Work on Greystones DART extension to begin this year

WORK on extending the DART line to Greystones, Co Wicklow, will start later this year, the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications, Mr Lowry, is to announce today.

EU cohesion funding of £8 million is to be provided for the work, which is expected to be completed by the end of 1998.

It is understood the Minister will also be announcing details of EU funding for other elements of the £650 million operational programme for public transport, including mainline rail and the Dublin Transport Initiative.

The EU funding will provide 85 per cent of infrastructural costs. New DART stations in Fairview and Barrow Street (between Pearse and Lansdowne Road stations), are included.

Over £200 million of this funding will be spent on the Dublin light rail transit system, Luas. The European Commission is investigating the decision to go ahead initially with the Luas lines to Tallaght and Dundrum, leaving a Ballymun line for some time in the future.

Sources say it remains likely the Ballymun line will be left for a later date.

It is believed a line to Ballymun would result in fewer people leaving their cars at home than would a similar line to Dundrum. There are also fears that construction of a Luas line to Ballymun at the same time as the port tunnel, also on the north of the city, would lead to massive disruption.

Geraldine Kennedy, Political Correspondent, adds:

The European Commission is still assessing the routes for the Luas system in Dublin, according to sources in the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications.

While the LRT will be built to Tallaght, the sources said the other two routes, Dundrum or Ballymun, were still being assessed.

The EU Commission is not expected to make a decision on the matter until September. It has asked the Department to appoint consultants to examine the issues.

Mr Lowry, and the Government as a whole, are in favour of proceeding with its original plan to build light rail lines to Tallaght and Dundrum. Some £220 million in funding is being provided by the Commission, for the project.