One of the many rail projects that are being delayed by the government to free up funding for more roads. DART+ South West has full approval and went out to the market for a contractor in May. Now it's delayed until 2030. Similarly, Luas Finglas delayed until 2029 according to today's announcement. It does not take four years to start construction on a small Luas extension that's already approved.
Terminal 1 in Dublin airport included a full metro station when it was built 50+ years ago and there's still no connection. Much as the government talk about providing public transport the reality is they just don't value or prioritize it.
Frustrating that this government is ramping up subsidies for private car travel. People who bought homes in Adamstown were promised rail links to the city and now we get even more induced demand on the roads.
Is it just me, or does this government have a habit of announcing major projects that won’t start until 2029 or the 2030s? Would it not make far more sense to stagger these projects over the next four or five years instead of having everything kick off at the same time? For example, if they started the Luas extensions now, then when the Metro begins, the same contractors and workers could move across from one project to the other. Instead, they’re planning to launch multiple huge projects around the same time — but where exactly are they going to find the workforce for all of this? All it will do is drive up construction wages and inflation because there simply won’t be enough workers. My personal opinion is that most of these projects will never start or be completed. It feels more like political point-scoring, with everything shoved onto the long finger, knowing full well the country will never deliver all of these projects.
Unbelievable if true. There should be continuous and uninterrupted roll out of public transport and light rail if we are ever to get good at procuring and delivering so delaying is utterly counterproductive.
especially now that Metrolink could be stuck in judicial review for years.
It's crazy that we are not continual rollng out new public transport systems. This "either or " discussion is bonkers. DART & LUAS should be built independently of what the road divisions are doing. Just get on with building a network that works for people and roads wont have to be changed.
All rail plans for Limerick dropped as well. No mention of double track out to Lim Junction. Second attempt at a ring road for Galway. All very disappointing.
The car lobby wins again
Makes sence fair play, slow and steady growth is better and sustainable. There are bigger issues, a slow on our economy is healthy. The issues on the Island need to be resolved first.
I haven´t actually seen anything about this project being officially shelved, but I understand from what I read that funding is postponed (which in practical terms is the same as shelving it). If that were the case, it's a shame, considering that the part of the Kildare line upgrade that wasn´t urgent but relatively easy (four-tracking between Hazelhatch and Park West) was done many years ago, but needs the rest of the project to be developed to be of any use. I hope the decision gets revisited at some point.