A new commuter rail station to serve Adamstown in west Dublin will be officially opened by the Taoiseach today - years ahead of the completion of housing development in the area.
Located at present amid green fields, with a 300-space park-and- ride site nearby, the station was funded entirely by developers Chartridge Ltd, a consortium formed by Castlethorn Construction, Maplewood Homes and Tierra Ltd.
It marks the latest stage in the development of Adamstown, which is a Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) being planned as a sustainable urban community that will eventually have 10,000 homes and some 25,000 residents.
Although 1,300 homes have been approved and 900 are under construction, less than 200 have been occupied so far. But the SDZ masterplan requires that infrastructure and facilities are phased in tandem with development.
In a reversal of the traditional time-lag of facilities following new housing, two primary schools are under construction, the first of which will open in September. The first creche is also under construction and the first playground already in place.
Paul Hogan, the South Dublin County Council senior planner overseeing the Adamstown project, pointed out that a 2km link road (with a quality bus corridor) has also been completed and is taking construction traffic in and out of the area.
There is a current planning application for a secondary school together with the first community centre, which will include a sports hall, both of which are to be completed by 2009, and approval is to be sought later this year for a district centre beside the rail station. As the centrepiece of Adamstown, the district centre will include a supermarket, health centre, a multiplex cinema, library, civic building, shops, offices, apartments, cafés, restaurants, leisure centre, swimming pool and even a multi-faith place of worship.
"Critically, it is Chartridge Ltd that's investing in the delivery of much of the required infrastructure to support Adamstown," Mr Hogan said.
The rail station allows for up to five platforms. Initially there will be five trains to Heuston Station between 7am and 9am, with a journey time of 15-20 minutes.
