The town of Navan in Co Meath cannot wait 10 years for the reopening of the old railway line, a transport lobby group has said.
Meath on Track wants the Dublin-Meath rail line reopened to serve the rapidly expanding commuter town.
Spokesman Proinsias Mac Fhearghusa welcomed a planned visit to Navan by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen this evening to discuss restoration of rail services, but he said it should happen sooner.
The Navan rail campaigners pointed out that under the Government's Transport 21 plan, the western rail corridor is to have 34 miles of track reinstated in the next two years. They believe the 26-mile Navan line should take five, rather than 10, years to be restored.
"It took less than three years originally to build the 26-mile Navan line by hand, with picks and shovels. Work commenced in October 1859 and was completed in August 1862. It should not take a decade to reopen the old alignment," Mr Mac Fhearghusa said.
He claimed commuter times by road stand at up to two hours to Dublin but that a train would take approximately 42 to 49 minutes and would reduce gridlock in Blanchardstown by 4,000 cars per hour.
A petition of 1,200 signatures for the reopening of the rail line will be presented to Mr Cullen at the public meeting in the Newgrange Hotel in Navan this evening. It is expected local politicians and Meath county manager Tom Dowling will attend.
Platform 11, the national rail users' organisation, said the inclusion of a railway service for Navan in the Transport 21 programme was "nothing more than an afterthought".
"The urgent need for a rail service to Navan has been known for some time. The DTO's Platform for Changedocument suggested an opening date of 2010 and this was as far back as the year 2000. Consistent dithering by the Government is failing the commuters of Navan," the group said.
It also said the proposed railway from Clonsilla to the Pace/M3 interchange, offers nothing to Navan commuters.
"Put very simply, if the Government are serious about delivering a rail service for Navan, they should spend more time examining all the options and fast tracking the project rather than trying to "con" the people of Navan with promises that will take a decade to implement."