The National Transport Authority (NTA) has published its Capital Investment Programme report for public transport in Ireland for 2022.
The programme supports the delivery of an integrated, accessible public transport system across various activities such as Heavy Rail, Bus, Light Rail, Accessibility, Park & Ride, Ticketing & Technology and Active Travel.
The projects funded are within the Greater Dublin Area and the regional cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and other areas of the State.
In 2022, the NTA’s overall Exchequer funding, provided by the Department of Transport, for the Capital Investment Programme grew to €805.1 million, an 11% increase on 2021 expenditure.
Last year the NTA invested €494.9m in public transport projects, which includes €240.7m on Heavy Rail Projects and €165m on the Bus Programme with major investments in BusConnects and Fleet acquisitions.
The investment resulted in the progression of three major projects BusConnects, DART+ and MetroLink, which includes the building element of the National Train Control Centre, also Irish Rail took delivery of 27 of the 41 ICR carriages for testing and commissioning and the opening of the upgraded bus facility at the Red Cow Bus Interchange.
Following the approval of the BusConnects Dublin Preliminary Business Case by Government in March 2022, six planning consent applications were submitted to An Bord Pleanála.
Last year the NTA placed its first order for 100 battery-electric double-deck buses, with the first due to go into service in late 2023. In tandem an order was also placed for 34 battery-electric single vehicle buses.
In 2022, work commenced on the redesign of the network of bus services for Galway City, as part of BusConnects, a similar redesign of the network began in Limerick and the initial planning and scheduling commenced for the bus network redesign in Waterford City.
Two significant milestones were achieved on the MetroLink project in 2022 with the Government approving the Preliminary Business case allowing the NTA to approve Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to submit a Railway Order application for the project, which happened in September. Significant progress was also made on the DART+ project with a Railway Order submitted for DART+ West and the electrification of the existing railway occurred between Hazelhatch/Celbridge and the city centre for the DART+ South West project.
Of that total funding for public transport projects, €42.3m was provided to TII for Light Rail, primarily for various Luas projects. Transport Technology projects such as Leap Card enhancements and real time passenger information systems received €12.9m and €12.4m was invested in Integration and Support projects. €11.4 million was spent on accessibility projects and €5.7m on the development of additional park and ride facilities at railways stations and the development of new strategic park and ride sites.
In 2022, the NTA funded Active Travel projects nationwide with an investment of €310.3m, which represents a 407% increase in funding compared to 2019. Almost 1,100 projects were funded across 31 local authority areas which resulted in 188km of newly improved footpaths and 72km of new or upgraded cycle infrastructure. The funding was provide to local authorities, public bodies and other agencies for the implementation of various projects around the provision of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, facilities, safety and access to schools and public transport.
Source: National Transport Authority
