Lowry asks for study on underground rail plan

THE Minister for Transport, Mr Lowry, is considering building underground sections of the light rail system Luas in Dublin city centre.

Ms Avril Doyle, the Minister of State for Transport, told the Committee on Enterprise and Economic Strategy that Mr Lowry was looking at the possibility of short sections of the system, being built-underground and had asked CIE to commission a study. It will be carried out by a French transport company, Semele, which is advising CIE on the light rail system.

Ms Doyle said, however, it would not be major sections rather "a couple of hundred yards or so".

The Minister also said that six alternative routes were being considered in the Kilmainham area and the Government had no wish to devastate the business community there.

She was responding to the concerns of opposition TDs about the impact of the rail system on, communities along the proposed routes.

Representatives of a number of interest groups, including the Kilmainham Business Association and the Arran Quay Terrace and Coke Lane Residents' Association, attended the meeting and, earlier met the committee chairman, Mr Michael Bell, to voice concerns and dissatisfaction that they had been prevented from making a presentation to the Oireachtas.

They oppose the planned demolition of the Arran Quay Terrace of houses for the rail and the routing of the system in the Kilmainham/Mount Brown area.

At the committee meeting Mr Tony Gregory (Ind) said if the construction of the light rail system took 18 months, the road at Mount Brown would be closed, and businesses in Kilmainham would be devastated with an estimated 600 jobs lost.

He also said it was a disgrace that Arran Quay Terrace, "one of the only remaining established 100-year-old communities in the north inner city, should be destroyed because the shortest, quickest cheapest line could be driven through that area".

Mr Bobby Molloy (PD) questioned the Minister's commitment to underground sections.

"A couple of weeks ago there could be no underground sections because of engineering problems. Now there are no such problems. Why is it suddenly on the agenda when it was previously out of the question?"

Mr Seamus Brennan (FF) tabled a number of amendments to the Bill, including naming the routes, creating an integrated system and not building anything until the completed costed plan was put before the Dail.

Mr Lowry had told the Dail that it would cost £60 million a mile to build underground and £11 million a mile at street level but Mr Brennan said there was no independent study of this and the possibility of underground sections should not be left out until it was properly costed.