Meath County Council has denied that its installation of a sewerage scheme along part of the former Navan railway line would compromise the Government's long-term plan to re-open the line for commuting.
Eugene Cummins, the council's director of infrastructure services, said Skane Valley sewerage scheme was designed not to compromise the reinstatement of the rail line "apart from a short section (approx 100m) at Dunsany Bridge".
In general, the pipeline was constructed on the side of the former railway line, he told the Platform 11 transport lobby. It is 3.5m deep and bedded in concrete, which would protect it against future loading of trains running along the rail line.
"Any modification to the access to the manholes and in particular the ones in the vicinity of Dunsany Bridge can be easily engineered to satisfy future requirements of the rail authority as part of the detailed design of the rail line and necessary railway order."
Mr Cummins said the scheme's route was chosen in 1998, three years before the adoption of an objective in the Meath county development plan for a feasibility study on re-opening the line between Clonsilla and Navan.
He said the county council was "proactive and fully committed" to re-opening the 41km line and was working with Iarnród Éireann on the technical details, adding that this "has not been prejudiced or compromised by the Skane Valley sewerage scheme".
Meanwhile, Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said funding for design work on the first phase, linking Clonsilla with Dunboyne, and for the commissioning of studies on its extension to Navan, would be provided in his department's budget for next year.
Preliminary design work on the first phase is already under way and the Minister expects proposals shortly from Iarnród Éireann on timescales and projected costs, the Meath on Track campaign has been told.
Welcoming the news that funding would be included in the 2006 estimates, Meath on Track spokesman Proinsias Mac Fhearghusa said Mr Cullen had to be commended for what he described as a "very significant" development in re-opening the line.
"We . . . have been promised the railway many times," he said. "The promise of the line is not new, but funding for its design is an absolutely fantastic development. All those that have campaigned for and support the Navan rail proposal must be congratulated."