Dempsey offers reassurance on Govt"s commitment to Navan rail line

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has reaffirmed the Government"s commitment to building the Pace to Navan rail line, as a local Fianna Fail councillor warned that he would not support further zoning for housing in the town unless full transport infrastructure was put in place to support an increased population. The local minister issued his commitment after Fianna Fail party colleague, Councillor Shane Cassells, sought an assurance on the future of the rail project in the context of the review of the Navan Development Plan which is underway and the climate of cost-cutting by the Government. Cllr Cassells said that the railway must be more than 50 per cent funded by the Government. It was not acceptable to envisage funding it by 'mass development'. In that case, the people of Navan would lose out, he claimed. Navan Area Council discussed submissions on the draft development plan last week. Another Navan councillor, Jim Holloway of Fine Gael, maintained that provision by the Government for construction of an underpass at the intersection of the proposed rail line and the M3 at Cannistown, a necessary move to facilitate development of the line to Navan, would have indicated 'serious intent' with regard to the project. However, no funds had been spent on this. Cllr Holloway maintained that the status of the Dunboyne-Navan section of the line was fundamentally different from that of the section from Dublin to Pace. 'The underpass for the railway at Dunboyne is being constructed and is visible for all to see,' said Cllr Holloway. 'Nothing of this nature is planned or in place at Cannistown.' Cllr Cassells, meanwhile, said it would be pointless for councillors and officials to invest huge time and work in reviewing the plan unless the existing commitment to build the Pace to Navan link was confirmed. Cllr Holloway described it as 'imperative' that councilors knew that a railway would be delivered to Navan, and soon, in the context of drawing up the town"s new development plan. Focusing on phase two of the Dublin to Navan rail project, the minister in a statement this week said it was anticipated that this phase would be 'opened and in operation in 2015, in accordance with Transport 21'. Mr Dempsey recalled that Iarnrod Eireann completed a scoping study in December 2007 in which it examined nine routes, concluding that the project was economically viable. 'Two of these routes were found to be suitable and are now the subject of a study to produce a comparative business case, which will be submitted to the Department when it is completed,' he said. The minister also noted a report that work on the M3 motorway had impacted on the proposed rail route. Mr Dempsey said it was a condition of the M3 planning permission that the path of the rail line to Navan would be allowed for and accomodated. 'The NRA (National Roads Authority), like everybody else, will comply with its planning permission,' he said. Construction work on the M3 would allow for the necessary work to facilitate the new Navan rail line, added the Transport Minister. 'Work has not yet commenced on the relevant section of the motorway but, when it does, full account will be taken of the terms of its planning permission,' he said. Voicing concern about the future of the rail line to Navan, Cllr Cassells referred to two Local Area Plans (LAPs), numbers one and two. It was expected that the station for the passenger rail service would be located in one of these. Neither has been adopted yet but these plans would be considered as part of the development plan review process. Cllr Cassells, describing the rail line as the most crucial aspect of the next development plan, said it would define where future development would occur in the Trim Road area of Navan. 'It will define levels of economic growth in the town,' he added. Cllr Holloway, however, voiced scepticism about the Navan rail project. He said that the scoping study, completed late last year, had come down on the side of using the alignment of the old railway line to Navan, adding that the work currently underway on the M3 in the area of Cannistown made 'no provision for an underpass or other mechanism for a proposed intersection of a railway with the motorway'. He said he had raised this issue at council level last year and was informed of some 'embankment' being in place, something he found 'unconvincing' then. He said that the absence of a serious plan to address this issue suggested to him that any assurances from Minister Dempsey lacked credibility. Cllr Holloway said that the only money spent to date had been the outlay on the scoping study. He said it was clear that no money had been spent or was to be spent now on building an underpass at the intersection of the proposed railway line and the M3 at Cannistown which was necessary to facilitate the delivery of the railway to Navan. 'To have provided for this in some visible manner would have shown some serious intent,' said the FG councillor. In response to a direct question on whether the Navan rail line would go ahead, the minister this week replied 'yes'. The first phase of the Navan rail line involves reopening 7.5km of railway line running off the Maynooth line, at Clonsilla, to the M3 interchange at Pace, near Dunboyne. An Bord Pleanála approved a Railway Order on 29th February 2008 - the equivalent of planning permission for a new rail scheme - to construct the 7.5 Kilometre line from Clonsilla on the existing Dublin-Maynooth commuter line to the M3 interchange at Pace, north of Dunboyne.