Navan Dublin Railway Project - Phases 1 & 2

IIMII

Thought I'd start a single thread on developments on both phases, as work has started on phase 1 (Clonsilla - Dunboyne - Pace M3 Interchange) and a decision is due on phase 2 (Pace M3 Interchange - Dunshaughlin - Kilmessan - Navan Central - Navan North).

A quick recap on past issues:

Dunsany Sewerage Scheme Pipes - to be moved
Cannistown Railway Bridge - Built
Properties at Kilmessan & Cannistown - to be deviated around
New M3 link road at Kilcairn - to be bridged by a new large bridge
Blackbull M3 Trim link road - to be deviated & bridged

Minister for Transport is to have report by March. Consultants at the public consultation told the Meath Post that the line will be up and running for 2013 due to a huge reduction in project cost as a result of land price drops and free-land donations from developers.

Lets see what happens next.

IIMII

Meath Chronicle, Wednesday, 21st January, 2009



Two route options for the proposed Dunboyne to Navan railway line were revealed by Iarnrod Eireann last week.

The main difference between the two routes is that there are two proposals to go around the town of Dunshaughlin - one to follow the old line along the Drumree side, the other to circle the Ratoath side of the town, rejoining the original line near Dunsany.
Two stations are planned for Navan - one at the Trim Road and one at Windtown, while stations are also planned for Kilmessan and Dunshaughlin. The double track railway provided on the Navan Phase 1 Clonsilla to Pace line will be continued and future electrification will be allowed for.
Following the preparation of a report on the feasibility study and public consultation by Iarnrod Eireann in March, Minister for Transport, Meath West TD Noel Dempsey, will make a decision on the route.
Route A for the most part follows the disused route from Pace to Navan, with local diversions where the line is blocked by the M3 north of the Black Bull, by properties in Drumree, on the southern edge of Kilmessan, and at Cannistown.
The scheme allows for a deep cutting to pass beneath the M3 at Cannistown, a large bridge to cross the M3-N3 link road at Kilcarn and provision for the diversion of a sewer at Dunsany Bridge.
Route B follows the same alignment as Route A to the Black Bull interchange where it diverts eastwards, crossing the M3 motorway, before passing to the east of Dunshaughlin. The route then partly circles the town before recrossing the M3 motorway and rejoining the original route to the north-west of Dunshaughlin.
The remainder of the route northwards to Navan is the same as route A.
Four stations are proposed along the route, which is 34 kilometres long - at Dunshaughlin, Kilmessan, Navan Central and Navan North, a terminus on the north of the town. Car parking will be provided.
Iarnrod Eireann says that, as part of the feasibility study, design elements considered included the impact on property, dwellings and utilities, impact on the environment, including the impact on flood plains and drainage regimes; construction costs, including physical constraints, such as crossing the M3 motorway, revenue generation and the likelihood of receiving grants and levies to support the scheme.
Environmental impacts such as the effects on the rivers Boyne and Blackwater as well as other landscape issues were also taken into account.
In Dunshaughlin, the two options for the station are at Grange End on the east, and Drumree on the west.
The Grange End option would mean crossing the M3 motorway in two places, as well as a link road, but the Drumree option would mean passengers would have to cross the motorway.
A railway line was opened in 1862 between Dublin and Navan (via Broadstone and Dunboyne), which was eventually closed in 1963.
In 2000, the Dublin Transportation Office recommended the reopening of the Navan-Dunboyne-Clonsilla railway line and this initiative was taken forward and supported by a number of strategic planning documents.
The reopening of phase one from Clonsilla to Pace is included in the Government’s Transport 21 investment programme and is currently under construction.
The results of the current public consultation programme will be included in the final feasibility study report which will be completed in March of this year, according to the rail company.
The recommendations will then be considered by the Minister for Transport.

IIMII

Dear sir - Having studied the rail route options proposed last week by Iarnrod Eireann for the Dunboyne to Navan line, I fear for the future of a village I have been proud that my life has centred around for some 30 years.
The proposal to link Dunshaughlin with Dublin and Navan by rail is to be welcomed; the prospect of Irish Rail’s Blue Line destroying our community is not.
Make no mistake that Line B - as outlined by Irish Rail in Dunshaughlin and Navan last week without consulting many of the property owners directly affected, myself included - is the last throw of the Celtic Tiger dice for many of the developers who have just bankrupted this country.
Line B is not about access to a rail service for the people already resident in Dunshaughlin – it is about maximising potential profit from the last remaining landbanks in a village already pillaged by developers who have given precious little back to our community.
This Line B proposal from Irish Rail, remarkably similar to one put forward by local developers late last year, is not about improving the lot of the commuter who must now choose between the tolled M3 motorway or the potential park and ride services to be offered at Dunshaughlin North or Dunshaughlin West.
It is about the greed of the builders who want to throw thousands more houses and people into an area already bereft of basic facilities.
Let’s face the facts here - those same cash-hungry builders and the planners in Meath County Council have given precious little back to Dunshaughlin up to now.
Where are the sporting facilities promised to our youth? Where are the car parks, the restaurants or the shopping facilities that are commonplace in many of our neighbouring communities?
Dunshaughlin has been built on and its residents walked on by developers and Meath County Council, its planners and its councillors, for the past 20 years. Any decision to route the railway line through the historic Lagore Crannog will be the final nail in the coffin of a congested community.
Of course, I have a vested interest here. Irish Rail couldn’t bother to inform me of the fact before they unveiled it publicly, but they will destroy my home and those of many of my neighbours between Dunshaughlin and Dunsany with their Route B.
Doubtless, Minister Dempsey has a difficult decision on his hands when Irish Rail make their final declaration.
The Blue Line, or Route B, will make billions for Fianna Fail’s cronies in the disappearing building trade but, if right is right, the Minister must think Pink, opt for Line A and save Dunshaughlin with a facility equally as accessible to the majority of our residents who already live to the west of the village.
One final thought – I can’t get high-speed broadband just two miles outside Dunshaughlin but I can get a high-speed train through my property without my consent. Modern Ireland or what?
Yours,
Cathal Dervan,
Killeen,
Dunsany.