Rail link is viable say Iarnród Éireann
By Evan Short
evan.short@meathpost.com

Iarnród Éireann has strongly rejected claims that they are not 100 per
cent behind the Navan rail link following accusations they put a
negative spin on last week’s Navan Dublin railway proposals.

Quotes in the national press attributed to a representative of the
rail company made out that that rail operator had given the plans a
thumbs down because of cost issues.

Local politicians were also of the opinion that the rail company had
come out against the plans after hearing the presentation at Meath
County Council last Monday (7th January).

A number of Navan representatives were left astounded at the railway’s
perceived rejection, when the scoping study showed that once built,
the rail line would soon become one of Ireland’s most economical and
well used rail lines.

Rejecting claims that they had gone cold on the project, an Iarnród
Éireann spokesman said nothing could be further from the truth.
“Media reports on Tuesday show a complete misunderstanding of how such
projects are evaluated,” said the spokesperson.

“There is probably not a road or public transport project in the state
which on a pure profit and loss basis is financially viable.”

However, the key issue for all such projects is that the economic
benefits – in terms of time savings for citizens, reduced congestion,
environmental benefits and reduced road accidents amongst others –
justify the investment.

“Our consultants report clearly states that the Navan rail line
development exceeds the Department of Finance’s criteria in this
regard, and that it is an economically viable project, as advised to
Meath County Council yesterday.”

Iarnród Éireann say they will now progress the project with the
Department of Transport, and subject to funding, to develop the full
preliminary design and business case in accordance with the processes
for new capital projects.