Metro and DART plans still on but Luas stalls

METRO North and the DART underground will go ahead as planned — but there is no money to build Luas extensions, expand the inter-city rail fleet or buy any new buses.

The Dart Underground, on track for 2016.

The public transport programme, on which €5.7bn will be spent up to 2016, will focus more on railway safety and planning than actually delivering the Transport 21 programme.

Gone is the rail-link to Navan and the extensions to the Luas network. The Western Rail Corridor from Tuam to Claremorris has also been put on hold.

While the new DIT campus will go ahead, there’s no money to build the Luas Broombridge extension to serve it.

The Government has also ruled out expanding existing Luas lines because passenger numbers are falling.

But Metro North, which is to cost €3.7bn, and the DART underground (€2bn) are priorities. However, both projects depend on government approval.

There will also be continued investment in cycling routes.

Like this:

Be the first to like this post.

This entry was posted on July 27, 2010 at 11:02 am and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.