€2.5m spent so far on Cork Luas project, work on identifying route 'progressing'

MORE than €2.5m has been spent so far on costs associated with the Cork Luas project, as the wait continues for the emerging preferred route (EPR) to be announced.

A breakdown of the money spent from 2020 through to the end of last month was supplied by Transport Minister Eamon Ryan to the Labour Party in response to a parliamentary question (PQ).

A total of €2,536,957 has been spent so far with the largest spend of €965,520 occurring in 2022.

Work on the project commenced in October 2020 with €77,077 spent that year, followed by a spend of €571,500 in 2021.

Last year, €922,860 was spent on costs associated with the project, with no money spent so far this year according to the PQ response. 

The Cork light rail project seeks to provide a high-capacity public transport corridor connecting Ballincollig in the west to Mahon Point in the east via the city centre.

In the recent PQ response, the Transport Minister said a public consultation for this project will launch "in the coming months".

The EPR had been expected to be revealed before the end of 2022.

However, this was delayed. It was then expected to be published in July last year, but was further stalled to facilitate the additional work on the city centre section.

Speaking to The Echo, newly elected Labour Party councillor for the city’s South East ward Peter Horgan said he believes there is a growing sense of exasperation over the delays in announcing the EPR.

“People just don’t believe it’s going to happen and that’s the problem with delays,” he said.

“I would like to see a light rail network for Cork.” 

Speaking at a council meeting this month, Mr Horgan said the public should know how the EPR will fit in with the 11 proposed sustainable transport corridors as part of BusConnects Cork.

“We do need the CEO down from the NTA to answer honestly the questions that are coming up from the communities, that are coming from us in this chamber," he added. 

A spokesperson for the NTA said work on identifying a precise route for the proposed Luas system for Cork is "progressing".

"Transport Infrastructure Ireland, in collaboration with the NTA and in consultation with Cork City Council, has been doing some additional work on the city centre section of the proposed route in advance of the publication of the Emerging Preferred Route.

"BusConnects Cork is liaising closely with the team working on the proposed Luas Light Rail system to ensure consideration is being given as to how both systems complement each other," the spokesperson said.