Mr. Gerry Murphy:

I thank the Chairman. As he noted, there are two areas for discussion, namely, the construction of the Luas cross city line and plans for the transport infrastructure. I have extended the latter subject beyond Dublin and have covered the other cities in the State. To assist me in dealing with questions, I am joined by Mr. Hugh Creegan, the NTA's deputy chief executive, who manages transport investment in our organisation.
First, as for Luas cross city, in summary, it is a 6 km-long light rail project that extends an existing Luas line right across the city to the new Dublin Institute of Technology campus at Grangegorman and onwards to the large residential area of Cabra. It will have 13 stops, with eight in the core city centre area, and the route passes along some key streets in the city, including Dawson Street, College Green, O'Connell Street and Parnell Street, which really comprise the spine of the city. The optimum way to build such a line through a city centre with least effect on businesses and residents is through a series of enabling contracts that prepare the way for a main infrastructure contract, which then can be carried out as expeditiously as possible. The principal enabling contracts include cellar investigation and infilling works, which have been successfully completed and more than 330 cellars have been infilled, as well as the removal, repair and storage of items of heritage value that are in the way of the scheme. Such items will be replaced and put back after the scheme is ready and complete. In addition, these contracts include the diversion of the many underground utilities from the path of the Luas tracks. The utilities contract is under way at the moment, having started in January. Anybody in the city will have seen the presence of work sites from St. Stephen's Green northwards and they are all due for completion in the third quarter of 2015. There will be a rolling programme of such sites through the city. Maintaining pedestrian and traffic movements and the frequency and reliability of public bus services have been central principles in planning the works. There is a traffic forum involving the National Transport Authority, Dublin City Council, the Railway Procurement Agency, An Garda Síochána and Dublin Bus, which meets regularly to plan and review progress. The utilities contract under way at present is a target cost contract, that is, a contractual structure that incentivises the contractor to complete the works as expeditiously as possible and to work collaboratively with the client and which is a kind of gain-share contract.
We have put in place a comprehensive communications structure for the project. In 2013, we appointed a specialist communications director to develop and lead the engagement with the public and all the relevant interests in the city. This had not been done previously for this type of project and many communication channels are now in play. For example, we have a dedicated website, luascrosscity.ie, supported by a freefone service, information e-mail, Twitter and Facebook. In addition, there are liaison officers on the ground in daily engagement with contractors, retailers and businesses and who deal with all the local issues. There could be a cone in the wrong place, a sign misplaced or something like that. We issue flyers, use e-mail, have built together a big database of interested parties, send letters and use social media and advertisements. We also opened a public information office in a unit off Dawson Street in 2013, where the liaison officers are based with the communications team. The idea was to have a drop-in centre that supported the electronic and print media and that would give a public face to the scheme. There also are many meetings with business representatives and all key stakeholders. I will add that the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, personally chairs a regular meeting on the project to ensure all the interests are aligned.
The main infrastructure contract, which is the one in which one will see the rails being laid, was issued for tender in April and it is anticipated that this contract will be awarded in December 2014. This is a design and build contract and therefore, in the early months after December the contractor will be finalising the design for the works, after which the main works will commence on the street in 2015. The project will be completed in 2017 and it is planned that the new Luas services will commence in October 2017 following a period of satisfactory testing and commissioning. The railway order of An Bord Pleanála approving the scheme omitted a northbound stop on Dawson Street. Consequently, were one coming across the city heading northwards towards O'Connell Street, one would not have a stop on Dawson Street, as objections were raised at the time. In 2013, we engaged engineering consultants to review this again and to consult the businesses on the street and their representative groups to ascertain whether a location for a stop could be found. I am pleased to say that a stop location has been identified that we think meets all the needs of the businesses and the travelling public and a railway order application for that stop will be submitted to An Bord Pleanála in the next week or so. Finally, the European Investment Bank has provided significant financial backing for Luas cross city via a loan of €150 million to the State.
The second topic concerns plans for transport infrastructure and the NTA manages three programmes for investment in public transport infrastructure. One is in the greater Dublin area. This area spans both the four Dublin local authorities and counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. The programme is of the order of €150 million per annum and covers all the modes, namely, rail, bus and light rail, as well as covering traffic management, cycling and walking. The authority also manages a programme for the cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. This programme is of the order of €14 million per annum and covers bus, rail, traffic management, cycling and walking investment.
We also manage a transport accessibility programme across the State for those who are mobility impaired. This programme is of the order of €1.5 million per annum. In this context, any design or infrastructure we put into the other programmes is made appropriate for those whose mobility is impaired, but the smaller transport accessibility programme is a targeted programme for additional features.
Approximately 40% of the State's population and economic activity is in the greater Dublin area, and public transport is critically important for the efficient movement of people. Consequently, we are required under legislation to prepare long and short-term plans for the region. Our implementation plan for 2013 to 2018 was statutorily approved by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in January of this year and it guides all that we do in respect of our objectives and outputs for the greater Dublin region. I have included a table in my note that sets out the investment plan. Broadly, one could say it involves €150 million per annum, amounting to approximately €900 million over the period, and distributed across bus, light rail, heavy rail and traffic and sustainable transport, which are getting €215 million, €285 million, €136 million and €246 million, respectively.

Each year we fund in excess of 200 projects. This year we are getting to the order of 300 projects in this programme, which ranges from small cycling schemes up to the biggest scheme, which is Luas cross city. I will give a broad outline of the projects to be developed out to 2018.

On the bus side, we will invest in the bus fleet that is providing subsidised services to achieve an average age of less than seven years. This programme also covers investment in the Bus Éireann coach fleet and its regional cities fleet that is providing subsidised services. We will develop the quality bus corridor network and increase prioritisation for buses at traffic signals. We will develop a coach parking facility close to Dublin city centre for commuter and tour buses and coaches when not in use. Anybody familiar with the city will be aware that there are many coaches parked in the city, having discharged the visitors, and they could park elsewhere and free up the space. We will improve bus stops - there is a big need for that - with new-style bus poles and better information panels. We will progress the design and planning of three bus rapid transit projects: Swords-the airport to the city centre; Blanchardstown to UCD; and Clongriffin on the north-east sector of the city to Tallaght. We hope that we will have started improvement works on the bus rapid transit route from Swords to the city centre within the period of the plan. Regarding light rail, essentially, we will complete the construction of Luas cross city.

The key new project for heavy rail will be the opening up of the Phoenix Park tunnel to commuter train services from the Kildare rail line. If one is coming up from the south west and southern stations, the train terminates at Heuston Station. The opening of the tunnel will allow such trains not to stop at Heuston and carry through Drumcondra, Connolly, Tara, Pearse and Grand Canal stations to the heart of the city. We are investing in city centre re-signalling to create the extra train paths through Connolly Station to allow the tunnel services to operate.

The traffic and sustainable transport projects will be many and varied. Given their size, they tend to be small-scale projects. The biggest single element will be the gradual delivery of a safer and better cycle network across the region.

All of the above are the immediate plans within the constraints of the current national capital investment plan. Of course, we are planning for a longer-term programme. To underpin our analytical work for a 20-year plan, we are carrying out two major studies this year. First, we are looking at all the options for serving the fast growing Fingal local authority area and its main town of Swords. Fingal experienced population growth of 14% between the census of 2006 and 2011 compared with the figure of 8% for the State. Without appropriate public transport capacity, Fingal will be severely constrained in terms of both residential and economic expansion. We have just commissioned a major engineering review of bus, light rail and heavy rail options for serving that area and we expect to complete that by early next year.

Separately, we are carrying out a detailed business case for the DART underground project. That is a high capacity tunnel link that would interconnect the coastal rail line from Greystones to Balbriggan with the Kildare rail line coming in from the west, allowing a DART network to run from Balbriggan to Hazelhatch and from Maynooth to Greystones, with interchange and new stops in the city centre. The last business case for that was done in 2010 and was based on the 2006 census, and we want to update that business case and the pricing of it.

The most important factor in the long-term planning of infrastructure for the Dublin region will be the availability of State funds in the period beyond 2020 and also the feasibility of the public private partnership model to draw in debt and equity funding from private parties. These matters will become clearer in the coming years. Currently, there is a Government investment review. From demographic and economic projections, additional rail capacity will be needed in the future. However, finding the solutions that are fundable will be the focus of our work in the coming year.

I mentioned I would cover the other cities. Regarding Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, the next five years will see a continuation of current patterns. In 2013, approximately €14.5 million was distributed across 59 different projects. The split of funding, as between bus, walking-cycling, traffic management and other, is shown in the presentation.

Each city will continue with improvements to bus priority while we will invest further in real time information, which is our national project, and will commence a programme of bus stop improvements in the cities, all to grow bus modal share. The signs are good. I would point out that bus passenger numbers increased in 2013: in Galway city, by 9.3%, and in Cork city, by 8.2%. That followed on from rises of 7.2% and 1.9% in Galway and Cork, respectively, in 2012. Also, Cork, Galway and Limerick will have public bike schemes operational in the autumn of this year. As the committee will be aware, we secured sponsorship from Coca-Cola for those schemes.

In Cork city, investment over the coming years will focus on the city centre and a limited number of key bus and cycling corridors linking the city centre with the county metropolitan area. Regarding Cork county within the metropolitan area, it is intended to concentrate investment in Douglas which has a population of nearly 18,000, one of the strategic areas identified by the local authority, rather than dilute the investment programme on a widely dispersed basis.

In Galway, a large number of walking and cycling improvements are planned along with further developing the bus prioritisation enhancements that have been implemented in the city. Galway has a transportation unit which is well placed to plan all of this. Also, at present there is a good walking share in Galway city and this, with the public bikes scheme, will greatly enhance the cycling aspect of transport there.

Limerick city has been designated as a smarter travel demonstration area by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and is receiving substantial funding for sustainable travel projects. The fund that we administer will be used for complementary bus priority and for cycling and pedestrian safety schemes that are not included in the Department's separate programme. We will liaise closely with the Department on that.

In Waterford, bus related investment will be on improvements to the key corridors to the city centre, to Waterford Institute of Technology, WIT, the industrial zone and employment area to the west of the city, and Waterford General Hospital, which are the key nodes of transport and the key employers. Cycling routes will also be developed. Waterford is also a city that can support cycling well because of its scale.

The accessibility grant funds I mentioned will be used in the main to improve access to bus and rail stations and to grant aid wheelchair accessible taxis, which is a new initiative we will announce today.