DROGHEDA and District Chamber is ‘greatly encouraged’ that a pathway for a new Drogheda North train station can be delivered.
It follows comments from the National Transport Authority (NTA) at a Chambers Ireland executive forum meeting at the headquarters of 3 in Dublin.
Chamber CEO, Hubert Murphy, raised the need for the new station with NTA representatives who said they would look at the project under Transport Orientated Development.
“It was the answer we had hoped for. The NTA is like any other business – if you want something done, it has to make sense at all levels – especially when it comes to value for money,” the CEO stated.
“The NTA is looking at the transport side of things as part of the Joint Local Area Plan and we have offered to be part of any deliberations.
“All this means is that the JLAP will be a crucial document which will be at the very heart of Drogheda’s future, both on the northside and on the southside and into county Meath.
“We have engaged with a number of bodies, including the East Border Region Ltd, and those engagements will now ramp up,” he stated.
“North Drogheda will have an extra 20,000 people living there inside a decade. A new IDA business park is being developed. Drogheda Utd is planning a state-of-the-art football ground. There are many other plus factors, including the fact we’ll have a train station and transport hub at the rear of Aston Village, opening up easy access to the M1 and the potential for thousands of new rail users from the entire North East and midlands area on a daily basis.
“It’s now up to everyone to gather the data that will drive the business case to allow the NTA get the funding they need for a capital investment in North Drogheda.”
He said the Chamber is ‘greatly encouraged’ by the attitude of the NTA when it comes to future plans.
“They make decisions based off data and have estimated that congestion on our roads will cost up to €2bn by 2030. It makes sense to invest in city and regional train services to meet future needs.”
The delay in adding Drogheda to the commuter zone pay scale was also raised by the CEO. He was told that the savings would come into force early next year. This was due to a problem within the internal Irish Rail system.