An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD will tomorrow announce a €20 billion / 10 year investment in the nations transport system.

The plan will include:

€2.5 Billion for a Metro linking the City Centre with Dublin Airport
€1 billion for an inconnector linking Heuston and Connolly stations
€10 billion for ongoing investment in the nations roads
€100 million upgrade of the Maynooth Rail line
€100 million to reopen the Western Rail line

The plan is the most ambitious transport plan in the history of the State.

Provided the new fixed-price contracts are involved this time we will get value for money. Good move Bertie.

I've heard tha it's actually a 75 Billion investment plan spread over 10 years and it involves the North.

Aren't some of these projects already covered under previous announcements? Vital as these projects are, my inner cynic tells me that this is just an excuse to have an announcement which really just tells us what we already know. Consider the number of times the Metro has already been promised.

Well, at long last. The decision to procede with BOTH Metro and Interconnector is welcome.

As with any such plans, the devil is in the detail.

Apparently part of the road budget includes the massive White Elephant project called the Eastern Bypass. We will see how that one pans out once oil hits 200 a barrel and road transport gets uneconomic for many of us, which I expect will happen in 3 or 4 years. {sarcasm} But hey, the rich bankers will have a speedier commute from D4 to the IFSC so I guess that's all that counts {sarcasm}

But yeah, the rail bits are welcome certainly.

All of these large contracts will come under the new "Fixed price lump-sum" policies as announced by Brian Cowen two weeks ago.

Just how many times does a Metro have to be announced these days before it gets built, anyway?

Originally Posted by hiding behind a poster

Just how many times does a Metro have to be announced these days before it gets built, anyway?

An apt question. This could be the fourth time its been announced - but its definitely the third.

Mary O' Rourke unveiled it in 2001. After this initial announcement, it took 18 months to produce a map of the route.
The plan was then shelved, only for Bertie (and Mother O' Rourke) to announce it again 3 weeks before he called the 2002 General Election when they hosted a huge media hoe-down on Merrion Square.

As soon as the election was won, the plan was shelved again - only to be promised again (along with everything under the sun) by our old friend Ivor Callely in the run-up to the MEath bye-election. Unfortuantely, both the Taoiseach and Martin Cullen openly mocked Callely in the Dáil for his silly plans. And the project was shelved once again.

- FF launched it the first time to deflect attention from O' Rourke's disastrous tenure as Minister for Public Enterprise (5 years down the tubes)
- They re-launched it in an attempt to get votes in 2002.
- Ivor the Engine relaunched it again earlier in the year to get votes in the bye-elections for FF.
- And no doubt this latest launch is a desperate attempt to focus media and public attention away from the scandal-a-day pattern that has beset the Government in recent weeks.

It is interesting to note that according to the FF Press Office, this plan was originally to have been launched last September, and was to have involved the investment of €20 Billion for 10 years.
Our dear friend TKWhiskers summed it up on this thread which he started:

A €20bn public transport plan that will introduce six new Luas routes in Dublin will be officially announced by the Government next month

So where has the other €5 Billion p.a. disappearred to?? Even FF and the PDs couldn't lose, waste or misapporopriate that amount of money!

You'll notice that the original plan included the following:

Up to six new Luas routes will form the basis of the scheme with the light rail system criss-crossing Dublin, providing more services to commuters in outlying areas of the city.

The Luas system will be upgraded to link the existing red and green lines between St Stephen's Green and O'Connell Street.

An extension of the Sandyford line to Cherrywood at Loughlinstown to serve areas like Glencairn, the Gallops, Ballyogan Woods, Leopardstown Racecourse and Carrickmines will be developed.

The Tallaght line will be extended to Citywest, Clondalkin, and Lucan. A brand new service in the docklands with an extension from Connolly Station to the docks is also believed to form part of the plan.

You'll also notice that the New plan contains no reference whatever to Luas.

Call me a cynic, but isn't it likely that this aspect of the plan is being held over, possibly with a view to holding another barn-dance press launch (a lá the Metro in 2002) just weeks in advance of the next election ??

Originally Posted by BarryW

Our dear friend TKWhiskers summed it up on this thread which he started:

A €20bn public transport plan that will introduce six new Luas routes in Dublin will be officially announced by the Government next month

Hmmm, this is interesting. I must have a look back through Maximus' previous posts, but it's looking very like TK might have a new username, as suggested here.

Originally Posted by BarryW

Originally Posted by hiding behind a poster

Just how many times does a Metro have to be announced these days before it gets built, anyway?

An apt question. This could be the fourth time its been announced - but its definitely the third.

Mary O' Rourke unveiled it in 2001. After this initial announcement, it took 18 months to produce a map of the route.
The plan was then shelved, only for Bertie (and Mother O' Rourke) to announce it again 3 weeks before he called the 2002 General Election when they hosted a huge media hoe-down on Merrion Square.

As soon as the election was won, the plan was shelved again - only to be promised again (along with everything under the sun) by our old friend Ivor Callely in the run-up to the MEath bye-election. Unfortuantely, both the Taoiseach and Martin Cullen openly mocked Callely in the Dáil for his silly plans. And the project was shelved once again.

- FF launched it the first time to deflect attention from O' Rourke's disastrous tenure as Minister for Public Enterprise (5 years down the tubes)
- They re-launched it in an attempt to get votes in 2002.
- Ivor the Engine relaunched it again earlier in the year to get votes in the bye-elections for FF.
- And no doubt this latest launch is a desperate attempt to focus media and public attention away from the scandal-a-day pattern that has beset the Government in recent weeks.

It is interesting to note that according to the FF Press Office, this plan was originally to have been launched last September, and was to have involved the investment of €20 Billion for 10 years.
Our dear friend TKWhiskers summed it up on this thread which he started:

A €20bn public transport plan that will introduce six new Luas routes in Dublin will be officially announced by the Government next month

So where has the other €5 Billion p.a. disappearred to?? Even FF and the PDs couldn't lose, waste or misapporopriate that amount of money!

You'll notice that the original plan included the following:
[quote:3r8rwqyc]Up to six new Luas routes will form the basis of the scheme with the light rail system criss-crossing Dublin, providing more services to commuters in outlying areas of the city.

The Luas system will be upgraded to link the existing red and green lines between St Stephen's Green and O'Connell Street.

An extension of the Sandyford line to Cherrywood at Loughlinstown to serve areas like Glencairn, the Gallops, Ballyogan Woods, Leopardstown Racecourse and Carrickmines will be developed.

The Tallaght line will be extended to Citywest, Clondalkin, and Lucan. A brand new service in the docklands with an extension from Connolly Station to the docks is also believed to form part of the plan.

You'll also notice that the New plan contains no reference whatever to Luas.

Call me a cynic, but isn't it likely that this aspect of the plan is being held over, possibly with a view to holding another barn-dance press launch (a lá the Metro in 2002) just weeks in advance of the next election ?? [/quote:3r8rwqyc]

I don't know anything about a €20 billion plan, I was just rehashing what I read in the indo today. Have to say as a Dubliner I really welcome the investment in our City.