Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which I know is very important. I acknowledge the fact that he is a superb advocate for the Celbridge area. He has constantly been making representations, not just about transport but about other requirements for his area, which have been effective. I propose to outline some of the benefits that have arisen recently for the Celbridge area, particularly in terms of BusConnects.

As the Deputy will be aware, the National Transport Authority, NTA, has statutory responsibility for the planning and delivery of transport infrastructure and services in the greater Dublin area including Kildare. The NTA’s Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy 2016-2035 provides the overarching framework for the planning and delivery of transport infrastructure and services in the greater Dublin area, GDA, over the next two decades. The strategy sets out an ambitious range of improvements across the area of bus and heavy rail. These improvements include the establishment of a combined core bus network, new bus station facilities to provide for intercity and regional buses which serve Dublin city centre, continual replacement and upgrading of the bus fleet, the DART expansion programme which will see the DART system expanded providing fast, high-frequency electrified services to Hazelhatch on the Kildare line and Maynooth on the Maynooth-Sligo line, and the Phoenix Park tunnel link, which connects to the Maynooth line and links Heuston and Connolly stations. We are now trying to implement that strategy. That is the reason I secured the funding allocations under Project Ireland 2040 to allow for its implementation over the next ten years. For 2019, the capital allocation has increased by €1.325 billion or just over 22% above the 2018 allocation.

Project Ireland 2040 confirmed BusConnects as one of a number of key investment priorities to deliver a comprehensive public transport network over the next decade. BusConnects will improve bus journey times that will benefit many millions of passenger journeys per year, provide a bus service that is easier to use and understand, enable more people to travel by bus than ever before, and provide a network of cycling infrastructure that will enable more people to cycle across the city. As the Deputy is aware, the NTA launched a public consultation last summer on the proposed redesign of the bus network in the GDA. By the time the consultation closed at the end of September, more than 30,000 submissions had been received. The NTA will publish revised proposals later this year taking into account the views expressed in all of those submissions.

The proposals included extensive changes to the routes serving Celbridge, including ten-minute peak time services on the proposed C4 route that would continue into Leixlip, and a peak period route 324 providing a frequent express service from Celbridge to southern parts of the city centre and University College Dublin. Celbridge is a main beneficiary of the new orbital route, W8, from Maynooth to Tallaght, which operates every 30 minutes all day. Finally, outer parts of Celbridge will be served by a new local route to which the Deputy referred, the 259, which would feed every 30 minutes into Hazelhatch-Celbridge station at the south end and Leixlip Confey station at the north end.

The interchange with the rail network will be of huge benefit to Celbridge residents as the enhancements to the heavy rail system provided for in the NTA’s transport strategy will create an integrated rail network which will provide the core high-capacity transit system for the region and will deliver a very substantial increase in peak hour capacity on all lines from Drogheda, Maynooth, Hazelhatch-Celbridge and Greystones. The electrification of the line to Hazelhatch-Celbridge and remaining infrastructure to complete the link of the Kildare commuter route to the city centre will be delivered as part of the DART expansion programme as envisaged in the national development plan, NDP.

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