Engineers should identify Cork light rail route within two years
The preferred route for the proposed €1bn Cork light rail system should be identified within two years.
It follows confirmation today from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the National Transport Authority (NTA) that Jacobs Engineering Ireland has been awarded the contract to work on the route selection for the light rail transit (LRT) system linking Ballincollig, on the western outskirts of Cork city, to Mahon in the east.
The 17km 25-stop Luas-style system is one of the flagship projects in the ambitious Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS), a transport strategy for the wider metropolitan Cork area for the next 20 years.
The indicative route in CMATS for the high-capacity, high-frequency public transport system suggests it will serve the proposed Cork Science and Innovation Park in Curraheen, CIT, CUH, UCC, the city centre, Kent Station and the city’s north docks, before crossing a potential new bridge into the south docks and on to Mahon Point.
Jacobs Ireland, the Irish operation of the US engineering firm, must now identify the exact route, and on which roads the trams will travel. The company has provided sustainable transport planning services to the NTA before, it worked on CMATS, and it also helped redesign the bus network in the greater Dublin area.
Their study to define the emerging preferred route should be complete within 20 months.
“At the end of the study, TII and NTA will publish a report that will describe the emerging preferred route and will provide details of the alternative options that will have been considered,” a spokesman said.
Public consultation is planned with the feedback from that process being factored into the final preferred route report.
However, funding for the LRT, which experts say could cost at least €1bn, has yet to be secured.
NTA chief executive, Anne Graham, said the preferred route selection process is the first step in a long process and she would not be drawn on a date for when trams may be seen operating on the streets of Cork.
Jacobs Engineering Ireland has been awarded the contract for the delivery of the early phases of the light rail project in Cork as part of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy. Find out more here https://t.co/4mDjOgglc5 pic.twitter.com/Z3UlGDVtEK
— Transport for Ireland (@TFIupdates) August 7, 2020
Cork Chamber welcomed the appointment of contractors.
“It will bring a new level of connectivity to the Cork metropolitan area, opening up fresh opportunities for how people live, work and play in the city,” the chamber’s director of public affairs, Thomas McHugh, said.
“Light rail is arguably the flagship of CMATS, however, it is essential that progress is also made on quicker wins which will deliver more immediate term results in easing movement and helping to ensure Cork makes a sustainable recovery.”
But Local Labour Party area representative Peter Horgan said consultation will be vital and residents on the potential route must be directly written to.
