Vol. 494 No. 3
144 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the plans, if any, he has to run a DART type heavy rail service from Dublin airport to the city; if so, the possible routes under examination and the likely cost; the timetable for decision and future implementation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18217/98]
Córas Iompair Éireann and Aer Rianta set up a working group to examine the feasibility of a rail connection from Dublin Airport to the mainline rail network. The draft final report of this group was submitted to my Department in December, 1997. It concluded against a rail link to the Dublin-Belfast line for operational and capacity reasons and instead proposed a diesel rail link to the Sligo line at a capital cost of £140 million The report also identified a number of matters which required further evaluation. One of the matters requiring further evaluation is the traffic inter-relationship between this rail link and the planned light rail line to the airport.
