Commuters:Commuters stand to be among the main beneficiaries of the National Development Plan if the €12.9 billion investment in public transport schemes is delivered.
The funding represents a quadrupling of the amount included in the previous plan and envisages major improvements in the Dublin area in particular.
Included in the plan are Dublin-city rail developments that were already outlined in Transport 21, but increased services are also planned for the commuter belt.
Luas services from Cherrywood are due to open by 2010 and the journey should take about 40 minutes. A new route to Lucan and extensions of existing lines to the docklands, Citywest and from St Stephen's Green to Liffey Junction will cut down on travel times into the city centre.
Metro North is also included in the plan, as are phased aspects of Metro West - the latter is scheduled for completion by 2014, a year after the plan ends.
The Kildare route project, which will increase to four the number of lines between Hazelhatch and Sallins, is due to open by 2010. This should greatly improve services between Kildare and Dublin.
The plan also envisages reopening the Navan railway line. Services will be available from Dunboyne by 2009, which could cut up to an hour off journey times for those accessing Dublin from Meath.
Resignalling the city-centre section of the train line should allow for an extra four trains per hour by 2009, from 12 to 16 trains.
Also promised is an integrated ticketing system to allow commuters to make journeys using a variety of modes of public transport. The plan also envisages additional park-and-ride facilities, as well as more cycle routes, buses and bus priority routes.
Public transport for commuters in regional cities includes new rail commuter services from Athenry to Galway and reopening the Cork rail commuter services from Mallow to Midleton by 2008.
Some €90 million is to be provided for the rural transport initiative to provide public transport in areas not currently served.
