McBride Railway Station, Drogheda.
The decision to close a large section of the car parks at Drogheda Train Station and the Marsh Road for a year to facilitate the DART works has angered Independent Councillor Kevin Callan.
Councillor Callan has said that the move is not only a slap in the face for commuters but shows the utter lack of attention from government on Drogheda, East Meath and Mid Louth in terms of sustainable public travel and access to facilities.
“This decision is troubling enough but the fact that no alternatives or additional stations are available is something that could have been worked on over the past decade” he said.
South Louth and Mid Louth require more rail infrastructure and capacity and the fact that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens in Government and opposition parties have been unsuccessful in delivering a Drogheda North station or a reopened Dunleer Station shows that the county is going to continue to be crippled in terms of access to public rail transport.
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“The DART may come to Drogheda to a station with no capacity to facilitate commuters so what's the point?
“The Northern Cross Route will also drive more and more people south of the river to the current station which will not in any way be able to cope with the demand.
“The current car park at Mc Bride is full by half eight in the morning when the Enterprise goes through. This same train is passing an empty platform and car park in Dunleer that's been closed for 40 years this year.
“Every party in the last four decades has promised to reopen it and none have. Drogheda North has also been left out of the All Ireland Rail Review for rail travel over the coming decades.
“Commuters are not being helped and supported, they are being hindered. These are really basic issues and the lack of action in fixing the blatantly obvious shows a need for Drogheda and the county to put forward new representation.
“I'm liaising with the Council to see if there is anything that can be done to facilitate parking but this type of quick fix last minute reaction is not the way things should be done” Callan stated.
“What's the point in having national representation that is not foreseeing these issues and making sensible moves to facilitate the public?” he asked. “That should be the entire point of such public services.”