The long-awaited feasibility study into a light rail system for Galway will begin this day next week it was announced on Monday.
The announcement came during a question and answers session at Monday’s Galway City Council meeting, following an elaborate presentation by the GLUAS committee. The 15-minute presentation, which proposed a three-year plan to take at least 20 per cent of traffic off the Galway city roads and create some 75 new jobs, was commended by all the city councillors and officials, but questions regarding the feasibility study of the project still reigned supreme at the meeting.
Director of transport and infrastructure Ciaran Hayes did confirm, after numerous probes from councillors, that the first part of the study would begin next Thursday at 12pm. He also said the results of the full study, which will include the involvement of both the Galway City Council and the GLUAS committee, are expected back by February or March of next year.
The €200 million project, which is the development of a number of local business groups who were fed up with the traffic congestion in the city, is proposing a 21km, 64-stop, tram network that will eventually stretch from Barna to Oranmore. The three possible lines, which are said to give access to some 60 per cent of the city’s residents, were announced on the evening and included one line between Cappagh Road and Eyre Square, one between Ballagh and Briarhill, and one between An Logan and Murrough. The committee was adamant, however, that the lines were “not yet set in stone”. There was also talk of the possibility of two future extensions including a line between the city centre and Salthill, and the An Logan line eventually extending to Oranmore.
Speaking on the night, Brendan Holland, chairman of the GLUAS committee, said that they were considering funding from both private and public realms, and they were willing to consider a joint public/private venture should the possibility arise.
They said the €2.50 that customers of the system will be charged will cover the running costs of the system and that the GLUAS could, much like the Dublin tram system, be a financial gain for the city, making it much more appealing to investors, tourists, and the community at large.
While a number of councillors, including Independent councillor Daniel Callanan and Fine Gael councillor John Mulholland, expressed some scepticism about the plan, the councillors all came to a unanimous vote in expressing their support for the concept of a light rail system coming to Galway. Fianna Fail councillor Mary Leahy, one of the councillors to openly welcome the plan, said that the city had reached a “crisis point and something needs to be done”.
Mr Holland said that he appreciated the strong support from the council and the officials, and that he hoped the committee will find the funding, whether public or private, to make the project a reality within the next few years.
