Funding uncertainty for new Hill of Down station

Funding is set to be the biggest stumbling block for any moves to re-open the Hill of Down train station, it has emerged.

There is currently no train station between Enfield and Mullingar and both Hill of Down in Meath and Killucan in County Westmeath have been pushing to be have their former railway stations re-opened.

A joint study was commissioned by Meath County Council and Westmeath County Council into the feasability of opening another station on the Dublin to Sligo line, between Enfield and Mullingar, and it was found that there were sufficient potential commuters to make another stop viable.

Following on from this report, Trim Area Manager Kevin Stewart and Trim Area Council chairman Cllr William Carey met with Michael Reidy, manager of strategic business planning and a senior engineer from Iarnrod Eireann last week, to discuss the issues that would surround the re-opening of the railway station.

Mr Stewart described the meeting as “very useful” and said they had heard what the main issues would be if Meath was to make a strong case for the re-opening of the station at the Hill of Down. While access and park and ride facilities are considerations, the main issue arising from the meeting was funding and how the station would be paid for. It is understood that the development of a new station at Hill of Down would cost in the region of €2m.

Mr Stewart explained that the opening of a train station in that area is not included in the Government's Transport 21 plan and that Hill of Down has not been earmarked for development in the county development plan. While it is an objective of the county development plan to pursue the re-opening of the Hill of Down station, Hill of Down is not listed as an area for development, which means that funding cannot be sourced through amenity levies on developments in the area or through developers who may propose to develop in the area.

The other issues that arose at the meeting were park and ride facilities and access. Iarnrod Eireann would be looking at access to the area for commuters from other nearby villages, such as Longwood and Clonard, and also access to the station itself. The provision of park and ride facilties would also be a priority.

Cllr Carey said he was very pleased with the meeting and described it as very positive. He said that people in the general Hill of Down area had been afraid that Killucan was ahead in the 'pecking order' and was more favoured to be re-opened than Hill of Down, but that this was not the case and “as of now, there is nothing between them”.

He added: “The meeting was very positive. We thought Killucan had a few points over Hill of Down but, in the next stage in the scoring, Hill of Down has a few points over Killucan. Among the things that came to light was that it won't cost as much to re-open Hill of Down as Killucan.”

However, he said Killucan could provide more parking than Hill of Down and that all commuters travelling to Hill of Down would need a car, as all of the centres of population are a few miles away, while Killucan's centres are nearer.

“The upshot was that if we can get land for a car park, with safe access, it would be a major plus,” said Cllr Carey. He also pointed out that, when the feasibility study was carried out, Clonard had been left out of the equation, though it was also in the catchment area.

However, Colr Carey said that “even if Iarnrod Eireann decided that Hill of Down was the one to open in the morning, as Minister Dermot Ahern said, there is not one red cent in funding for it”.

He said they would be looking at sources of funding and they would also be pushing for the opening of another station to be included in the next tranport plan that will succeed Transport 21.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that Iarnrod Eireann will be making a planning application for an extension to the car park at Enfield Railway Station in the coming weeks. A severe shortage of car parking at the busy commuter train station prompted calls for Iarnrod Eireann to push the planned extension to the car park up its list of priorities and the project has been brought forward. When completed, the car park will provide car parking for 200 commuters.