Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 July 2012
133 Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the position regarding the DART underground project; if he will confirm that it is his intention to prioritise the project for access to infrastructure funding opportunities which are likely to arise at European level in the near future; if he will provide an updated estimate of the capital costs of this project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32104/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraDue to the reduction in funding available for transport projects arising from the difficult economic situation, the DART Underground programme has been postponed for consideration in advance of the next capital programme which will cover the period from 2016 onwards.
However, DART Underground remains a key element of the overall transport integration strategy as it would deliver a quantum improvement in rail accessibility to the city centre with benefits for each of the four rail corridors radiating from the city centre.
The DART Underground is currently part of the Trans European Network (TEN-T) Belfast-Dublin-Cork Priority Project. I have ensured that it will be included in the updated Core Ten-T Network currently under discussion and have also proposed that it be designated part of a specific Core Corridor under the Regulation governing the next round of Ten-T funding for the period 2014-2020.
To date, €10m has been allocated from the Ten-T Budget to cover the design and development process, geotechnical investigations and various technical surveys and studies. Most of the work for which funding was allocated has already been completed and €5.5m has been claimed to date with the balance likely to be claimed in 2012.
Any further claims for funding for DART Underground from the TEN-T budget in the future would firstly be dependent on a decision to proceed with the project and to provide Exchequer funding for construction in the 2014-2020 period. This decision will be considered when the next capital programme is being prepared.
Notwithstanding the uncertainty around the overall project at this time there may be some limited scope within available resources to continue to fund some associated works such as re-signalling which have capacity and other benefits for the Core Corridor as standalone projects. I will, therefore, keep this under review in the context of TEN-T funding as a case can be made that these associated projects should qualify for TEN-T funding in advance of the overall project proceeding.
Based on the outline Business Case, dated April 2010, the estimated overall cost of DART Underground would be in the region of €4.1billion with the tunnel element which was proposed as a PPP accounting for €2.6billion and associated electrification, resignalling and rolling stock costing around €1.5 billion. However, these figures are not likely to be relevant in 2016 and will need to be updated as part of the overall project review in advance of the next capital programme.
