Work starts on €160m rail to Dunboyne

Work gets underway this week on the new €160 million commuter rail line to Dunboyne, which is due to open in 2010. Meath football star Nigel Crawford, Ciarán Whelan of Dublin and Bohermeen jockey Johnny Murtagh joined Transport Minister Noel Dempsey at Dublin"s Docklands Station on Monday to announce the awarding of the contract to construction company SIAC. Minister Dempsey said he was very conscious of the pressures on thousands of Meath-based commuters who travel to Dublin each day to get to their place of work. 'This new rail line was designed with these people in mind. As a government, we are committed to providing top class, reliable, safe public transport alternatives. This new rail line will take thousands of cars off our roads and improve the quality of life of hard-pressed commuters,' he said. 'It will cut journey times and give back quality time to people to spend with their families. That makes sense for everyone. I have a particular interest in this rail project and I am very happy to mark the beginning of its construction. Even in these times of difficult budgetary conditions, we cannot stop planning and providing for our transport needs.' Dunboyne"s Cllr Noel Leonard said the awarding of the contract was tremendous news for the area, especially as some people believed it would never happen. 'It is brilliant for commuters who have to queue for hours in their cars to get into the city,' he said. 'Hopefully it will also bring people into the county.' Cllr Leonard called for transport links to be provided between the new park-and-ride facility at Pace and towns and villages such as Dunshaughlin, Dunsany/Kilmessan. 'I was delighted to hear the news this week because since the downturn in the economy, people were convinced it wouldn"t happen,' he said. Michael McLoughlin, Labour Party respresentative, welcomed the official announcement but has said the real issue now was the lack of progress in extending the line to Dunshaughlin and Navan. He pointed to the seven per cent cut in public transport programmes for 2009 by Minister Dempsey, which, he said, endangered the future extension of the line to Dunshaughlin and beyond. 'Despite constant re-assurances, it is now clear that major capital programmes under Transport 21 are in doubt, given the extreme economic and budgetary situation. It might have been better if government representatives had been more direct about this in recent times,' said Mr McLoughlin The new 7.5km track will branch off the Maynooth line at Clonsilla and terminate at the planned interchange with the M3 at Pace. Three new stations are to be provided at Pace, Dunboyne and Hansfield, and services will run through to the city centre Docklands station. Each of the new stations will be equipped with lifts and footbridges and will be accessible for those with mobility and sensory impairments. A new park-and-ride facility at Pace, close to the M3, will cater for 1,200 cars, while a second at Dunboyne will cater for 300 cars. Initially, the service is to run at 30-minute intervals at peak periods but as demand increases this is expected to expand to 15-minute intervals at peak times. Off-peak services are to be hourly.