Plans are underway to evaluate the feasibility of linking Dublin’s Heuston Station to the DART line via a €4.5bn underground rail project. The study is being carried out by Jacobs Engineering on behalf of the National Transport Authority, (NTA). The project, which would be one of the countries biggest transport projects in decades, has been debated since the early 1970s but was shelfed for various reasons, the latest, in 2011, due to the economic crash.
The NTA is evaluating the different proposals which have been made in the past, as well as one or two new alternatives, with a view to finding the optimum, most efficient, and cost-effective route. However, all parties seem to believe that the tunnel can transform Ireland’s rail infrastructure, by linking Irish Rail with MetroLink, Luas and other Dart services, creating more connection hubs, thus making travel route options more dynamic and faster across around the greater Dublin area and beyond.
As well as an improved public transport service, the project would make the country more sustainable by reducing traffic jams, pollution, carbon emissions, and ultimately, tackling global warming.
It is hoped that the Jocobs report will be published towards beginning of the second half of 2021.
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https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/nta-revives-4-5bn-underground-rail-plan-to-link-heuston-station-to-dart-1.4539533
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