This article is from page 12 of the 2007-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
PLANS for a rail-link to Shannon have suffered a major setback with news that the early results of a fea- sibility study on the project are “ex- tremely poor”.
The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen confirmed that “the analy- sis, figures and economic case in the original draft” were not good enough.
He said that “he did not go with it” because of the poor figures.
“A different set of requests and questions were sought and these have gone into the mix. The local author- ity is dealing with it at present. I ex- pect to receive the final report soon and it is hoped that it will be posi- tive,’ he added.
It is understood that the consultants involved in drawing up the feasibility study, MVA Consultants, estimated the cost of the rail-link at €700 mil- |bTeyee
Chairman of the Shannon Rail Partnership, Councillor Sean Hillery (FF), disputed the €700 million cost on the rail-spur yesterday and said that the partnership’s own costing put it at €240 million.
“We accept that a rail-spur to Sixmilebridge is not viable and the approach to take is a direct rail-link between Limerick and Shannon. This is not going to happen this year or next year and will depend on popu- lation increases. A rail-link between
Shannon and Limerick would attract a public-private partnership, whereas a link between Shannon and Sixmi- lebridge would not,” he said. Councillor Hillery added that he hoped the route for the rail-link would be frozen in anticipation of it being built in future years. Meanwhile, in a Dail debate on Shannon Airport, Deputy James Breen (Ind) asked Minister Cullen if he would provide Shannon with debt free status. The estimated debt of Shannon is believed to be around
€100 million.
Minister Cullen stated, “It is not an issue because Shannon does not have a debt. I am not bothered about it.”
Deputy Breen also asked Minister Cullen about the possibility of fur- ther investment in the airport.
“Absolutely. There is no question about it,” said the minister.