New routes, extensions, reopenings. . .

Rail network:Railway enhancements in the new National Development Plan include most of the 10-year Transport 21 plans announced last year.

These include :

Metro North from St Stephen's Green to north of Swords, which is to be completed by 2010.

The phased delivery of the orbital, surface metro, Metro West from Tallaght to its proposed junction with Metro North.

Extensions of Luas to the docklands by 2009, to Cherrywood and City West by 2010 and to Liffey Junction on the Dublin to Sligo railway line by 2012.

a new Luas route to the city centre by 2013.

The Dublin city centre resignalling project is to be completed by 2009 and work is to be substantially completed on the Heuston to Connolly underground interconnector and the reopening of the railway to Navan. Both the interconnector and the Navan line are to be open by 2015.

Commuter services from Mallow through Cork city to Midleton are to be operational by 2008 while the Kildare route project - increasing the number of lines between Hazelhatch and Sallins from two to four - will not be complete until 2010.

The western rail corridor is to be reinstated on a phased basis: Athenry to Ennis, including Galway to Athenry commuter services (2008) and Athenry to Tuam (2011). A reopening of the line to Claremorris is to be completed by 2014, but there is no date for the reopening of the final section to Collooney, Co Sligo, although the line is to be preserved.

Iarnród Éireann's acquisition of 67 new intercity trains and 150 new railcars is to be complete by 2008. This will see the removal from service of all older rolling stock and the provision of improved service frequencies on a phased basis on all intercity routes including the new hourly service on the Dublin to Cork route, a service every hour at peak and every two hours off-peak on the Galway and Limerick routes and services every two hours on the Sligo, Tralee and Waterford routes.

A number of the rail projects, including integrated ticketing and the Kildare route project, have been carried over from the 2000 to 2006 National Development Plan.

Mr Cowen said all projects above €30 million would be subject to strict cost benefit analysis in line with Department of Finance guidelines.

However, it is uncertain if the analysis will ever be published in relation to the Metro, as Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has consistently refused to reveal details of the projects on the basis of commercial sensitivity. The Metro is to be built as a public-private partnership.