Iarnród Éireann pushes for €200m airport rail link

IARNRÓD ÉIREANN is pushing the Government to approve a €200 million plan to build a link to Dublin Airport amid growing signs that plans for a €3 billion metro link between the airport and the city centre are to be scrapped.

The state rail company is hoping the project will find favour with the Government following recent hints by the Department of Transport that two larger underground projects — the Metro and €2 billion DART interconnector — are likely to be halted due to budgetary constraints.

Iarnród Éireann confirmed yesterday that it had submitted a business case for the DART airport link to the Department of Transport and the National Transport Authority.

The company claims it can build a 7km spur off the existing DART line at Clongriffin to Dublin Airport, providing regular services to Dublin city centre.

A consultants’ report commissioned by Iarnród Éireann argues that such a link would increase DART passenger numbers by 50% per annum by adding 9.4 million journeys each year.

Iarnród Éireann also maintains that the €200m project would be self-financing without the need for an operational subsidy.

“It has significant tourism, business and environmental benefits,” said an Iarnród Éireann spokesman.

He said an additional benefit of the rail link is that it would largely be through open agricultural land, thereby minimising construction costs and disruption to local communities.

Iarnród Éireann said the project, which could be operational by 2016, would enable travellers to commute between the airport and the city centre within 25 minutes. “At a cost of €200m, the project is affordable within the context of a much reduced capital investment programme,” said the company spokesman.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar is to reveal before the end of October which of three main transport projects — Metro, the DART interconnector and BXD (linking the Luas lines) — if any, will go ahead.

However, Mr Varadkar’s decision to ask Iarnród Éireann to update its plans to build a spur off the existing DART line to the airport could indicate that the project might still get approval.