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[article] Transport committee calls for Interconnector & Swords extension

  • 06-05-2004 10:14am
    #1
    Andrew Duffy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 540 ✭✭✭


    http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1175657&issue_id=10823

    Calls for extension of Metro line

    THE Metro line planned for Dublin Airport must be extended to Swords, a committee of TDs will demand next week.

    The report by the joint Oireachtas transport committee will also express its belief that the line could be built for a fraction of the cost originally estimated by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA).

    And it will endorse a "circle line" rail interconnector for Dublin that would link Heuston and Connolly Station, the Luas, mainline and suburban rail and the Dart. Such an interconnector could increase train usage by 40-50pc, the committee believes.

    A report, running to 100 pages compiled by the TDs after more than a year of hearings, insists that the infrastructural investment should be begun as soon as possible. It is emphatic in its verdict that the benefits will exceed the costs. Replies are expected today from the RPA on committee requests to include financial estimates in many areas of the final document - although some figures may be commercially sensitive or might affect the tendering process.

    The committee has previously heard from one lobby group that an underground Metro system could be provided in Dublin for €600m - a fraction of the €4.6bn initially suggested by the RPA. Part of the savings would come from using metro tunnels in Dublin nearly half the size of the port tunnel chambers. The report does not address calls to extend Dublin Metro to Tallaght/Templeogue and elsewhere, but insists that a failure to carry the airport line on to Swords would be a monumental failure that itself would cause huge costs into the future.

    Senan Molony


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