An Irish Planning Students Blog

Of course lets not forget that DIT Grangegorman is approved under the plan! Well the first phase of Grangegorman at least. Woo as an alumni some day i will be able to visit DIT as a proper college with a campus. Pretty cool.

Big pity to see the Navan Rail line and the western rail corridor axed though. Not a great day for the west or the extended commuter belt in term of near term infrastructure.

Now this is not strictly planning related but i do have a problem with this plan. Its all about the building of the hard stuff, they are rejoicing on the news with the prospect of job creation and they are bandying around words like ‘sustainable jobs’, this presents jobs for a number of years and a very small portion after the projects have been built and where are we left then? Back to square one with all the construction workers with no big projects to build!

Still though I am so happy to see metro north given the go ahead, as i stand to benefit from it the most if i’m still living here when its finished that is.

The Government has announced a new €39 billion capital investment plan until 2016 that prioritises major projects such as Metro North, the Dart interconnector and the new DIT campus in Grangegorman but will result in delays for other promised infrastructure projects.

The new seven-year plan was unveiled at a press conference this afternoon by the Taoiseach Brian Cowen, the Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan and Green Party leader, the Minister for the Environment John Gormley.

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BUSINESS LEADERS in the southeast have described as “reckless foolishness” the planned closure of the Rosslare to Waterford railway line, linking two of the country’s principal ports.

The service, which had been due to close permanently from tomorrow, has received a temporary reprieve as various State bodies argue over its future.

Iarnród Éireann has confirmed that its plan to “suspend” trains from July 21st and launch a replacement Bus Éireann service will not be implemented as scheduled. The closure of the line cannot proceed without the approval of the National Transport Authority, which is not now expected to announce its decision until “at least” September.

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INCHICORE RESIDENTS have given a guarded welcome to a decision to drop plans to assemble and launch a tunnel boring machine for Dart Underground on a sports field in the historic Railway Estate.

According to an application for a Railway Order lodged with An Bord Pleanála yesterday, tunnelling for Dart Underground is now to take place from east to west, with the tunnel boring machine launch site now located at East Wall near Docklands station.

In addition, the Inchicore portal has been moved several hundred yards away from houses and is now to be located within the CIÉ engineering yards. Houses in the Railway Estate date from the mid-1800s and were built for railway workers, including those working in the yards.

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Today the 30th of June 2010 is the day that the Luas Line BXD, Stephens green to Broomsbridge website goes live. All the documents pertaining to the railway order are available freely at: www.dublinluasbroombridge.ie It is also the day that CIE have lodged their plans for the Dublin DART interconnector to link the Kildare Line and with Docklands opening up northern rail service to the south. Document’s for this railway order can be viewed at: www.dartundergroundrailwayorder.ie/ (more…)

I was reading the MetroHearald today on the bus and i noticed a public notice on page 11. I have scanned in a copy of the notice below for your viewing pleasure. (Click for full size) I hope the process is a speedy one. Public consultation starts on the 30th of June (next Wednesday). It will be great to see trams on O’Connell Street once again!

THE PROMOTERS of a new seaplane service for the west of Ireland were yesterday victorious in their plans to locate a seaplane base on Lough Derg.

Clare County Council yesterday granted planning permission to Harbour Flights Ireland Ltd for a base at Mountshannon. The decision comes in spite of opposition by the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board, fishermen and residents.

As part of the plan the company has lodged four applications before local authorities in Galway, Limerick and Clare to allow it land a seaplane in Lough Derg, the Shannon at Limerick city, Galway city docks and the main harbour serving Inis Mór.

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I came across this short programme produced for DCTV.ie (Dublin Community TV) on vimeo today. I thought it was an interesting idea to follow the Dublin City Council Cycle Officer – Ciaran Fallon to two other european cities, London and Amsterdam, to see how they are doing it.

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TRAFFIC CONGESTION in Wicklow town is set to be reduced significantly following the opening yesterday of two new roads which will divert port-bound lorries from the town centre.

The 2.7 kilometre (1.8 miles) town relief road and the 1.6 kilometre port access road cost €65 million.

They involved the construction of a 130-metre (425ft) three-span bridge crossing the Broadlough estuary at the Murrough, another bridge crossing the Ashtown Stream, and two new railway bridges, at the Murrough and in Merrymeeting, Rathnew.

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A step in the right direction, finally the RPA are demonstrating to us a concept of joined up thinking as regards to Public Transport in Dublin. Its pretty exciting actually we could actually be one step closer to getting a joined up transport network! Please do continue!

THE RAILWAY Procurement Agency (RPA) plans to change the route of the proposed Lucan Luas line, but said it does not intend to reopen public consultation on the project.

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Network Direct Phase 1

DUBLIN BUS yesterday announced its reorganised bus routes and timetables.

Changes to routes and services will be introduced in five phases from July.

They will take place at two to three-month intervals and will focus on areas as opposed to single routes. The first areas to be affected will be Stillorgan, Blanchardstown and Lucan.

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