In Dublin the need to convince motorists to use trains has become critical. Schemes include upgrading rolling stock as well as the provision of Luas and the extension of suburban rail.
In May 1998, the Government announced revised plans for the light rail system, Luas. They include in phase one Tallaght to city as originally intended; a surface extension from the city to Connolly Station; Sandyford to St Stephen's Green line on surface level; underground between St Stephen's Green to Broadstone; and a surface continuation to Ballymun and Dublin Airport.
Phase two includes to Finglas from the city centre-airport route; from Connolly to the Docklands; from the airport to Swords; to Clondalkin off the Tallaght line; and an extension to Cabinteely from Sandyford-Stillorgan.
The timetable means that in the next seven years we are likely to only see phase one. A precise costing for this has not yet been carried out, although the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has mentioned a figure of "£400 million plus".
However, as the W.S. Atkins study produced various costs for the Dundrum and Tallaght lines, ranging between £368 million and £583 million, a three-line scheme (including Ballymun) is going to cost at least £400 million - and that excludes the cost of the underground section.
CIE's proposals for Dublin's suburban rail service are also extensive and have been costed at £232 million. While some of this may be completed before the start of the next National Development Plan, the DMK "Review of Transport Infrastructure Investment Needs" calculates that CIE will still require £170 million to complete the programme.
Improvements include DART extensions to Portmarnock/ Malahide and Greystones, Maynooth line upgrading, rolling stock acquisition, station improvements and signalling and track work designed to enhance capacity. Other options include further DART extensions north and south, a Kildare line service to the city centre, an airport link from the Maynooth line, a new city centre line through Spencer Dock and a spur from Clonsilla on the Maynooth line to the north-western suburbs.
There is a suburban service in Cork linking Cobh at the southeast of the city to Kent mainline station, with five intermediate stations. The Cobh line used to connect at Glounthane with a single line on to Midleton and Youghal. The reopening of the 10km route to Midleton, with an intermediate station at Carrigtwo hill, has been costed at £6.2 mil
lion. An extension to Youghal would treble the cost.
Other considerations include upgrading of Kent station, possible new commuter stations at Tivoli and Ballynoe, and on the Mallow line at Blackpool/Kilbarry and Blarney.
While it would be technically possible to create a new station at Oranmore in Galway for service to Athenry, economic commentators are generally against the idea. There are four lines leading into Limerick. These are the Ennis, Foynes, Limerick Junction and Roscrea lines. However, the pattern of suburban residential development has been away from the railways and the Ennis line goes through undeveloped northwestern outskirts of Limerick.
Tomorrow
The bill for eliminating bottlenecks in the road infrastructure has been costed at approximately £1 billion a year over the next five years. Tim O'Brien looks at where the money might be spent