€1.37m spent so far on Cork Luas project; Calls for 'firm explainer of proposed route' 

MORE than €1.37m has been spent so far on costs associated with the Cork Luas project, as the wait continues for the emerging preferred route to be announced.

A breakdown of the money spent from 2020 up to this month was provided to Labour Party TD for Cork East, Seán Sherlock by the deputy chief executive of the National Transport Authority (NTA), Hugh Creegan.

Mr Creegan stated that, following the completion of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS), which identified an east-west light rail line as a key element of the future transport network, the NTA instructed Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) “to commence the development of the route option selection and feasibility study phase of the Cork Light Rail Project/Cork Luas”.

The project commenced in October 2020, he said. That year, €77,077 was spent, followed by an additional spend of just over €571,500 in 2021 and a spend of slightly over €726,369 this year up to October 6. It brings the total amount spent on the project so far to just over €1,374,946. 

Mr Creegan explained that the costs to date “are associated with the fees for the development of route option selection and feasibility studies including transport modelling, environmental assessment, engineering design and associated surveys”.

Parliamentary question

The information was provided to Mr Sherlock after a parliamentary question he submitted to the minister for transport regarding the money spent to date on the project was referred to the NTA.

Commenting on the figures, Labour local area rep Peter Horgan called for more clarity on the light rail project.

“That’s a lot of money to have spent on the light rail project,” he told The Echo.

“What we need now is a firm explainer of the proposed route, the total cost of the project, and timelines for when it could be operational.

“We need to know if this is going to be an achievable public transport project that serves the whole city.

“It would be evident that more park-and-rides are a necessity for such a light rail project.”

In August 2020, Jacobs Engineering Ireland was awarded the contract to undertake a route options analysis and develop initial designs for the proposed Luas Light Rail Transit (LRT) system which will run from Ballincollig, on the western outskirts of the city, to Mahon Point in the east.

The 17km east-west Luas-style system is one of the biggest elements of the CMATS plan.

The proposed scheme will provide a high-capacity, high-frequency public transport link and will serve destinations including Munster Technological University, Cork University Hospital, University College Cork, Cork City Centre, Kent Station/Cork North Docklands, and Cork South Docklands.

Speaking back in April, Mr Creegan told The Echo that it would be later this year, “probably towards the end of the year”, before there would be an emerging preferred alignment determined that would be available for release.