Kingscourt trains back on the rails?
A local TD says she had receieved a committment from Iarnród Eireann to review the Kingscourt to Navan railway line.
The line, Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan Niamh Smyth was told, is to be maintained in interim.
Deputy Smyth met with Iarnród Éireann heirarchy this week where she requested the review.
Commenting Deputy Smyth said, “Jim Meade the Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann has told me that this railway line has potential and that he will review it. This is a significant development in my conquest to have this railway revisited with a hope to one day having a functioning railway line to my constituency again. This follows on from my meeting with the Transport Minister Shane Ross at the railway line back in August where we discussed the possibility of extending rail services from Dublin to Kingscourt.”
To date there has been no comprehensive feasibility studies on the cost of reinstating services to Kingscourt, either via Drogheda, or through an extension of the M3 Parkway-Navan rail link project.
A member of the Joint Committee on Rural and Community Development, Deputy Smyth has long felt that the region has been “left behind” when it comes to infrastructure, noting that the M3 doesn’t go as far as Cavan town and the N2 is not a motorway. “I appealed to Mr Meade and his colleagues to maintain this line and review it. I have received assurances that this will form part of their observations for future plans.”
She added that with with passenger numbers on the increase across all public transport providers, there are thousands of people who live along the route who work in Dublin but are forced to drive and “sit stuck in exhausting lines” of traffic every day. “A rail link would provide another option to them and cut down on congestion.
“It could also offer a freight alternative to the industries, which have bases in this area (Kingspan, Lagan Brick and Gypsum industries) and which currently have no choice but to use the road network for deliveries. This would also help with reducing our C02 emissions.”