Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 December 2005
166 Ms C. Murphy asked the Minister for Transport the reason the interconnector between Dublin’s Heuston Station and the DART line will take ten years to complete; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37477/05]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe interconnector is intended to be the final phase of a programme to extend and reconfigure the DART and suburban services and to provide higher capacities, frequencies and integration of services to meet forecast demand levels in the Dublin inner-suburban area and to develop an integrated transport system for the capital.
The phased programme involves implementation initially of projects to meet short to medium-term demand levels, including the city-centre resignalling project, the quadrupling of a critical section of the Kildare line between Cherry Orchard and Hazelhatch, the opening of a new station in the Docklands, and the opening of the first phase of the Navan rail link as far as Pace, near Dunboyne.
While these projects are under way, detailed technical, planning and design studies, as well as the railway order and procurement processes, will be completed for the interconnector. Construction will start in time to achieve completion of the tunnel, the underground stations and the electrification programme by 2015, thus providing the additional capacity required on the suburban rail network for longer-term needs.
It is considered this phased approach to implementing Transport 21 is adequate to address changing demand levels. It also addresses the management of the construction programme by, for example, phasing tunnelling work in the city centre, with tunnelling work on metro north preceding the interconnector. It makes sense for the perspective of the effective management of the overall capital envelope.
