Early Navan rail Christmas present for Meath commuters

Navan Junction

It has been confirmed by Iarnród Éireann that the Scoping Study is completed and that 9 routes were examined for reinstatement of the line.

The official result cannot be identified until Meath County Council has been presented with the report.

However, it has been confirmed that the original 1862 route is emerging as the preferred route with only minor deviations.

A victory for common-sense.

It is likely that there will be a deviation on the area north of Pace to take into consideration where the N3 and M3 impact the original allignment. The change will be minimal at this point.

It is unclear whether there will be any deviation at Dunshaughlin owing to the the route of the M3, and a deviaition there would be more likely catagorised as major.

Kilmessan is likely to see the most significant deviation around house and the converted former station building which is now the Station House Hotel.

It is will be clarified in the study whether the old viaduct will be used or deviated against as well.

A number of houses could be avoided further on at Bective and Cannistown if it was.

Links at www.meathontrack.com.

Xyndrix

This is great news. Thank god the Ashbourne/Ratoath/East of Dunshaughlin lunacy is binned at last. One wonders why it was ever given so much attention in the first place.

armada104

Indeed, this is excellent news, and the relative simplicity of restoring the old line (as opposed to building a whole new one) should provide politicians with few excuses for slow progress.

Zoney

Yes, this is a positive step. The waffling over route options does seem to have been a handy excuse for inaction, and really I find it hard to believe it was out of genuine desire to serve more towns rather than about providing more opportunities for development (i.e. developers); especially considering what seem to be Meath Co. Co.s priorities wrt the M3 nonsense.

ilovegermany

Hi,

Just wondering if its true that the proposed Park and Ride at Pace is actually located after the Toll Plaza on the forthcoming M3 Motorway. So anybody seeking to use the park and ride from north meath etc will have to pay a road toll, pay to use the park and ride carpark, then pay for the train??

Surely this cant be true!!!:mad:

Also, if the lines to Dunboyne (possibly Navan) and Maynooth are upgraded to DART surely this will lead to massive congestion from where they join up (around Clonsilla) all the way into Connolly given that the line is only two track and will also have to accomodate outer commuter services to Longford etc ??

prendy

Also, if the lines to Dunboyne (possibly Navan) and Maynooth are upgraded to DART surely this will lead to massive congestion from where they join up (around Clonsilla) all the way into Connolly given that the line is only two track and will also have to accomodate outer commuter services to Longford etc ??

id say theres room on the timetable for them..i mean you only need a 5-7 min gap between trains.

ilovegermany

I hope so!!

Not so sure though in the peak periods when you factor in Longford Commuter services due to the bottleneck from Connolly to Pearse (even after the proposed resignallling!!!)

Victor

Clonsilla-Connolly is good for 10 trains per hour, each direction. Thats 4 from Maynooth, 4 from Navan / Pace and a little space left over.

Pace trains will initially operate to Docklands, not affecting Connolly. Eventually, they should all head south along the DART line.

No major problems.

ilovegermany

Victor wrote: »

Clonsilla-Connolly is good for 10 trains per hour, each direction. Thats 4 from Maynooth, 4 from Navan / Pace and a little space left over.

Pace trains will initially operate to Docklands, not affecting Connolly. Eventually, they should all head south along the DART line.

No major problems.

Sound - That's not bad - every 15 minutes from Dunboyne etc..

WiDGe->

i thought they were goin to broadstone?

Mizu_Ger

ilovegermany wrote: »

Sound - That's not bad - every 15 minutes from Dunboyne etc..

Does anyone know where the train station would be situated in Dunboyne with the current most likely proposal?

Victor

Mizu_Ger wrote: »

Does anyone know where the train station would be situated in Dunboyne with the current most likely proposal?

Next to the existing Station House, on Station Road (Dunboyne-Clonee), at the railway bridge.

Xyndrix

:rolleyes:

Iarnrod Eireann, against all the odds, actually come up with a sane proposal but it doesn't take long for Meath's councillors to start causing trouble.

http://www.meathchronicle.ie/story.asp?stID=1552&cid=126&cid2=

Rail route not viable, says colr

Paul Murphy
reports


THE announcement by Iarnrod Eireann that its "preferred route" for the restoration of the Navan-Dublin rail line is the original 1860s route has been criticised by a Meath councillor who described the route as "non-viable".
The rail company had agreed the terms of reference fore a scooping study with Meath County Council and had examined nine possible routes, opting eventually for the original route, with some minor deviations.
The study has now been finished and was due to be submitted to Meath County Council.
Independent councillor Brian Fitzgerald said that the viability of the route preferred by Iarnrod Eireann was in question. "If it is true that this is the preferred route - and I strongly hope that it is not - I hope the Government does not approve it. I don`t believe it will be viable," said Colr Fitzgerald.
"The possibility of development, including housing and industrial, has not been planned or provided for on that old route. It is not in the plan for the next 20 years," he added.
He maintained that the only possibility of making the rail line a viable proposition lay in providing a service from Dublin, and bringing in a service to areas like Dunshaughlin, Ratoath and Ashbourne, before travelling on to Navan.
He also said that if Dunshaughlin was to be serviced by the rail line, it would be necessary to make sure that the rail line would go under the M3, which is now under construction. "This is a critical aspect of the whole thing and the time to do that is now," he said.
He added: "Dunshaughlin is set to become a moderate growth town and would grow to a population of 10,000. A feeder service could be provided from Ratoath, which is another area undergoing growth."
Colr Fitzgerald said that there was provision in law for a part-funding of the rail link by Meath County Council but he believed this could only happen if the line was supported by populations along its route. "The advice was given to us by Martin Cullen when he was Minister for Transport - `come up with a proposal for funding that I can`t refuse`. The choosing of the old route for the railway line is a recipe for ensuring that it never goes to Navan," he claimed.
He called on Transport Minister Noel Dempsey to "stand up to Iarnrod Eireann and do the right thing for the county and not allow them to dictate to Meath that it should have a route which is not viable."
Colr Fitzgerald also said that the National Roads Authority (NRA) should not be allowed stand in the way of providing a route that was viable.

D'Peoples Voice

Xyndrix wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Iarnrod Eireann, against all the odds, actually come up with a sane proposal but it doesn't take long for Meath's councillors to start causing trouble.

http://www.meathchronicle.ie/story.asp?stID=1552&cid=126&cid2=
"The possibility of development, including housing and industrial, has not been planned or provided for on that old route. It is not in the plan for the next 20 years," he added.

Well he has a point about that, surely there was joined up thinking between MCC and IE over the past 15 years never mind the future 20 years! I'm not saying IE would have known exactly where it was going to go, but between themselves and MCC, they must have had some idea - and approved planning permission on that basis! It would be daft to then turn around and be putting a train in an underpopulated area - another WRC.

Xyndrix

The problem is he was one of those who supported the development of places like Ratoath without any thought for how they would be served by rail or how development could be planned to facilitate reopening of the Navan line. As if that wasn't bad enough he was also involved in seeking the designation of Kilbride (a crossroads basically) near the Dublin border as a new town and major rezoning of the land around there back in 2000. Also a supporter of the M3's route, he now comes along and spouts rubbish like this:

He also said that if Dunshaughlin was to be serviced by the rail line, it would be necessary to make sure that the rail line would go under the M3, which is now under construction. "This is a critical aspect of the whole thing and the time to do that is now," he said.

Why weren't you arguing for that when the M3 was in the planning stages? It's a bit late to be looking to go east of Dunshaughlin now when the road's construction is so far advanced.

But the funniest bit is here:

The choosing of the old route for the railway line is a recipe for ensuring that it never goes to Navan," he claimed.

It's actually the other way round. The fantasy route he's calling for is actually the real recipe for ensuring it never goes to Navan.

trellheim

All politics is local.... which reminds me .... big floodlit intersection at Blundelstown on M3 ... what's that all about ? :):)

Xyndrix

trellheim wrote: »

All politics is local.... which reminds me .... big floodlit intersection at Blundelstown on M3 ... what's that all about ? :):)

I've already gone on enough about that I think we all have a fair idea what it's about at this stage

Banjoxed

With Christmas 2015 fast approaching, Transport for Ireland have given Navan an early present of a switch and a lump of coal regarding the future development of any railway service to Navan:

https://irishrailwaydevelopments.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/transport-for-ireland-kills-navan-railway-link-in-new-strategy/

cgcsb

But Of Course, all the money is for motorway projects down south. Public transport in Dublin, and it's greater metropolitan area, got nothing out of the capital expenditure plan, despite catering to multiples more people than the planned New Ross to Enniscorty motorway ever would.

end of the road

Banjoxed wrote: »

With Christmas 2015 fast approaching, Transport for Ireland have given Navan an early present of a switch and a lump of coal regarding the future development of any railway service to Navan:

https://irishrailwaydevelopments.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/transport-for-ireland-kills-navan-railway-link-in-new-strategy/

i'm both saddened and angered to hear this. but not surprised.

cgcsb wrote: »

But Of Course, all the money is for motorway projects down south. Public transport in Dublin, and it's greater metropolitan area, got nothing out of the capital expenditure plan, despite catering to multiples more people than the planned New Ross to Enniscorty motorway ever would.

absolutely. being someone from wexford i would stand with you in agreement that the New Ross to Enniscorty motorway is a waste of money and won't benefit barely anyone what soever. the current route is enough for the traffic that travels that route, ensuring the current road is to a good standard would suffice.

Grandeeod

Only thing missing are the tracks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw0BD4BLdWs

MGWR

Banjoxed wrote: »

With Christmas 2015 fast approaching, Transport for Ireland have given Navan an early present of a switch and a lump of coal regarding the future development of any railway service to Navan:

Transport for Ireland kills Navan railway link in new strategy – Irish Railway Developments

The detailed study for the Navan commuter corridor was undertaken by Ms. Dieckmann Cogill, an American transport planner based in Ireland on behalf of Jacobs, who in turn were acting for Transport for Ireland. In her report, Ms. Coghill used 2011 population data as her base for forecasting future demand for commuting from Navan. This data was then projected using the Greater Dublin Area Regional Model (GDARM).

The projections used appear to be extraordinarily conservative; there is an assumption that there will be no growth in car use to the City Centre; and that passenger demand will increase modestly by 2035. The conclusion drawn by Ms. Coghill in her report is that the only requirement for additional public transport for the Navan corridor is extra provision of express bus services, up to 4 an hour. ... What happens when these buses are gridlocked at Blanchardstown? ...

American transport consultants are notoriously anti-rail. Any railway project they are hired to study ends up incurring tenfold increases in cost, artificially making motorway/highway investment look cheaper and somehow more desirable.

end of the road

MGWR wrote: »

American transport consultants are notoriously anti-rail. Any railway project they are hired to study ends up incurring tenfold increases in cost, artificially making motorway/highway investment look cheaper and somehow more desirable.

interesting

cgcsb

end of the road wrote: »

absolutely. being someone from wexford i would stand with you in agreement that the New Ross to Enniscorty motorway is a waste of money and won't benefit barely anyone what soever. the current route is enough for the traffic that travels that route, ensuring the current road is to a good standard would suffice.

It's really refreshing to hear someone see the bigger picture instead of getting the biggest windfall for their constituency. It now looks likey that there will be a motorway to Ringiskiddy, the M11 will be extended to Eniscorty, the M/N 25 will be motorway standard :eek: including the longest, and no doubt most expensive, bridge in Ireland. Heck we're even spending nearly a billion on a motorway to Tuam (tumbleweed) at present. Meanwhile the circa 2 million people living in metropolitan Dublin(where congestion is a HUGE problem) have gotten virtually nothing out of the capital expenditure plan, save a hypothetical upgrade of the N7 and the Phoenix Park Tunnel (costing €10m)

It really is pitiful that such anti Dublin policies are accepted. The problem is when it comes to election, who else are you going to vote for?

cgcsb

MGWR wrote: »

American transport consultants are notoriously anti-rail. Any railway project they are hired to study ends up incurring tenfold increases in cost, artificially making motorway/highway investment look cheaper and somehow more desirable.

If it stacked up economically in 2003 then it stacks up now. Navan's population has increased in 12 years and Ireland's GDP in 2015 will be higher than ever before, even in 2007.

The whole transport consultant thing is a fudge in all honesty. The previous FF government managed to get AECOM to report on the western rail corridor and conclude that it 'may be feasible'.

The same consultancy was used by the present govt to say that DART Underground(excluding the wider DART plan) didn't add up. :rolleyes: Money for jam basically. All you have to do is shift the goal posts ad absurdum and you get a nice bonus. Me and you pay.

Pete_Cavan

How much of the old Navan route remains? Google maps suggests that much of the line has been lost and substantial sections of new alignment will be needed. The approach into the town itself seems to have been taken over by houses, buildings and roads in places. Even if all land on the old alignment can be reclaimed, rebuilding the line will be extremely expensive.

Has a sit for the proposed Navan bus station been identified or has there been any progress? Obviously it should be located with a view to also becoming the future train station. The old station site seems quite confined if it is to accommodate buses as well as pick up/drop offs. There is a big site on Commons Road beside the hospital and at the back of Pairc Tailteann, does anyone know if it is owned by CIE, looks like old railway sheds?

schemingbohemia

Nice bit of xenophobia going on, the nationality of the person is immaterial.

cgcsb

schemingbohemia wrote: »

Nice bit of xenophobia going on, the nationality of the person is immaterial.

What?

cgcsb

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

How much of the old Navan route remains? Google maps suggests that much of the line has been lost and substantial sections of new alignment will be needed. The approach into the town itself seems to have been taken over by houses, buildings and roads in places. Even if all land on the old alignment can be reclaimed, rebuilding the line will be extremely expensive.

Has a sit for the proposed Navan bus station been identified or has there been any progress? Obviously it should be located with a view to also becoming the future train station. The old station site seems quite confined if it is to accommodate buses as well as pick up/drop offs. There is a big site on Commons Road beside the hospital and at the back of Pairc Tailteann, does anyone know if it is owned by CIE, looks like old railway sheds?

Regarding costs, it'd be a fraction of the cost of the M3 and M2 motorways and indeed the ongoing cost of the M3 which is hemorrhaging government money, even if an entirely new route was selected and electrified all the way to Connolly/Docklands.

IMO a new route is needed taking in Ratoath and Dunsaughlin with a feeder bus from Ashbourne. The thing about 'new' railways in Ireland is that they tend to be built on victorian era alignments(e.g. Ennis-Athenry) even if that route is no longer populated and cannot offer a direct, fast service.

schemingbohemia

MGWR wrote: »

American transport consultants are notoriously anti-rail. Any railway project they are hired to study ends up incurring tenfold increases in cost, artificially making motorway/highway investment look cheaper and somehow more desirable.

cgcsb wrote: »

What?

Is it clearer now? The original article posted also mentioned her nationality.

ongarboy

Do many Navan commuters use the M3 Parkway park and ride to get to Dublin daily? How long is the average trip by car from Navan to this station and is there any time saving compared to just driving all the way into Dublin? I would think the biggest disincentive is having to pay the toll just to get access to the Park and Ride from the M3!

Grandeeod

ongarboy wrote: »

Do many Navan commuters use the M3 Parkway park and ride to get to Dublin daily? How long is the average trip by car from Navan to this station and is there any time saving compared to just driving all the way into Dublin? I would think the biggest disincentive is having to pay the toll just to get access to the Park and Ride from the M3!

M3 Parkway is not a solution for many Navan commuters and it was never going to be. The M3 itself provides a quicker road journey to Parkway, but it involves a toll. However the original N3 alignment also allows access without a toll but the journey time is obviously longer. In both examples switching from road to rail at Parkway is disinsentivised by the lack of DART Underground and the fact that you have approx. 30kms of a drive to get there.

Grandeeod

cgcsb wrote: »

If it stacked up economically in 2003 then it stacks up now. Navan's population has increased in 12 years and Ireland's GDP in 2015 will be higher than ever before, even in 2007.

The whole transport consultant thing is a fudge in all honesty. The previous FF government managed to get AECOM to report on the western rail corridor and conclude that it 'may be feasible'.

The same consultancy was used by the present govt to say that DART Underground(excluding the wider DART plan) didn't add up. :rolleyes: Money for jam basically. All you have to do is shift the goal posts ad absurdum and you get a nice bonus. Me and you pay.

I tend to agree with your sentiments, but the entire Navan Rail project was smothered by so much more.

It was promised as far back as the late 90s. People bought houses in Navan on the basis of a rail connection to Dublin. Estate agents gleefully sold the whole railway thing based on nothing more than potential. I witnessed it and had many debates with people that bought houses there and insisted that the railway would be a reality.:eek:

Lurking in the background was the M3 project. Sneaking around in the long grass was MCC, who paid lip service to the railway in CDPs. MCC even went as far as getting embroiled in legal action with the Station House Hotel in Kilmessan! Add in a sewer main and an eventual motorway that butchered the rail alignment and the entire Navan Rail project is up there with the WRC as one of the best railway jokes, but for vastly different reasons.

Lets not forget Mr. Finn from Irish Rail, who spoke the truth about the projected 500 million plus cost and then got lost (on purpose) in the Twilight Zone. It was his "barge pole" comment that sealed his fate. As MCC and the Government talked up the railway, they both participated in the destruction of its realisation.

Grandeeod

cgcsb wrote: »

Regarding costs, it'd be a fraction of the cost of the M3 and M2 motorways and indeed the ongoing cost of the M3 which is hemorrhaging government money, even if an entirely new route was selected and electrified all the way to Connolly/Docklands.

IMO a new route is needed taking in Ratoath and Dunsaughlin with a feeder bus from Ashbourne. The thing about 'new' railways in Ireland is that they tend to be built on victorian era alignments(e.g. Ennis-Athenry) even if that route is no longer populated and cannot offer a direct, fast service.

In all fairness, its cost was certainly not inconsiderable, when one considers it was a railway to a town like Navan. The Ratoath, Dunshaughlin, Ashbourne scenario was pure political BS and only supported by vested interests. Dunshaughlin was served from the original alignment as the town was expanding out that direction anyway, despite most development being the other side. But this comes back to the ineptitude of MCC.

Dragging the line out towards Ratoath is pure victorian in its thinking as you are merely following population centres and slowing down the journey time. Your WRC comparison is exactly why you don't do it that way. Ultimately the original alignment was the way to go, but planning should have coexisted with it. It didn't.

The thing about "new" railways in Ireland is that we never, ever plan and develop along former railway lines, Midleton being an exception.

Stroke Politics

I had to go to Drumcondra for a month earlier this year, and took the car from Trim Road in Navan to M3 parkway every day. Took me 30 mins to drive the 18 miles on the old N3, but I was on time each day with the trains as I had to change at Clonsilla for the Maynooth train to stop at Drumcondra. I found it an excellent, reliable service, and had no delays at all in eirher direction.

If there was a bus (!) serving the M3 Parkway from Navan and Dunshaughlin, I'd recommend it, as this train will serve the new Luas at Broombridge, and brings you into Docklands, a part of the city that is more adjacent to Googleland than Connolly is. Would be more reliable and direct than the 109.

I was surprised at the number of people using this train each morning, it was much more than I had anticipated, however there does not appear to be much off-peak traffic. AFAIK, there is funding to be got from Europe to develop this line, is the scoping study still relevant to any future development?

Banjoxed

Stroke Politics wrote: »

I had to go to Drumcondra for a month earlier this year, and took the car from Trim Road in Navan to M3 parkway every day. Took me 30 mins to drive the 18 miles on the old N3, but I was on time each day with the trains as I had to change at Clonsilla for the Maynooth train to stop at Drumcondra. I found it an excellent, reliable service, and had no delays at all in eirher direction.

If there was a bus (!) serving the M3 Parkway from Navan and Dunshaughlin, I'd recommend it, as this train will serve the new Luas at Broombridge, and brings you into Docklands, a part of the city that is more adjacent to Googleland than Connolly is. Would be more reliable and direct than the 109.

I was surprised at the number of people using this train each morning, it was much more than I had anticipated, however there does not appear to be much off-peak traffic. AFAIK, there is funding to be got from Europe to develop this line, is the scoping study still relevant to any future development?

Bus Eireann have seemingly cut back the limited bus connections that did exist off the Trim/Athboy bus service. None ever existed off the buses serving Navan which makes me wonder what is going on there.

We really need a dose of interconnected thinking in the CIE monolith but experience proves otherwise.

end of the road

not knowing the area, if the old alinement was followed and the line finished to navan, could a branch off the line to Ratoath and ashborn be possible to build, or would there be no route availible?

Grandeeod

end of the road wrote: »

not knowing the area, if the old alinement was followed and the line finished to navan, could a branch off the line to Ratoath and ashborn be possible to build, or would there be no route availible?

That would be another branch off a branch and effectively creating 3 different services via Clonsilla. Ratoath and Ashbourne were brought into the mix by politicians, who know sweet fanny adams about transport anyway. Just look to DU and MN etc. for the evidence.

Banjoxed

end of the road wrote: »

not knowing the area, if the old alinement was followed and the line finished to navan, could a branch off the line to Ratoath and ashborn be possible to build, or would there be no route availible?

Nothing is theoretically impossible but this is now highly improbable. Get the Navan line done. That's the priority.

Grandeeod

Banjoxed wrote: »

Nothing is theoretically impossible but this is now highly improbable. Get the Navan line done. That's the priority.

With DU gone back to basics and effectively MN gone back to something similar, Navan has less hope than it did 10 years ago.

It will never happen.

Banjoxed

Grandeeod wrote: »

With DU gone back to basics and effectively MN gone back to something similar, Navan has less hope than it did 10 years ago.

It will never happen.

Mr Wheeler, wherever he is, should keep his banjo handy for 2030 or so

Pete_Cavan

Grandeeod wrote: »

Dragging the line out towards Ratoath is pure victorian in its thinking as you are merely following population centres and slowing down the journey time. Your WRC comparison is exactly why you don't do it that way. Ultimately the original alignment was the way to go, but planning should have coexisted with it. It didn't.

That would be true, if the old Navan alignment was still available but from looking at Google Maps, much of it is not. A new alignment, with stations on the southern side of Ratoath and northern side of Dunshaughlin, then hug the M3 before following the original route into Navan would be the way to go. A new alignment would most likely allow for faster speeds to compensate for the slightly longer journey. Bit irrelevant now anyway as we are not going to see trains to Navan, be it on the old or a new alignment, in the next 50 years.

tuborg_man

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Has a sit for the proposed Navan bus station been identified or has there been any progress? Obviously it should be located with a view to also becoming the future train station. The old station site seems quite confined if it is to accommodate buses as well as pick up/drop offs. There is a big site on Commons Road beside the hospital and at the back of Pairc Tailteann, does anyone know if it is owned by CIE, looks like old railway sheds?

That bit of land is the old county council storage space, the shed's have been all knocked now.

Grandeeod

Banjoxed wrote: »

Mr Wheeler, wherever he is, should keep his banjo handy for 2030 or so

2030???

You are very optimistic.:D

dowlingm

Extending the M3/Pace to Navan could have shifted 50mph ore trains off the Northern Line and allowed the Navan-Duleek-Drogheda route to be either railbanked or lifted (it has several manual LCs which must have a significant impact on fuel given the need to get such a heavy train moving from rest).

The lifespan of the mine is of course finite but the trains are still running now and the line could have been opened years ago. The fighting about where the line would run past Ashbourne/Dunshaughlin didn't help and neither did Meath CC's messing with the alignment.

NTA is recognising reality here by saying it ain't gonna happen, no?

Pete_Cavan

tuborg_man wrote: »

That bit of land is the old county council storage space, the shed's have been all knocked now.

Interesting, thanks for that. Looks like it would be ideal for a bus station with the potential for it to also become the train station for the town in the future. Has a site, or even potential sites, been identified for the bus station yet?

Stroke Politics

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Interesting, thanks for that. Looks like it would be ideal for a bus station with the potential for it to also become the train station for the town in the future. Has a site, or even potential sites, been identified for the bus station yet?

HSE now has that old site between the railway line and the hospital. I'd be looking for that site as the location of the new regional hospital, as it backs on to the green area at the back of the hospital all the way up to Beaufort House.

I was told earlier this year by the council that there were three sites identified as possible locations for a bus "hub" (whatever that is), and the BE still has to make its mind up on which location they would prefer. I think bus commuters in Navan will be lining up outside Tommy Reilly's shop on Trimgate St for a while to come....

Infini

dowlingm wrote: »

Extending the M3/Pace to Navan could have shifted 50mph ore trains off the Northern Line and allowed the Navan-Duleek-Drogheda route to be either railbanked or lifted (it has several manual LCs which must have a significant impact on fuel given the need to get such a heavy train moving from rest).

The lifespan of the mine is of course finite but the trains are still running now and the line could have been opened years ago. The fighting about where the line would run past Ashbourne/Dunshaughlin didn't help and neither did Meath CC's messing with the alignment.

NTA is recognising reality here by saying it ain't gonna happen, no?

Would make more sense to recondition the line towards drogheda from navan into a new reserve intercity line. At the minumum it gives IR a backup line to use to drogheda on days like this weekend when essential work is required on the main Dublin to Drogheda line. Problem with this country is the mentality to scrap things instead of fixing them or designing things around them. The Navan line should be restored but things like new towns should be planned ALONG this line as well to help take the pressure off Dublin whos house prices are soaring. By doing so you end up with a win win situation where the infrastructure gets used and pressure is taken off Dublin as people buy up cheaper houses and move into these new satellite towns growing along these lines. Unfortunately politicians dont think ahead like this and we end up with arse ended things like the WRC thats using a poor alignment and have nothing on them.

Losty Dublin

As I recall the plan is for two stations in Navan; one close to the GAA ground to serve the centre and south of the town and a larger station on the Kingscourt branch with large scale bus bays, park and rides and so on. At some stage there were very detailed plans for the whole line and it's stations available on the web; they have been AWOL for years now/

The former GNR station wasn't on the line that is proposed for reopening so it won't form part of the new operation, if it ever happens.

end of the road

Losty Dublin wrote: »

As I recall the plan is for two stations in Navan; one close to the GAA ground to serve the centre and south of the town and a larger station on the Kingscourt branch with large scale bus bays, park and rides and so on. At some stage there were very detailed plans for the whole line and it's stations available on the web; they have been AWOL for years now/

The former GNR station wasn't on the line that is proposed for reopening so it won't form part of the new operation, if it ever happens.

the GNR station is on the freight line that is currently open?

MightyMunster

The location of the M3 toll relative to the park and ride would be funny if it wasn't so incredibly badly planned!