Royal rumble as work on rail link starts
Tuesday November 11 2008
Dublin football star Ciaran Whelan and his Meath counterpart Nigel Crawford joined forces with jockey Johnny Murtagh yesterday to mark the beginning of work on the €160m Clonsilla to Dunboyne railway line.
Work officially began on the 7.5km line yesterday, and Iarnrod Eireann says it will be open by 2010 before being extended to Navan by 2015.
It includes the country's biggest car park at Pace, beside the M3 motorway, where spaces for 1,200 vehicles will be provided.
The line will branch off the Maynooth line at Clonsilla and terminate at the interchange with the M3 north of Dunboyne, at Pace. All services will terminate at Docklands Station, with trains every 30 minutes at peak times, which will be extended to every 15 minutes as demand increases. Off-peak services will run every hour.
Iarnrod Eireann yesterday confirmed the main contract for the project has been signed with SIAC Construction, which will commence construction on site at the start of December.
As well as 7.5km of double track between Clonsilla and Dunboyne, the project includes three new stations.
- Paul Melia
