centre of the first?

Navan Junction

The second photo is taken from the same spot as the first, just facing north.

There is a culvert just north of the canal.

Navan Junction

The Weekender, Saturday April 7th, 2007

The population in Meath is the second-fastest growing area of any in the state, according to the 2006 census. Only neighbouring Fingal is rising at a faster rate.

The results of the census, released last week, show that in the four years to April 2006, the population of Meath rose by 21.5% or almost 29,000 people. The total now stands at 162,831.

The county also has one of the youngest populations in Ireland. Less than 8% of people in Meath are aged over 65, compared with 11% nationally.

Meath shares with Monaghan the highest number of persons per private household in Ireland. The avarage house in Meath has three occupants, slightly above the average of 2.8.

When viewed in the context of Meath's relatively relatively young population, however this figure is likely to reflect the fact that there is a higher than average proportion of couples with young families.

Chris_533976

And yet a cauldron of idiocy stops the area getting the infrastructure it needs.

spacetweek

Chris_533976 wrote:

And yet a cauldron of idiocy stops the area getting the infrastructure it needs.

Agreed - the constant screwing-over that Meath keeps getting (Dunboyne rail delayed, still no sign of the M3 starting, tolls left right and centre, etc.) is truly perverse.

How do they stick it?

joolsveer

An update on the Clonsilla end of the alignment showing the use of the guard rails as firewood.

Navan Junction

Unbelievable... Some kid will cycle over that - I contacted IÉ

Zoney

Navan Junction wrote:

Labour is the only party refusing to give a position on the link.

Interestingly Pat Rabbitte mentioned a "lack of rail links from the Dublin commuter belt" in a TV interview this morning. Certainly just the usual pre-election speak, but preferable to not mentioning anything pro-rail.

dermo88

I'd ignore Labour, they'd just invest in a heap of new buses to keep their bum chums in Slipthru happy. Then again, I could just as easily say the same thing for the PD's and their chums in IBEC. One is as bad as the other.