Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Transport the business case for providing the BX LUAS line in preference to other mode prioritisation options in Dublin city centre; the traffic and user modelling work upon which the project has been justified; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21972/06]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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In November 2005 I announced the commencement of public consultation for Line BX the city centre link between the Red and the Green lines of the Luas system. Since then a comprehensive review of the five route options put forward for consideration has been undertaken by RPA and this is now nearing completion.

The route options for Line BX, in common with all other major transport proposals, must be assessed against a broad range of objectives which focus on environmental, economic, safety, accessibility and transport integration themes. Importantly however, Line BX is just the first part of a Luas line from St. Stephen Green north through the city centre to serve Grangegorman, where major investment in a DIT campus facility is planned, and then via the disused Broadstone rail alignment to Liffey Junction where it will permit interchange with the suburban rail services. In the longer term, this route also has the potential to be extended further northwards.

The economic assessment of the project has been conducted in accordance with guidelines established by the Department of Finance and as specifically set out in 'Guidelines for the Appraisal and Management of Capital Expenditure Proposals in the Public Sector' (February 2005).

Traffic modelling has, I understand, been based on the transport model of the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) which has been further refined by the DTO for the city centre area. A key input to this modelling work has been traffic counts undertaken by RPA to assist in model validation and robustness.

Demand modelling has been based on the RPA demand model and for the economic assessment of the route options, RPA has, I understand, incorporated information provided by Dublin Bus in relation to bus passenger numbers and services so that these can be included in the appraisal.

In this respect the economic appraisal has assessed the impacts on users and non-users of the system. The net effect of the scheme indicates a very positive economic return.

Discussions are ongoing between RPA, Dublin City Council and Dublin Bus and I understand that initiatives are being advanced by the RPA which, if implemented, could offer significant priority for the bus services in the city centre in tandem with the provision of Luas Line BX.

Once the preferred route option for the Line BX scheme is identified an outline business case will be prepared by RPA and submitted to the Department of Transport for review.