Navan Rail Line

end of the road · 06-11-2025 06:37PM

we know this line needs to be built.
we know it has the numbers.
we know road transport and more of it is not the solution and will never work as the solution no matter how much capacity and upgrades are thrown at it.
even if it did cost a billion to build, it's better value then more road upgrades which will cost similar but will be full quite quickly.
those are the realities on the ground.

orangerhyme · 06-11-2025 06:39PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123967611#Comment_123967611

The M3 parkway train gets an average of 550 passengers a day.

There's motorways in Ireland that get over 100,000 vehicles per day, so god knows how many passengers that is.

How much will Navan add to the M3 Parkway line, maybe a 1000 a day?

There's no comparison.

I'm a big fan of rail by the way, but in this instance it's a waste of money.

I'd wait 20 or 30 years. Maybe the population will be there then to support it then. Just make sure the land is preserved.

Meath is one of the fastest growing counties in Ireland.

Navan could be 50,000 or 60,000 by then.

bikeman1 · 06-11-2025 07:03PM

1 billion is absolutely nothing in Ireland’s budget in 2025. That will create an asset that will be there for generations to come.

We literally cannot cram anymore cars on the road and our population will continue to increase for the foreseeable.

While the project is not number 1 priority, we absolutely should have a rail line to Navan with a decent Park and Ride for Dunshauglin. We have to give people alternatives. The NX is totally inadequate now and will be more so in years to come.

Consonata · 06-11-2025 08:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123967678#Comment_123967678

The budgetary restraints are less of an issue than the time it takes to drag such a project through planning and get it to the finished product. I think time to deliver is the more finite resource than money, and it probably isn't the most value for money project that we have available to us at the moment.

cgcsb · 06-11-2025 10:23PM

It'll be interesting to see what reforms are made to planning. The strategy calls for electrifying and improving the line speed of most of the rail work. If it takes 4 or 5 years of planning just to do one section then it'll take generations. There has to be some mechanism that allows CIE to do upgrade works within its own boundary without dragging the arse out of the state with planning, consultation and appeals for the guts of a decade. Navan is different in that it's one of the few proposed extensions of the existing network.

bikeman1 · 06-11-2025 11:37PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123968224#Comment_123968224

Yes, this has to be allowed. We are decades behind in electrification and double tracking. And now we can’t even reopen a line from the capital city to a big growing town.

It’s all depressing how our planning system will be our downfall.

marno21 · 06-11-2025 11:46PM

Value for money sceptics of this project would do well to look at the current mass squandering of money by the Government and may conclude that tangible infrastructure investment of any kind is reasonable.

A commuter rail of this type would be fantastic, especially when combined with other enhancements in the GDA (e.g. Navan to Charlemont would be a very easy journey with both this rail link and Metrolink in place)

Pete_Cavan · 07-11-2025 06:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123968224#Comment_123968224

mechanism that allows CIE to do upgrade works within its own boundary without dragging the arse out

But there isn't a CIE boundary for much of the former alignment, large sections are completely gone. Even if CIE could do whatever they want on their property without the need for any form of approval, that wouldn't help here.

Navan Rail Line

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