Route of Navan-Dublin rail
line
- to be outlined "within weeks"
By - Unknown.
THE exact route for the reinstated Navan to Dublin
railway line is expected to be announced within
weeks.
A Railway Order already has been submitted for the first
4.7 miles from Clonsilla to Dunboyne. However, a new
scoping study relating to the 18.5 miles from Dunboyne to
Navan is about to be published.
Iarnród Éireann says that the new Dunboyne
to Navan study will include details of likely locations
for train stations and will provide route confirmation
for the reinstated line. The scoping study on the
proposed Pace to Navan railway line could come before
Meath County Councillors for consideration at their
December meeting, the council`s director of services for
economic development and innovation, Kevin Stewart, told
councillors at Monday`s November meeting of the
council.
The current likely agenda for release of the study was
towards the end of November. In that event, the study
would be presented to the full meeting of Meath County
Council in December, which is scheduled to take place in
Ashbourne.
Colr. Jim Holloway said the launching of the crucial rail
study was greatly looked forward to. "I have no doubt
that the report will reveal that it is both feasible and
economic to build the railway from Pace to Navan", he
said.
He added that what he did not want to hear was that the
timeframe of 2015 as contained in the Transport 21
initiative could not be adhered to. "In fact, 2015 is a
ridiculous timeframe because, if the political will was
there, there is no reason why the railway could not be
delivered within a few years", he said.
The reopening of the Meath line was announced as part of
Transport 21 in November 2005. Under that plan, the Navan
link is to be reinstated in two stages. The scoping study
will also cover route selection, environmental studies,
engineering feasibility studies and cost/benefit
analyses.
One controversial aspect of the study will centre on
whether the railway will reconnect with the Drogheda line
at the rear of Pairc Tailteann in Navan to allow for a
connection to a station north of the town to serve Kells
and north Meath commuters.
As part of the study on the 18-mile extension of the line
from Dunboyne to Navan, consultants held meetings in
Dunshaughlin and Navan last February to seek people`s
views on preferred routes and stations.
The study`s brief was drawn up by Iarnród
Éireann and Meath County Council and is being
carried out by Dublin-based consultants Roughan O`Donovan
Faber Maunsell. In September, an application was made by
Iarnród Éireann for the first 4.7 miles of
railway between Dunboyne (Pace) and Clonsilla
station.
Navan rail campaigners have welcomed the completion of
the scoping study. However, they have warned that its
completion should not lead to complacency. A Meath on
Track spokesperson said: "We have no date or deadline for
the Dunshaughlin and Navan Railway Order. We have no date
for the additional studies and public inquiry needed to
get it to that point. And we have no date for the actual
commencement of works on the line".
According to Meath on Track`s website, the projected
journey times to Dublin city by train from Navan will be
50 minutes.
The original Navan line closed in 1963. However, as the
original alignment was built to the same high
specification as the Dublin-Belfast and Dublin-Cork main
lines with a highest gradient of 1:100, it is widely
expected that, where possible, most of the original line
will be incorporated into a route identified in the
scoping study.
The original Navan-Dublin railway was built in 1862 and
took less than three years to complete. However, the line
is not due to open until 2015 under the Transport 21
plan.
© The Meath Chronicle, 10th. November 2007.
