Iarnród Eireann is to press ahead with plans to close large sections of Dublin's DART service every weekend for the next 18 months.
The southside line between Grand Canal Dock and Greystones is due to shut down every Saturday and Sunday from this weekend until next May or June, apart from the two Saturdays before Christmas. The northside line will be similarly affected from next summer until early 2005.
While the company was last night considering a request from the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, for a suspension of work on the southside line for three full weekends in the busy Christmas period, a spokesman said this was dependent on whether it could do this "within the terms of our contractual commitments".
It ruled out postponing the start of work until after Christmas, saying this would put the cost overrun in "multimillion land".
Facing criticism that the company gave no notice of the major disruption, Iarnród Eireann insisted last night that the Department of Transport has known for months of the plans to begin this work in the autumn. However, he acknowledged that the public had only been given details of the dates of the disruption yesterday.
"We have been in ongoing contact with the Department, and it has been very clear for most of the year that there would be weekend construction, starting in autumn", and that this would involve closure of sections of the line at weekend, the spokesman said. Each of the Saturday suspensions would cost €60,000 to €80,000.
The southside line closure will affect nearly 40,000 passengers each weekend.