[Letter] Interconnector rail tunnel

[Navan Junction]

Rail tunnel's ten year wait

Irish Independent, Wednesday May 17th 2006

I'm afraid the article (Irish Independent, May 12) claiming work has begun on the Interconnector rail tunnel under Dublin City may have given false hope to many hard-pressed commuters.

I welcome this important infrastructure project, but your article failed to point out that according to the government's Transport 21 plan, this tunnel will not be open until 2015 at the earliest.

Commuters in west Dublin should not have to endure 9 more years of chronic commuting before a rail link is opened to connect towns such as Lucan to Dublin City centre especially when there is perfect rail tunnel already in place under the Phoenix Park which could bring commuter trains and possibly DART services into Dublin City Centre from the Kildare line. In the long-term the Interconnector is essential, but in the short-term I'm propose re-opening the Phoenix Park tunnel so as to make life more bearable for thousands of west Dublin commuters.
FRANCES FITZGERALD,
FINE GAEL,
DUBLIN MID-WEST

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