Government examining Dart plan affordability, Donohoe says

The Government is at a very early stage of looking at how the planned major upgrade of commuter rail lines into Dublin city can be afforded and whether it can be done at all, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said.

The Irish Times reported on Friday that new cost estimates suggest the Dart expansion plan – which will involve the provision of electrified rail services from Drogheda, Maynooth and Celbridge to Dublin, as well a significant increase in rolling stock and upgraded signalling systems and junctions – would cost up to €600 million more than the €2 billion originally allocated.

The new estimates forecast that the Dart expansion plan could now cost €2.609 billion.

It is suggested that planned additional rolling stock could cost more than €800 million, while the bill for upgrading the Kildare line and the Maynooth line could be more than €500 million each.

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Concerns

Within Irish Rail there are also concerns that this figure could rise higher as the design of the different elements of the projects evolves.

Mr Donohoe said on Friday that “not a a cent has been spent on this project yet” .

“We are now beginning the process of looking at how we deliver Dart expansion, which is a transformational public transport project, and what is now happening is Irish Rail, and the bodies who are involved in it, are now coming back to Government with the costs they believe are involved in delivering that project.

“And this is the way the public spending code will work, where we get far greater clarity at the very start of the process regarding what a project will cost.

“For a project that’s as complex as Dart expansion is going to be, it is the kind of project that is going to involve a level of changing cost, but I emphasise we are at the very start of the process in relation to Dart expansion. And we are at the very, very early phase of looking at how we can afford it and can it be done,” the Minister said.

The National Transport Authority said: "The Dart expansion scheme will have to be designed first, before a detailed delivery programme and a detailed funding profile can be finalised."

The general secretary of the National Bus and Rail Union, Dermot O'Leary, said the warning of the increased cost of the Dart expansion project "underscores our long-held view that Fine Gael are effectively using the announcements of large-scale infrastructure projects, with lengthy delivery schedules, sometimes years into the future, as an election campaigning tool".